Dogs are amazing animals; there is a reason they are known as “man’s best friend”. With that said, there are some things that dogs do that piss you off. For instance, peeing on the bed. Imagine, you are in your pyjamas and ready to dive into your bed. At that very moment, you catch a whiff of a weird smell and you realize your dog has peed on your bed. I am sure you feel annoyed just thinking about it, right?! If this is a problem you have encountered and you’d like to stop this problem, you need to start by understanding why it happens in the first place. Let’s look at some of the reasons why dogs pee on beds.
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Causes for your dog peeing on the bed
Separation anxiety
Dogs, like people, can experience separation anxiety especially when you’re gone for long periods of time. This anxiety is generally what triggers the potty issues that many dogs experience. This is even more likely when they are stuck and bored in the house. To ease their anxiety, they look for anything that smells like you, and your bed can become the best place for them. Add to that the fact that dogs urinate when they are lonely, and you get pee on your bed.
Overly submissive dog
There are people out there who love submissive dogs and find them extremely desirable. This isn’t bad, except some dogs tend to be overly submissive, especially younger dogs. Overly submissive dogs tend to pee quite a bit: when someone enters the room, when they’re scared, or even when they’re excited. With this kind of behavior, you can understand why these dogs sometimes have accidents on the bed.
For protection
You might think this is a bit far reaching, but remember that a dog is an animal which operates via scents. In order to ward off predators, some animals tend to take up the scents of other animals or fight. With some dogs, especially younger ones, fighting is not an option. However, what could be better than to mask themselves with the scent of their human, you! They do this, hoping that your scent will keep them safe. In addition, they pee on your bed to cover it in the smell of their urine to scare predators away. So next time, go easy on the pup: it sees you as its savior.
Peeing vs marking
Not every pee spot is a dog peeing, weird right! There are times when a dog is marking the territory. Check around the house to see if your dog is only peeing on your bed or also in different parts of the house. While marking territory is normally done by male dogs, but female dogs are known to do this as well. This behavior is more prominent when a dog reaches physical maturity.
Doesn’t quite understand how everything works
Peeing on the bed can also happen when a dog is fairly new to the house. At this point, the dog probably is not housebroken, so it doesn’t know where to pee and where not to. This makes it seek comfortable places where it can relieve itself. Sadly, this can be your bed. Simply adding a dog door might not make much difference if the dog doesn’t know where to go.
Medical reasons
It is also possible that your dog peeing on your bed might be a sign of a bigger problem. This is more likely to be the case if the dog has been properly trained. For instance, a urinary tract condition, aging or another medical problem could cause the dog to accidentally pee on the bed.
What should you do?
There are a number of things you can do to help your dog and ensure they don’t pee on your bed. Here are a few things we recommend:
Prevent urine-marking behavior
If you think your dog is marking his territory, PetSeer – Stain & Odor Eliminator is a good place to start.
Train the dog
If you have a young dog, they might not quite understand how everything works. In such cases, it’s important that you train your dog so they know where to pee. Training your dog will help you in the long run. One thing you should note is that this might take a while, so be very patient with the animal.
Seek help from a vet
As we said earlier, aging or medical issues might be causing your dog to pee on your bed. On that note, it is best to go to the vet as this will help ensure that any problem your dog has is identified and cured as early as possible.
Bar him from the bed
This might sound cruel, but it’s one of the surefire options if you don’t want to pee in your bed. You can either keep the dog in a crate or bar it from the room. For younger dogs, crates are a better option because your dog will get used to it, and start to seek comfort from the familiarity of the crate.
Keep the bed clean
Finally, keep your bed clean. This goes for any other spot that you don’t like the dog peeing in. Once the dog pees in a particular spot, the scent normally sticks. When the dog needs to pee again it will go to the spots it peed last. To avoid this, you need to thoroughly clean these areas.
Conclusion
It’s important that you know your dog so you understand what may be causing it to pee on your bed. Then you will no longer wonder why your dog is peeing on your bed. Instead, you will understand your dog’s needs and start paying it a little more attention.
References:
- https://www.cuteness.com/blog/content/why-did-my-dog-start-peeing-in-my-bed
- http://www.oakwood-canine-services.co.uk/blog/read_72141/why-does-my-dog-pee-on-my-bed.html
- http://www.stopthatdog.com/stop-dog-wetting-bed
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