Has anyone had experience with this or theories about why this is happening? I've only heard of this type of behavior in senior dogs and I haven't found any similar stories when I search online.
I have a 5yo dog that has 1-3 accidents a day for 2-4 days every month, and has done since I got her at 1yo. Our vet has tested for medical causes multiple times and never found anything wrong. She's not incontinent, and squats when she goes, often with little to no warning. And when she pees, she pees a lot.
She's potty-trained, and knows how to ask to go out, and outside this cycle has a pretty consistent schedule. But when she's on her monthly pee-spree she'll either stare at me for ~15 seconds then start peeing, or squat in the middle of whatever she was doing. She doesn't smell around beforehand or go in the same spots, and I clean thoroughly, so I don't think she's doing it because she smells old pee. I put her in a diaper when the cycle starts, and she rarely pees in the diaper. She's crate trained and will occasionally pee there, but rarely. She will not use pee pads.
Everyone is stumped. Our vet and our trainers at have no idea why she does it. I live in an apartment so even if I immediately recognized the stare as needing to pee and not wanting something else, it's not possible for me to get her out the door in that 15 seconds. I take her out more frequently during this time, but she still manages to do it, sometimes 10 minutes after she went out. She gets good daily walks and off-leash exercise as much as I can safely give her, but she's very reactive, and I have to make sure there are no other dogs around. But she's a working breed, and I know she will always need more exercise than I can reasonably give her without a herd of livestock.
Am I missing something obvious?
submitted by /u/ScaredycatKangaroo
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