Q: Yesterday we adopted a darling Collie mix from the Humane Society. She urinated when they took her out of the pen. They commented that she was holding her urine. We came home with her around 5 pm. She did not urinate until around noon today and of course it was in the house. This was after being outside with her most of the morning. She did act like it bothered her or she had some discomfort right afterwards. I'm thinking maybe she has a urinary tract infection.
We spent most of the day outside. Once again when we came in, within 10 minutes she went again in the house. This was around 8 pm. If this isn't something medical how does one train her to go outside?
Your help would be greatly appreciated, as we certainly don't want to give her up, but really can't live with this problem.
A: Well, she's very new in the situation, and it sounds like she possibly has never been housetrained. Some unthinking breeders even accidentally condition dogs to relieve themselves on carpeting, by using it with the mom and puppies at the wrong time.
A urinary tract infection is certainly likely, and you should expect it to take some time to totally clear. I know one vet who routinely gives a month of antibiotics for this, and another who retests the urine frequently to make sure the antibiotic is working. With this approach, it took one of my dogs 6 weeks of antibiotics to completely clear up a urinary tract infection. If you don't stay with the treatment, it can create a long-term problem.
Housetraining is a matter of conditioning the dog to be in the right place when she needs to relieve herself, and then praising her. So you have to be there too. It sounds like this dog tries to hold it when crated, so a crate could be the way to keep her from making mistakes when you are not home, or are asleep. When you can watch her, she needs to be in the same room with you, under your eye.
If you see her start to have an accident in the house, rush her outside with the goal of getting her to finish there, so you can praise her. Punishment does not work for this problem, even if you catch her in the act. If you didn't see it happen, it's especially pointless to try to teach her by punishment. It can cause serious problems to try it.
Every spot does need to be treated so that no scent will linger to a dog's nose, which is far more sensitive than ours, to draw her instincts to use that spot again. A bacterial enzyme odor eliminator product such as Nature's Miracle will do this.
Even if this is a medical problem, she is still confused and will need supervision and guidance to get this straight. I would take a urine specimen along with her to the vet, tomorrow. You can collect this by having her on leash to urinate, and catching it in a clean pie pan or soup ladle. Then pour into a clean jar and take promptly to the vet while still fresh. This is not a sterile specimen, but it does give the vet something to go on. It also saves you money and the dog discomfort that may be involved in other methods of collecting a specimen.
You should give some thought to whether perhaps a dog is more work than you had expected. Stuff leaks out of them all over the place, especially when they are ill. It's very common for dogs adopted from a shelter to go through a respiratory infection and a skin problem in the weeks following adoption, because they have been through a lot of stress. The cleaning up, the need for medical care, exercise, training, the list goes on and on, and it is a very big commitment. If urine on the floor is making it seem you should give her up, think carefully. There is worse to come!