My dog has started wetting the bed.?

Question

A bit of background. he is a rescue dog, he was attacked by other dogs and nearly killed. A rescue group picked him up and treated him, then we collected him as our family pet. We are not sure of his age, when we got him, he was just finishing teething, making him about 1 year old, he is a mongrel. His appearance is that of a German shepherd, except that he is a dark sandy colour all over and his tail sticks up.

His personality is one that fits well with the previous German shepherds that I have had as pets before. He normally does his toilet outside as he likes to mark his territory, but occasionally in the back garden when he is a bit urgent. He suffers from acute defensive/aggressive behaviour (lots of things scare him, and when they do he will attack).

We have had him for 2 years now, and he sometimes has active dreams, occasionally waking up scared as though he has had a nightmare (He is a highly intelligent dog, so I would not be too surprised if he has had nightmares, but there is no real way to know).

This week, however, we have noted him having active dreams 3 times (more often than normal). On 2 occasions he has wet the bed, the third occasion he got up with a sudden start and ran outside whining and refused to come back inside the house.

I am wondering if anyone has a similar experience to this, and knows a way to sooth my dog, or if we can help with the problem (we can't just stroke him every time, or we would not get any sleep ourselves).

Verulam 1 · Answer

There's no doubt but what happens to a dog in his previous 'life' can well stay with him for the rest of his life so you will have to make allowances for that and perhaps try to avoid the situations that appear to upset him if you can.    Yes dogs have dreams and what they might be about will never be known - could be bad dreams, could be good ones.   Don't try waking him up from a dream however.

Ruling out some urinary tract infection causing his to have an urgent need to go, I think best you can do is have him sleeping on bedding you can easily launder and try not to make a big deal of his accidents.

I'd not even try to stoke him when he has a bad moment - that could actually make him think there IS something to be worried about rather than the opposite.    If you've had him for 2 years now, this isn't to do with him settling in but as it is something different, I'd have him in for a health check, taking some urine with you to be checked.

GreyhoundAdopter · Answer

Any time that a housebroken dog has unusual accidents in the house, you have to suspect a UTI (urinary tract infection). You should take a fresh urine sample from the dog into your vets office and have them test it to see if he indeed has an infection. A round of antibiotics should clear up the problem, if that is it.

You need to rule out any medical issues first.

Elaine M · Answer

It could be a combo of fear and incontinence. The incontinence can always be fixed with antibiotics, have his urine tested for this issue.

As for the fear, a lot of abused animals have awful dreams.  One of our former outdoor cats would have horrible ones, we finally just started talking quietly to him when he started whiffling in his sleep and he'd calm right back down.  With dogs do NOT touch them when they're in the middle of a nightmare, this can get you bitten by accident. But do talk quietly to him, it'll help break the nightmare.

It might be a good idea to do a chest wrap with him, this calms them.   It's a good anxiety cure.  There's illustrations on this page -- http://barkpost.com/diy-anxiety-wrap/

Land-shark · Answer

UTI or seizures. Your vet can help with both.  A urine test also can hlep pick up kidney issues which, when bad, can include seizures.

Anonym · Answer

then why are you dumb enough to allow your dog into your bed?

My dog has started wetting the bed.?

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