My dobe is clean but we still have an odd accident in my kitchen at night.  Sometimes he wakes me if he wants to wee, but other times he will just go on the floor.  Usually the incident happens after an event, I will explain.  We went on holiday a couple of weeks ago and my dobe was staying at home with my eldest son, the morning I was packing to go, my dobe wet on my bed (he has never ever done this).  My son noticed my bed looked wet, and also my dobe wouldn't walk into the bedroom anymore.  We came back last Thursday, we got back late evening, when I got up in the morning he had wet and poo'd on the kitchen floor.  Then yesterday I was packing for my son (who went on holiday about 8pm last night), and this morning I got up for work and my dobe had poo'd and wet on the kitchen floor.  It is so frustrating.  I walked into the kitchen this morning and he looks all upset, as obviously I say "whats this", but I really can't understand this.  We had a dobe before and once he was clean, apart from the odd accident that was it.  Also he doesn't lift his leg when going in my kitchen, he never wets up my cupboards it is always just on the floor.  Please help me!!!

Perhaps a daft question, but how long does he go between graden trips?  My brother always used to complain about his dobe/rott bitch, and her "incontinence" - he claimed she was incontinent from being spayed, because she always went in the house.  Since she moved in with us and had a dogflap, she has never, ever gone in the house - even when I shut them all in for 8 hours once (by accident!!).  He just never let her out often enough.  I don't mean to say you might be doing it on purpose - sometimes people genuinely aren't aware how often dogs need to go out.

Perhaps it's a similar thing with your boy?  Also, have you had his tested for urinary infections? It doesn't sound likely as he's not having frequent accident,s but it's worth checking out.  Some dogs do take a long time to train; my sister has a 10 month old Chihuahua that's still not housetrained - but at 18 months it sounds like somethine else is at play.

Dear Nikita,

Thank you for your reply.  I am at home most of the time with my dobe and my door to the garden is mostly open, so he basically goes to the garden when he fancies.  Even in the evening the door is open, and he potters in and out.  The problem is happening through the night, but usually after an event, eg. if we have been out.  My dobe generally goes to the loo last thing at night (around mid-night), then I am up at 5am to let him out again.  Sometimes if he wants to go in the garden at night he will come up to my bedroom and whine and I will go down and let him into the garden.  But generally he is clean.

It sounds as if his reaction might be due to stress - the changes in the house are unsettling him.  A DAP defuser may help, as could Bach Rescue Remedy.

You need to remember though that making any comment about it when you find it won't help him, and may make him worse :(

I had a dap diffuser when I first got him.  He has always been quite hard work since day one.  When we first brought him home, he wouldn't eat, so I hand fed him.  I slept with him for the first few nights, until he settled.  He follows us around the house, he whines quite alot and generally loves to be with you.  He rarely stays in the garden unless I am in the kitchen and he can see me, but if I disappear from the kitchen he will come into the house.  I have put a post before (quite often actually).  It just seems that when he goes to toilet (in the night) it is as though he is doing it because he is creating!  Eg:  We had just come home from holiday.  I am with him most of the time.  I have two boys 18 and 15, if I am out he will follow one of them around.  I can't understand why he should be stressed, the night my son son went on holiday, all his friends came to our house (which is quite normal, his friends are always round) then they all went out, this is quite normal as often mine is the meeting house, and then they all go out at the same time, the only difference was my son was going on holiday.  I am my dobe's main carer, I feed him, walk him and am with him most of the time.  Surely as someone else said if he had a problem with an infection he would wee or poo at other times, not only when it seems we have done something that he is not happy about, eg. gone out with friends for the evening. 
People say that dogs don't understand, they only understand words associated with something, also that they don't know what they have done, so if I mention what he has done in the kitchen, how would he know what I am talking about, I don't shout or change the tone of my voice, I just say as I walk in the kitchen eg. "whos done poos and piddles in the kitchen".  We never ever get angry with him, after being on this site I have taken note of what people put on their posts, and also I have never wanted a dog that is scared of us.  I need to know what you mean about stress though.  Thank  you. 

Packing for a holiday, even just planning it, can be stressful for us humans, even if we don't realise it.  For a dog who has a relatively ordered day, to suddenly see his humans behaving differently can be stressful - he doesn't know *why* you're doing it, or maybe it's behaviour he's seen before - and he went into kennels shortly afterwards......  Fouling the owners bedding is particularly indicative of stress and a need to develop his position within the pack - the sharing of scents.  I think the most extreme case I've ever come across is the family who were planning a wedding - the dog ceased the behaviour when the wedding was over......

Dogs have VERY good understanding of body language - they have to as it is a primary method of communication between dogs.  And they are also very adapt at reading our body language, so even though you try and keep your voice tone level, he may be reading the slight tension in your shouldars because you know there is another job to be done before leaving for work etc.  Dogs are so good at this, it is believed they often use it in their role as seizure alert dogs......

HTH

Thanks for reply.  I must admit we say Mason is bright, but he seems to detect everything.  I just wonder how to go about these things.  I don't like leaving him at all really, but obviously I do have to.  We do have a busy social life, but that is usually a Saturday evening (when we may be out for about 4 hours or so), but then alot of the time one of my boys is around.  I find it really difficult leaving him.  I always leave the television on and give him a chew as we go out.  I wonder what I can do to make him less stressed.  Since having him we do not go out as much, and if we are out I find I am rushing to get back.  My husband gets angry and says "he is only a dog, he will be okay".  I am sure he suffers with separation anxiety! Any help will be gratefully received.  PS:  I probably do baby him a bit too much. 

Hi Debbie

I wonder if the clue is in your sentence " I don't like leaving him at all really, but obviously I do have to".  If you don't like leaving him your body language will reflect this and he will pick up on it.  I wonder if dogs are like humans - get a bit nervous or upset about something and have to go to the loo ?

Be more matter of fact about leaving him - what does he do when you go out?

Mine realise what is happening and as soon as they pick up they are not going with me they go to their relevant beds where I leave them when I go out, I do not have to tell them they just do it whereas the one (or two) that are coming with me get excited and fidigity and will not settle.

Hi, when I go out the last thing I do is to give him a chew, I don't say anything to him but then just go out of the door.  He knows when he is not coming as I do not get his lead.  I was also told not to make a fuss about going out, so I just give him the chew and go out of the door.  Don't get me wrong, I know I do have to leave him, which generally is more during school term time, and then I am in and out during the day more.  Probably I am a bit anxious when we have to leave him for a longer period of time, say for 5 hours or so if we are visiting, and that is when I hate leaving him.  I go out in the mornings when I go to work at 5.30am and I return at 9.45am, but even then he is at home with my husband and two sons.  He does sit, stay, wait etc. and I do tell him to go to his bed and stay, this is sometimes if I go up to the loo, or to put some washing away etc. when he is under my feet.  It has been quite difficult with training him as my husband and children do not always put into action what I am doing with him.  I will try to be different when I leave him, but any help gratefully received.  I have emailed you before and I know you have a good knowledge of dobermanns. 

Repeating the same things when you go out, but only when you go out, CAN upset some dogs even more, so it can help to do the 'picking up the car keys' or whatever it is you do, without actually going out - to desensetise the dog to these routines.  Simply giving him a chew when you go out, if that's the only time he gets a chew can be enough to set them off.  In the mean time, take time to train him to being alone - don't let him follow you around the house, ask for a 'stay' command (if he knows it - if not, teach him!) so that he gets used to being alone for short periods while you are actually in the house, before teaching him to be alone when you are out of the house.

Yes I do give him a chew before I go out, but I don't speak to him or fuss him as I was told not to do this.  I was told to do this.  Often the process of going out is different as sometimes I will pick up a bag, keys, other times I don't take a bag, keys, change shoes etc.  The only thing I do that is always the same is to give him a chew.  He generally knows he is not coming as I don't get his lead.  Yesterday I told him to stay in his bed while I went upstairs, a couple of times he tried to follow me but then he did stay.  When I leave for work at 5.30am he is always settled and he just stays in his bed, but then my husband and boys are still in bed and I return at 9.45am.

the thing that struck me most about this post was your sentence  "walked into the kitchen this morning and he looks all upset, as obviously I say "whats this", but I really can't understand this".
If you do this everytime he messes, he may well get more anxious and do it again.  Dogs have no concept of relating previous events to being told off 2 hrs later.  He will not know what he is being told off for.  The reason he looks upset is he is responding to your tone of voice and body language.  If he is having accidents in the kitchen at night, then it is possible he has become anxious about you returning in the morning and may mess because of it.  I suggest that you clean up the mess without saying anything and greet him happily in the morning regardless of any mess.

What I must say is that when I walk into the kitchen generally he will be behind me, or still in his bed.  As I come down the stairs his bed is at the bottom so the first thing I do is to greet him, as my kitchen is at the other end of the hall and I obviously see him first, if you actually knew me, I am quite a quiet voiced person and I don't generally raise my voice, I speak to him in exactly the same tone and what I said is I walk into the kitchen and generally just get on with cleaning it all up, and I am saying this to myself, so it is not directed at him.  When he looks upset is when he follows me into the kitchen and he has wet in both of the pathways to go to the garden, I have a big table in the middle of the kitchen and he may have wet both sides of it and he doesn't want to walk over it, as you can imagine he is a big dog and he does a fair amount of wee.  To be honest I knew what would be involved in having a dog, so the general thing of cleaning up is not a problem, but I am really trying to find out why he does this when really he is clean.  I don't think he is worried about me getting up in the mornings, as I am sure he would be wetting and pooing more often than he does.  What I did say is that when he does poo or wee it is generally associated with something that has happened the evening before, if we have been out for the evening, he will not poo or wee while we are out, but when we come home and after we have gone to bed he will do it then, but he will have been to the garden or for a walk before going to bed!  In the last 3 weeks there have been 3 situations that have caused him to do this, firstly us going on holiday (he stayed at home with my eldest son), the second was us returning from holiday, and the third was my son going on holiday.

When you mention that sometimes he wakes you when he wants to go, is it possible that sometimes he does this and you simply don't hear him? :)

I know my OH never hears my own dog, whereas I always seem to have half an ear open whatever time of day or night it is.

Lindsay
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