This can happen to older females, especially if they are spayed. I would take her to the vet, just to be sure there isn't an urgent physical problem causing it. The concensus SEEMS to be that the muscles/nerves controlling the neck of the bladder lose tone with age - or were somehow slightly damaged during the spaying operation - and can't stay closed when the dog relaxes while sleeping. I seem to recall that The Whole Dog Journal had an article on incontinence a few months back, including this situation, but may be wrong - you could google for incontinence and see what comes up - try adding in nighttime or sleeping, aged female dog (the overseer here doesn't like the Bit*h word and refused my message with it, so check if google or your computer has such a monitor), and see if these added parameters narrow down the results any.

A friend had an older Dobie (spayed when she was 6 or 7) who started leaking while asleep - the vet said there was nothing to be done - this was 10-12 years ago, so there may be something now, if you want to go the medication route. In the meantime, to avoid a build-up of odor, you could do what my friend did - put down an old sheet or towel as a sleep pad, and wash it daily, plus using Sweet PDZ (a granule or powder to limit ammonia buildup in horses' stalls) or one of the enzyme odor eliminaters on the bench, since urine stink can be pretty strong in old wood, and hard to get rid of.

If Libby is overweight at all, you might try to get some of the weight off her, since that can be a factor for people, as well as increasing her exercise and thus her muscle tone, including those that control the bladder - no Kegel exercises for dogs that I know of! I seem to recall that a friend had good luck with a home-cooked diet for her dog who was leaking during the day - the dog seemed to be allergic to some ingredient in commercial foods, which was affecting her bladder control, but agin, it was 4-5 years ago, and not relevant at the time. Good luck with Libby.

I had a neutered male Doby that had that problem. The vet gave me some hormone pills to give to him. One pill a day and the problem was solved. I hope you find an answer for her.

Hi,
we have a lab/shepherd mix with the same problem. We give her 50mgs of Phenylpropanolamine once a day and it works great.

-Sheila

Hello:

The first thing I would rule out is to check that your beloved dog doesn't have a bladder infection. Then ask the vet about the above recommendations.

If the vet isn't able to help, then maybe you can manage the situation with making clean-up easier?

I had my old dog in an x-pen on tile at night. He didn't want to sleep on anything padded, so I'd just put old towels, newspaper, etc. and clean-up in the morning. You might need to be creative to figure out a way to confine her in a certain area on your porch where "accidents" won't seep down into the wood, causing lingering odor. Maybe an x-pen over plastic sheeting with something she likes to sleep on over that (something that's easily washed?)

Dogs are very clean, and don't like to soil their sleeping area, so it is obvious that your old girl's incontinence is due to a physical problem. Therefore, you are absolutely right - scolding won't do any good - and might even make it worse by causing anxiety. She doesn't want to soil her sleeping area either!

ANOTHER TIP.....

I make my living training dogs....all live inside, and of course, all have "problems" from time to time....

I've tried LOTS of animal stain remover products. However, the last one I tried was amazing...

It's called Eco-88 and is marketed as removing only biological stains, such as urine, feces, blood, sweat, etc.

I've tried SO many of hese products, that I was very sceptical. I got a sample, and went into my guest bedroom where my incontinent dog had left a urine trail that I didn't know about until the stain had set. I tried everything, including oxyclean, etc. In the end, I realized that I needed to replace the carpet.

Then, I got a sample of Eco-88 as the "miracle" cleaner, and thought - yes right! It DID get out 3 year old urine stains on carpet, and other bio stains, that NOTHING else would get out, and therefore, I don't have to replace the carpet after all. However, I found it more effective on carpet than fabric/clothes.

Hope this helps,

Rachel

My 11 year-old shepherd lab mix girl has started doing this also...in the house ;~(.

But she is dying of adenocarcinoma of the anal sac, and i'm sure the pressure on nerves/bladder from the many tumors are causing the problem.

Signs and symptoms of this include difficult/painful defecation, increased urination and drinking(the tumor tissue gives off hormones that raise blood calcium, eventually damaging the kidneys) and rubbing like they do with regular anal gland problems. It's most common in older females.

My girl had an enlrged anus, too. I hope that's not your girl's problem. The prognosis is not good.