Hi, I have an 18 month old black lab and to give a bit of background she is currently being trained to be a working dog and so far has excelled, even to the point of getting top marks in a field test. I can't fault her at all, from her placid home behaviour to not shaking her soaking wet body when doing water retrieves, she has got to be the most well behaved lady I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Until now... She's currently going through her second season. I understand that she will be different in terms of wanting more attention etc. she was particularly clingy during her first one, but this time it's all gone to pot. She has constant access to her toilet are 24/7 via her dog flap in the kitchen door and yet I keep coming downstairs in the morning to both pees and poops in the morning She has been house trained for over a year now and she never does it whilst we are with her, only at night. No whines to inform us or anything and like I say she can get outside. I originally thought perhaps a UTI but when I noticed the almighty Dinosaur poop in the corner I suspected otherwise. Does anyone else have ladies who's house training go out of the window during their season? I've heard of a couple of accidents happening but this is nearly every night, like shes become lazy. Any thoughts would be appreciated, I just feel so sorry for her as she's so out of sorts
Re: Lab in season - Housetraining Sorry I can't help, I only have boys. Just wanted to say hello and hope you get to the bottom of it (no pun intended ) Does your vet have a view if it's something that could be related to her season?
Re: Lab in season - Housetraining Bitches can become more lethargic during seasons which would account for your description of being lazy, but I think I would check with your Vet in case she has got an infection, good luck .
Re: Lab in season - Housetraining She sounds lovely! I know bitches can be a bit odd during their season, but what you are describing sounds more excessive than I would expect. A quick trip to the vet in order, I think, and hopefully she'll be back to normal after her season.
Re: Lab in season - Housetraining Hi there, a Meg has just finished her first season. Her usual steady wee pattern went out of the window and she needed to go much more frequently and was waking in the night which she had not done for months. She was crated so she did whine to go out. She also was very quiet and sleepy during these first couple of weeks so maybe your dog it just too weary to make the move outside. It took a couple of weeks to settle. I am sure all will be back to normal soon. We are glad it's all over its been hard for her. Can plan to have her spayed now
Re: Lab in season - Housetraining I never experienced it with my bitch but I know from research and other owners that bitches can need to urinate more frequently when in season - some of it down to scent marking, to signal to males that they are ready for mating. I'm not sure that would explain the poo though. Are the poos normal? If they're softer than usual she may have a bit of an upset tummy from something and can't hold it, therefore soiling in the house. Edited to add: You say she is housetrained however she has access to her outside area at all times. In this situation I wouldn't necessarily say the dog is housetrained. Just because they know they should toilet outside doesn't mean they know they SHOULDNT go inside the house.
Re: Lab in season - Housetraining Hi, Thank you for all of the replies! She did it a few times during her first season (three nights of just pee) and we just put it down to generic accidents :-[ . When it happened this time I thought I'd better look into it. She has just gone two nights accident free and seems to be nearing the end of her season now. This morning she's been much more full of bounce and her...ahem... area, is much less swollen. I'm glad I posted on here, I'll be ringing the vets today just to be safe. Penny+Me: We house trained her before we decided to put in the dog flap for that very reason. I thought it wouldn't be very easy to create boundaries and instigate right and wrong if she had free access to outside before being fully house trained so we decided to wait until she was trained before installing one. Do you think that since the flap has been installed she no longer knows the boundary of where she should and shouldn't go?
Re: Lab in season - Housetraining That's great things look like they're going back to normal That's a good way of doing it - housetraining before allowing free access, I've heard a few stories of dogs being allowed free access to the outside from day one and then people wondering why their dog is still toileting inside the house when confined; they weren't housetrained to begin with!! I would have thought they maybe a refresher in housetraining wouldn't hurt, especially as she has been pooing inside this time round instead of just urinating. Are you in the UK? The weather has turned cold recently so maybe she didn't fancy having to go out in the cold!!
Re: Lab in season - Housetraining Hello! Just an update really, thank you all for your replies and I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to you all! All clear from the vets, so nothing to worry about there and she is now back to her usual self, no accidents at all! It would just seem that I have a rather lazy girl when it comes to being in season. I did consider the drop in temp, as it did get mighty cold for a while, but once she had finished her season we had a nasty frost and we were accident free that night too. So I now have a happy pup as we come down to no accidents and lots of belly rubs! 8)
