Puppy drinks her own pee

[Nuno1123]

Hi, everyone. Long time since I created a topic. Yoshi, my scared puppy is now 6 years old and much calmer and trainable. She end up being a great dog. 

And now it's another puppy that is bringing me here. I adopted a 4 month female border collie rescue 2 months ago. She is super energetic and very very smart. Unlike Yoshi, she fears nothing! 

Life changes and at this moment I don't have as much time as I had to train Yoshi, so I recognize we are a bit behind with the new puppy, Aimi. 

She is not affraid of anything and negative feedback surely does not work at all. Having issues to keep her away from trash bags as she is a way too much food oriented (must have some connection from coming from a shelter). 

The biggest issue I have though, is the peeing. Not only I have been having some difficulties in teaching her that at home she can only pee and poop on the little terrace that I have, but also she has a strange behavior when she pees in the house. She drinks her own pee. I have no idea why she does it. I'm just affraid it indicates some nutrition imbalance. 

Any ideas what might be and ways to stop it? She then smells bad because of it... 

[Michael Parkey]

Cute puppy, I love the one-up-one-down ears.

Are you sure she is really drinking her urine?  Our two year old male will sometimes lick the urine of other dogs (or people if given the opportunity!).  I think this behavior is to bring the "full bouquet" to the vomeronasal organ.  It is especially associated with sensing pheromones.

[urge to herd]

What Michael said. Dogs will lick up urine in order to get the fuller 'bouquet'. All my dogs have occasionally 'sampled' urine by licking leaves or even the ground. I don't like it, but I'm also not worried about it. If you think of it as getting more information, it's a little less yucky for us humans.

If you're saying she urinates then turns around and drinks what she's just put out, that's different. Veterinary visit, if the vet is concerned then you can go from there.

ETA yep, did some quick research. That's what she's doing, very natural. You can try to training her to 'leave it', which is a very, very good command for your dog to know. BUT, since it is such a natural thing for a dog to do, don't expect that the urge to check out urine will go away.

Ruth & Gibbs

[Nuno1123]

Thanks for both replies.

I know dogs usually smell and taste each others pee and that it is normal. In this particular situation though it's her own pee and it's not a simple lick or sniff. She stays there licking like she is drinking water. Sometimes I hear her licking liquid in another division of the house. I think she is drinking water, but when I check on her, she is drinking the pee. That's why I am a bit concerned. A visit to the vet will be scheduled soon.

Thanks for the advices, and yes I have to invest more time training her. She still pees anywhere in the house and it's been a struggle cause we live in a flat (have a big balcony tho), I spend quite some time away from home because of work and it's winter so it's raining a lot these days. So she doesn't go as much outside and pees anywhere. Even on the couch and her own bed. I'm giving her positive feedback when we go outside, where she is peeing regularly, but rarely makes poop. So I only let her play outside with yoshi (there is a big garden nearby where they can run a play along) after she does pee and poop. Hope I'm doing it right, as I don't really remember how long it took with Yoshi (it was easier back then because I had more time available too).

I'm not sure if she will have one-up-one-down ears when she grows up because the ears have been straigthing up progressively. Yoshi had too when she was a puppy and now she looks like a bat ahahah

[SS Cressa]

Could she have a UTI?

[Nuno1123]

13 hours ago, SS Cressa said:

Could she have a UTI?

I am not sure. I think not. 

Actually yesterday was super tough. When I arrived home there was plenty of diarrhea on the floor. She refused to eat and then checked her gums, were pale. Went to the ER. They gave her fluids. Got better but had to stay there for observation! Super scared! No news yet. Probably not related but scary anyway! 

[Michael Parkey]

Sorry to hear it!

[SS Cressa]

Oh no. Hope they can figure out what’s wrong 

[Nuno1123]

She is fine and home now. No one is sure what caused it. Just to be safe will be tested for mdr1 gene. 

Sorry for the "off topic". 

All other tests are fine so the pee drinking is probably just a behavior issue. Will try to work on it as best as possible. 

Thanks everyone. 

[GentleLake]

I'm happy to hear Yoshi's OK after your scare.

I wonder if it's possible that she's trying to clean up the pee because she doesn't want her indoor space dirty. Dogs naturally want their den/home space clean. If that or something similar is the case, i.e. that for whatever reason it's a behavioral issue, then (sorry to be blunt) it's probably your fault.

You say that you don't have as much time to train her and you say that you hear her drinking her pee in another part of the house where she's gone to go where you don't see her. These tell me you're not paying enough attention to her to prevent her from eliminating inappropriately in the house. IOW, you're not do the training to teach her where she should and should not go.

The single most important part of house training a dog is to prevent their making mistakes in the first place. If a puppy or adult dog has the need to go with no oversight as to where it takes place, then they're bound to develop bad (to the human) habits.

My suggestion would be to go back to square one with your training. Never let her out of your sight unsupervised and give her plenty of opportunities to go where you want her to by taking her there often and praising her for a job well done. Pay attention to her signals and interrupt her elimination before it happens. If you can't be paying enough attention to her to see when she's looking for a place to go, then crate her. She's old enough that she probably won't want to dirty her crate and will cry or give you come other clue that she really needs to go.

Good luck.

 

 

 

[D'Elle]

I will chime in and agree with what Gentle Lake said above. This is a behavioral issue, and that means it is changeable with the proper training. As GL said the best way to train a puppy where it is appropriate to eliminate is not to allow improper elimination at all.

This is hard to do perfectly; accidents will happen. But from what you say it is clear that you are not giving the degree of supervision that is required. A puppy should never, ever be left to her own devices in a house at such a young age.

When I have had a pup in my house the rule is solid: the pup is either under my direct supervision (which means I am not using the computer or reading, although I can be talking on the phone if I never take my eyes off the dog), or in a crate or safely closed-off area such as an X-pen. Even if I am going to the bathroom for 2 minutes, the pup goes into the pen until I come back.

The puppy goes out every 2 to 3 hours to go potty, and is taken out after eating, playing, or any other activity. If someone is coming to the house, the pup goes outside before the person gets there. And so on. It is up to the owner to think ahead of all the times and reasons that a pup may need to potty, and to be sure it is done in the right place and praised. The pup should not be punished for going in the house, because as I see it, it is the fault of the owner if that happens, not the fault of the baby dog.

If you go back to the beginning and properly train this dog you will not have the problem, and I would be willing to bet the pee drinking will stop as well. To me it sounds like a nervous habit developed due to having been scolded or punished for going in the house (although this is just a guess on my part because you did not say you did that).

You mention a terrace? I am wondering if this is paved, and if so she may not be able to tell the difference between this paving and your floor? Try taking her only to some grass or dirt for her potty time.

As for the trash bags, just put them, and anything else you don't want her to get into, in a place she cannot reach. simple solution.

[Nuno1123]

Thanks for all the inputs.

I live in an apartment. The terrace has tiles pavement which is different from the place of the house where she spends most of the day which is the only room with acess to the terrace which is wooden floor. The door is always open so she can acess outside whenever she needs.

I don't take away the possibility of she trying to keep it clean but I don't think it's that as she did her potty on her own bed some times.

I do know it's been my fault, hence asking here what I could do to improve!

I appreciate all your advices. I won't be able to follow everything as such because unfortunately my lifestyle, time and availability won't allow but I will definetely take it back to basics so I don't skip important phases in her education. I try not to use negative feedback. I also think positive reinforcement is the best way, and sometimes it's just harder for me to control the whole environment in the house. 
 

[urge to herd]

Nuno, one more bit of advice: try one thing at a time. If you start doing several different things you won't know what makes a difference or doesn't make a difference. Easier to discover what is working if don't throw it all at her at once.

Good luck!

Ruth & Gibbs