Somebody peed on our bed, and what to make of it?

[M&M's Mommy]

Yesterday when I came home from work, hubby claimed that he was just let the dog in (from their outside pen), gave them each a cookie, then he went to take a shower, when he came out, he saw a large puddle on our bed!. Obviously one of the dogs had peed on it!! There are so many things wrong with this picture, I just don't know what to make of it.

First of all, my dogs are not allowed on our bed, and they know it very well. Even when invited to come up, they are reluctant as if they know it's off their limit.

Secondly, once housebroken, they have never had any accident inside the house!! So as far as yesterday, they have been very dependable. I've leave them inside for up to 6 hours before without any accidents. This time, it was less than 30 minutes, and they just came from outside!!

So, even though I saw the mess with my own eyes, I just couldn't picture Mocha, nor Missy, nor Muffin jumping up on the bed, and peeing on it!! Argh!.

I'm so confused. Is this mean one of them is sick? or upset about something? or suddenly they'll all need to be potty-trained again or what??

Since none of us saw it when it happened, we didn't know who was to blame, and how to correct it, most importantly, how to make sure it never happens again.

Any ideas?

[pessimisaurus]

well first of all I will say that the location is not a surprise. dogs are naturally drawn to urinate on elevated surfaces, AND porous surfaces.

however, it sounds like its extremely out of the ordinary for any of them to have done it, so that *might* mean whoever did it may have a bladder infection or something along those lines. OR, it couldve just been a random accident. behavior is constantly changing, and you can never assume anything will be 100% with dogs behavior. lol they surprise us all the time!

my other thought is, if they arent allowed on the bed, why invite them up?? do they truly understand the limits? they may not. dogs are pretty tricky, and often dont learn what we think they have. for example, alki learned not "dont counter surf" but "dont counter surf when mom is present"! lol when dogs are punished for something they often learn that its not "safe" to do it in your presence, and quickly learn to do it when youre not there. so there could be a chance that one or more of them have learned that its not "safe" to get on the bed when youre around because they get punished, so they just do it when no one is around.

my other thought is, how old are each of them? have they had accidents on the bed EVER in the past before they became reliable in the house? and how long have they each been reliably potty trained? potty training is interesting.. dogs dont learn the difference between inside & outside, they learn substrate and location. so for example when successfully potty trained a dog may learn not to potty on carpet, and to potty on grass. the other tricky thing about potty training is it is SELF-reinforcing, meaning, the act of eliminating is reinforcing in itself. so if when young one or more of your dogs had a couple accidents on the bed it may have become enough of a habit or reinforcement that when faced with a situation of not having access to the most reinforcing potty area (backyard) they fall back on one that had past reinforcement, the bed. (Alki had a spot in my old apt that she would potty on when left loose for over 6-8 hrs, but was completely reliable otherwise).

So.. just some things to think about there. If it were me Id just assume that for whatever reason one of your dogs really had to go potty (maybe they hadnt pottied recently before they were let in) and so they just found a place they felt was acceptable to eliminate. Id chalk it up as a random freak thing and not worry about it unless it continues.

[Whisk_Luva]

Maybe it was your husband but he didnt like to admit it? sorry had to say that! lol

[Canis-Lupess]

Haha, yeah.....

Peeing in strange places like this can be a sign of stress.

I agree though, if you invite the dogs up onto the bed but, at the same time, assume they know they shouldn't be up there. Just because they might give you that look doesn't mean they know they shouldn't be up there.
Things like this can be very confusing for dogs which is why it is always best to stick to one thing. Either they are allowed on or they aren't, full stop. You can't really expect them to understand a half way agreement.

[Freedom]

A one time occurrence that you didn't see, well, there isn't really much you can in that case but wait and see.

Hope for the best!

[M&M's Mommy]

Haha, yeah.....

Peeing in strange places like this can be a sign of stress.

I agree though, if you invite the dogs up onto the bed but, at the same time, assume they know they shouldn't be up there. Just because they might give you that look doesn't mean they know they shouldn't be up there.
Things like this can be very confusing for dogs which is why it is always best to stick to one thing. Either they are allowed on or they aren't, full stop. You can't really expect them to understand a half way agreement.

Oh, no, we don't invite them on the bed that often. At least not anything that could confuse them. Once my hubby called Mocha up but he basically refused to come up, so he scooped him up, and let him lay on his tummy while he laid in there. I did the same with Missy, but that's about it. Muffin had never set foot on our bed, as far as I know.

I know for the fact that they know they are not allowed on the bed, and follow it without fails (well, at least not until yesterday, ) that's why this incident was extremely out of ordinary. Once Missy & Mocha tossed the ball around playing with each other, and it happened to land on the bed. They circled around it, stood on their hindlegs, & leaned their body on the bed, so they could reach the ball, when all failed, they barked to get out attention, so that we could come in and get the ball for them. (I watched them from outside just to see if they would jump up, but it seemed like they tried everything but to jump on the bed to get it)

What bugged me is that this is the same routine that happens everyday. My husband said he didn't do anything different - the dogs knew he was inside the bathroom, and would come back out.

The only explanation I could come up with is that one of them really really needed to pee so badly, so he/she did it inside, but why on our bed & not on the floor next to the door (I would assume they came to the door and waited to be let out like normal, and when they couldn't be let out, they'd pee right there??)

[M&M's Mommy]

my other thought is, how old are each of them? have they had accidents on the bed EVER in the past before they became reliable in the house? and how long have they each been reliably potty trained? potty training is interesting.. dogs dont learn the difference between inside & outside, they learn substrate and location. so for example when successfully potty trained a dog may learn not to potty on carpet, and to potty on grass. the other tricky thing about potty training is it is SELF-reinforcing, meaning, the act of eliminating is reinforcing in itself. so if when young one or more of your dogs had a couple accidents on the bed it may have become enough of a habit or reinforcement that when faced with a situation of not having access to the most reinforcing potty area (backyard) they fall back on one that had past reinforcement, the bed. (Alki had a spot in my old apt that she would potty on when left loose for over 6-8 hrs, but was completely reliable otherwise).

Mocha & Missy are 15 mo old, Muffin is 7 mo old. They've not had any accident on the bed EVER before. (Potty-training Muffin was very easy, because she just followed the other two, and got the idea after only a few weeks). Since I had them, they've only had a few accidents inside the house altogether, but every time it was right next to the door as if they've waited to be let out but couldn't for any longer.

My husband built a kennel for them out in our backyard, and they stayed there from 8 - 5 everyday except on weekends. They learned to release themselves on grassy area. Once being let in at 5:00 p.m., they stay inside until the next morning unless they want to go out for potty. (they would let us know by standing next to the door, and either scratch it or whine