We have two lab/pitbull mix sisters - both came from an animal rescue shelter; both are 16 months old. They are just over 50 lbs, very active, and generally well behaved. Recently one of our girls has started urinating inside the house. She will leak drops of urine, sometimes a brownish color, and then just go. (The dogs have been house trained since they were 4 months old so this is a new development.) The sister who is urinating in the house is the low dog on the totem pole. Her dominant sister rules her but follows our commands very well. Neither dog acts sick, both run and play as often as they can, but the dog that urinates does it without warning. Could this be a behavior problem or perhaps a urinary tract infection?

PS We switched them to adult dog food when they were a year old and the dog with the problem became a picky eater - as opposed to gulping down her food like she used to.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

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Originally Posted by 2dogfamily

We have two lab/pitbull mix sisters - both came from an animal rescue shelter; both are 16 months old. They are just over 50 lbs, very active, and generally well behaved. Recently one of our girls has started urinating inside the house. She will leak drops of urine, sometimes a brownish color, and then just go. (The dogs have been house trained since they were 4 months old so this is a new development.) The sister who is urinating in the house is the low dog on the totem pole. Her dominant sister rules her but follows our commands very well. Neither dog acts sick, both run and play as often as they can, but the dog that urinates does it without warning. Could this be a behavior problem or perhaps a urinary tract infection?

PS We switched them to adult dog food when they were a year old and the dog with the problem became a picky eater - as opposed to gulping down her food like she used to.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

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I'd get a Vet to check her out before I did anything. How dominant is the other dog? Was there perhaps some sort of fight (or episode) which made the submissive dog more submissive?

I posted yesterday that I have had dogs that would eat this but not that, one that would never eat puppy chow, one that wouldn't eat adult chow. I've mixed dog food and fried hamburger and chicken to mix in it, fed by hand, begged dogs to eat, anything you can imagine to get "someone" to eat.

The two I have now (and I've always had rescues) have very different eating habits - they have their own dishes and there's no cross eating so one will eat and the other will leave her plate until later. No one has ever starved and so I give them a quality dog food and assume they will eventually eat.

It's sort of like kids - the bigger issue I made of the not eating thing the bigger issue it became. Now it's sort of a "OK, time for dinner, here's your dish" sort of thing (with kibble available all the time) and then I wander off.

(My dogs are 3 and 4 now but it's been that way since they were puppies.)

Judy - The dominant dog is not aggressively dominant, just the normal pack dominance displays. They play well together and seem happy with their roles.
I think you are right about the Vet. The dogs hate to go but I really want rule out physical causes. It is deceiving when Dixie, eats, drinks, sleeps, and plays like normal - but the will lay down and just urinate - or will dribble until she lays down and then goes. We make sure she is taken to her 'potty spot' often, so this is confusing, scary, and frustrating.
Well, it's off to the Vet for us.

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Originally Posted by 2dogfamily

Judy - The dominant dog is not aggressively dominant, just the normal pack dominance displays. They play well together and seem happy with their roles.
I think you are right about the Vet. The dogs hate to go but I really want rule out physical causes. It is deceiving when Dixie, eats, drinks, sleeps, and plays like normal - but the will lay down and just urinate - or will dribble until she lays down and then goes. We make sure she is taken to her 'potty spot' often, so this is confusing, scary, and frustrating.
Well, it's off to the Vet for us.

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Is she spayed? My mother's German Shepherd had this same problem and it was a result of a problem from the spaying. I never thought of it - her dog would lose urine when she slept or first woke up.

Dog ended up on hormones for her entire life - solved the problem.

Wonder - ?

(Both of mine need their shots but I can't take both at the same time because of their sizes so I'm taking one on Monday and one on Tuesday. Looks like AskMe Board day at the Vet)

Brownish looking pee makes me think that there is blood in her urine... defintely a vet check.

It sounds to me like a physical problem that needs to go to the vet.

As for a picky eater, check the sticky at the top of the forum. Rich food is seldom a good idea.

Thank you everyone for the advice.

The problem has stopped. No drips, no puddles. I think Dixie knows she is going to the vet. :)
Though we are still going to the vet, we believe that it is possible that Dixie was reacting to some changes we made to her routine. We had a wonderful black lab who reacted similarly. She hated any change in her routine and would stop eating, mope, and refuse to use her potty area in the yard if we moved furniture around, changed our coming and going patterns, or did any yard renovations.

We also found that Dixie only wants to eat after her dominant sister. Then she makes a game out of it and 'guards' her food. Though her dominant sister finishes her food quickly and leaves the room to play, Dixie looks around for her sister and barks as though her food is in danger. We never saw this type of behavior when our lab and border collie where with us but it seems to help Dixie enjoy her food and she finishes every last bit. :rolleyes: