Bloody dog!

Right!

We have a 3 and a half year old Irish Red and White Irish Setter unspayed bitch. Havnt bothered to spay her as she doenst go into heat any more. Something wrong with her pluming but as she is the picture of health we havnt worried about it. And as she was one of 16 in her litter its not that unexpected to have a glitch somewhere lol.

For three and a quarter years she has been totally house broken. Nutso crazy but housebroken. Two months ago she pee-ed on my daughters floor (carpet ) twice. The second time I caught her and "corrected" her. So for two months she has been her normal insane self. Now, in the last two days she has pee-ed on my eldest sons BED TWICE And the second time she came in for a plate of scraps, ate them and went into the bedroom, jumped on the bed and peed so its not even a case of her having to go out.

Does ANYONE have any idea of why she is doing this? Or have had a dog do something like it???

She gets inside time in the morning with the kids, she is inside at night and about every three days she gets 5 miles on the treadmill.

I have gotten use to her not being food safe - she will steal anything not nailed down - and have covered the garbage so she cant get into it. She WAS both food and garbage safe for her first three years but suddenly started getting into both and I simply havnt been able to break her of it.

Why on earth will a dog who is trust worthy suddenly do this and now start peeing in the house on the BED???

I will admit that I have been trying to convince my husband for the last 3 years to let me re-home her as she is just too much dog for our three small kids. She isnt rough with them on purpose but just turning round knocks them over. A working home (she comes from championship field trial bloodlines) or a home with lots of other dogs for her to play with would suit her MUCH better than ours.

I had resigned myself to her living with us as an unsuitable dog till death do us part but not now, if I cant trust her to be house broken consistently she has to go, hubby willing or not!

Any ideas of suggestions will be most welcomed

Please, GB, for the sake of the sanity of the family and the well being of your Setter, speak to your Vetrinarian directly. The first thing to rule out will be recent social/emotional changes. New dog on the other side of the hedge driving her bats? Family member started chemo, lost her hair and generally wonky? (Enter a [slightly twisted] Nanny Dog) Failing an external change affecting her behavior, a sudden change in behaviors usually denotes a change in the animal's health. It could be any number of things. Ear infection. Neural problem. Bladder infection/inflamation. Said she's already been through doggy menopause? Could be going through late life changes. Remember when Grand Ma Ma used to put empty pie tins in the oven at all hours of the night? Just Silly Ol' Grand Ma Ma? No, she's getting senile.

It's a long list of things that your vet is best suited to see, having looked at the dear girl herself.

I would say it's quite possibly bladder problems - I know that when cats suddenly start weeing in unlikely places (other than litter tray, say) then it can be because they associate the litter tray with pain or discomfort from cystitis. Perhaps your dog has cystitis and is trying to wee somewhere that she doesn't associate with pain? As for "correcting" her, perhaps that put it in her mind that floor was a no-no, hence going on the bed instead?

I know that a severe bladder infection in a human can have dementia-type side-effects . . .

I would agree that getting the vet to check her out pronto is the first option, and if no problems found, then rehoming her with someone without small children and who has plenty of space for her.

As her exercise is on the treadmill every few days, can you take her
for good long walks/free runs each day - which encourage a dog to
relieve itself on the way and (certainly in male dogs) marking the
territory. This breed has SO MUCH energy and the default position is
always "nutty". I'd say five miles a DAY is the sort of exercise she needs!

Had to chuckle at the treadmill thing, thats so American! I've only seen that on youtube and cartoons!

I agree that a free run might make a huge difference, my staffy/ridgeback cross runs between 10 & 15 miles a day, and she'd happily go much further. When I first got her we only went for a quick walk around the block and her behaviour was dire, but now shes really placid around the house.

If your vet rules out bladder infection/problems then I'd suggest it is a dominance issue. The fact that she is peeing on beds is a classic sign of this. Also the fact it sounds to be aimed at your children. She is telling them that she is the boss of the pack. Not sure how old your children are but if old enough perhaps they could get involved with some basic training. Setting boundaries like not allowing her into the childrens bedrooms would help place them higher in the pack.

I know Setters are a very intelligent breed and excel at problem solving. If they aren't being stimulated they can become bored and destructive. I don't know if this link helps but its the Frequently Asked Question page of the Irish Red and White Setter Club.

http://www.irishredandwhitesetterclub.com/page.php?page_ID=13

Good luck and I hope she settles down

Have checked her all over as best I can (was a vet nurse for a summer) and she looks in the picture of health, no sorenesses anywhere. Coat shiny, apatite great, activity level through teh roof like normal.

As for free running, not a chance round here. And our garden is for the kids but her pen is 75ft long with a clear view out into the garden so it doesnt even feel cramped.

When we got her we had two acres for her to run on. It didnt seem to make a blind bit of difference to her behavior

Ah yes, dominance issues with the kids her behavior with our eldest (8 now but then 4) almost cost her her life but a shock colar and some sneakyness on my part put her - in her own mind - where a dog belongs in our pack

Arh, hubby hurrying me off the computer will finish nattering on about our lunitic dog later. She is the only dog I have ever had that has two dogs in one skin. Good dog, bad dog!