Atari peed on couch

[CAITLIN FITZGERALD]

Hi Adrienne! 
 

I’ve been so proud of Atari, we haven’t needed to seek your help in so long. She is now 1 year and 5 months old. (cattle dog /Labrador). We had an incident about 5 or 6 months ago where she seemed calm and she’s been getting super comfortable and happy with the cats and everything was great. Husband and I both started our nightly routine of getting ready for bed and doing some cleaning. We come back into living room and find a puddle on the couch. We didn’t see it happen, we almost didn’t even know it had happened. She seemed calm before and after and the cats weren’t even nearby. 
 

Ok so we decided to see if it happens again and cleaned the cushion so she shouldn’t be triggered to do it again. 
 

Then tonight, we had some friends over with their 10 year old sons. They love her, she’s played with them many times, and she was calm and happy with them. They left and everything was normal and calm in the house. We leave the room briefly and come back to find a puddle on the couch and footprints/pee all along ALL of the cushions. 
 

She was sitting on the ground calmly after. 
 

We have no idea what is going on and she doesn’t seem distressed and she had been outside only an hour earlier and we didn’t have anything unusual beforehand so I don’t think it was medical or needing to empty her bladder. She also knows she is not allowed on the couch. 
 

Those are the only times so I don’t think she is marking and the weird thing is no one was even around. The cats were in the room but not even near her. (I don’t know for sure but she loves them). 
 

Sending photos of earlier today so you can see is calm with the cats and kids. Please let us know your thoughts as it seems totally random and unexplainable to us. 
 

thanks,

Caity 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there, welcome back!

Sorry to hear that you have been noticing accidents on the couch. In these cases, where the accidents are sporadic, we often need to put our investigative hat on.

Firstly, since this happened in both cases when you were away and haven't witnessed it and she knows she isn't allowed on the couch, it may be worthy of ruling out whether it's not one of the cats. Cats can sometimes have accidents around for a variety of causes. 

If this is truly her, and this is uncharacteristic for her, and hasn't had accidents for some time, I would play it safe and discuss this with the vet.

Afterward, I would consider whether she may be marking over the scent of cats. I would also ascertain whether it's pee and not vomit from being on an empty stomach or drool or vomiting after drinking. 

Make sure to clean any soiled areas with a good enzymatic cleaner like Nature's Miracle.

In these tricky cases, it may help to set some cameras up. 

[CAITLIN FITZGERALD]

Actually, I am starting to think maybe it was a UTI now or something medical after all because she vomited this morning and hasn't touched her breakfast yet. I'll take her to the vet. Also, upon considering further, we don't know if she peed when she was outside with the kids so she may have forgotten to go with all the fun and excitement and then they left and she couldn't hold it in. 

Curious why she is going on the couch but last time she had an accident on the floor, we struggled to hide our frustration (we saw it as it happened) and since she's not allowed to be on the couch and she eats on the rug, I wonder if that seemed like a location that hadn't been assigned any value... if that makes sense? Also that is where the cats like to sleep so maybe she was marking. 

We would not mind letting her sleep on the couch with them (she's tried a few times) but when she starts playing with them, she tries to chase them onto the couch when they go to their hammocks. Is it possible to teach her that it is acceptable to sleep on the couch but not jump on it or chase the cats? Or would it be better to just keep her off it completely? 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

This surely is worth of investigating further (by setting some cameras and observing all pets carefully) and discuss with the vet as having accidents can be one of the first signs of something medical going on. Since she vomited and is not eating, this makes it more suspicious (although it could be a coincidence). 

Her being distracted by the children and ignoring her need to empty her bladder also makes sense. In these cases, it helps to train a "go potty" cue so to evoke elimination prior to the children/guests being over. 

If you haven't caught her in the act, we can only speculate it was her to pee, as I have had many cases of assuming it's the dog when it's the cats. Cats are likely to pee on surfaces when stressed and are prone to UTIs as well as dogs. 

Your theory of her using the couch to pee is also a great observation if she was caught in the act of peeing on the floor in the past and now associates the floor with your emotional response. Single event learning (learning from one single episode) is very possible.

On top of this, it appears that several dogs prefer marking on surfaces that are absorbent when urine marking (the scent lasts longer there) or they may intuitively recognize that the mess on carpet, curtain, couch or bed is more inconspicuous than a mess on the floor. 

I pet sat/trained a small dog once who would repeatedly urine mark on couches because the scent of the cats must have been stronger there and she didn't want them to be on the couches and would chase them off. 

You asked: "Is it possible to teach her that it is acceptable to sleep on the couch but not jump on it or chase the cats?"

In general, dogs do best when there are black and white rules in place. Shades of grey confuses them. In other words, it 's easier for them to understand the rule of "don't be on the couch" or "you can be on the couch." 

If we allow them on the couch sometimes yes and sometimes no, that generates great confusion and ends up frustrating us. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule and through training we can achieve good results that go against the common advice of "giving dogs clear black/white rules" if we make use of certain prompts/cues.

For instance, service dogs can be trained to walk at leisurely pace when wearing a leash and walking next to the owner when wearing a mobility harness. We can also train dogs to learn to heel when using a 6 foot leash and go sniff when using a longer leash. Dogs can also discriminate when we are going on a walk with them when we wear certain shoes and go to work when we wear others. Although the common denominator is going outside, they may act calm when we wear the walking shoes and go in a panic when we wear the work shoes. 

However, we need to tread with caution and consider each case on an individual basis. For instance, is Atari really playing with the cats, or is there more to it? Because if she's chasing the cats on the couch because she's resource guarding the couch, this may increase the chances for future urine marking it. 

If you suspect she's the one peeing on the couch, I would set some cameras (this may work well if it's happening often enough rather than sporadically, unless you have cameras that can run 24/7) and then if it's her, we would need to carefully evaluate why this is happening. It's always best though starting with a vet exam to play it safe. 

 

[CAITLIN FITZGERALD]

Great, thank you for all this information! She stopped acting sick shortly after my last post so we’re just going to watch her and I’ll set up a camera. I am pretty certain she forgot to pee. She is only territorial with the cats when they walk around her while she eats or chews high value treats and the amount of urine was wayyy too much to be one of the cats. 

The jumping on the couch is playful. She will play with the cats who always start it but then they walk away so she starts chasing them to keep the play going. They’ll run to the couch to escape and she follows them. I will not risk confusing her so we’ll just keep her off the couch.  Thanks again! 🙂

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You're very welcome! Glad to hear Atari is feeling better. Keep us updated on how it goes. 

Best,

Adrienne