Any advice for getting my older dog to use a puppy pad?

[phylny]

Our sweet Jack is taking Lasix for his heart. Lasix is a diuretic. He has to pee a LOT now. My husband and I have created a little “apartment for him out of two crates. One part has his bed, the other has pee pads. I put the pad in his urine stream to “scent” it but so far, he sniffs it but doesn’t use it to pee. Mind you, he is not reliably house trained in the first place, so it’s not as though he’s never peed in the house. I have a dog walker for the two

Help!

[BigmanPigman]

1. Look at my post under the Health forum.

[phylny]

5. Thanks!

[lunasun]

2. Maybe farther away from his bed . in a corner lay the pads or pee crate by the door he goes out

[Sophiegirl]

3. When our sweet Chelsea

Got to the elderly age of 16, she started loosing her ability to control her bladder. We didn’t use puppy pads. First, they can be pretty expensive. Instead, we went to Home Depot and got paint drop cloths. The padded kind. They are as absorbent as puppy pads at a fraction of the cost. You can cut them up to fit then entire “apartment” but still have her bedding in one section on top of the padding.

Covering the entire floor might help. I wish you the best of luck. They also feel bad that they can’t control themselves. I know Chelsea did. You could see the embarrassment on her sweet face.

[procon]

4. Dogs don't want to pee in a crate because that's their bed.

Try a collapsible wire pen with an open top. You can connect the sides to his crate to make a short run with the doorway at the end. Put the pads at the farthest place away from the crate, food or water. Also the wire pen won't hold in the stench and that should make your dog more comfortable and less stressed out that he made a mess in his house.

[phylny]

6. Thanks to all for your suggestions! nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. How big/what breed is your guy? n/t

[phylny]

8. He is a 15 pound mutt.

Supposedly a cross between a shih tzu and a chihuahua. Our previous two dogs were Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. Our first died of mitral valve prolapse-related illnesses at 11 1/2, pretty good for Cavalier. Our second died in my arms at age 7 with severe and complicated health issues. I thought for sure getting a mutt from a shelter would help us steer away from MVD but it’s not meant to be. His murmur was detected about a year ago and he was fine relatively speaking until about a month ago. He’s happy, eating well, playing well, but the frequency of urination that he needs now is going to be very challenging for me to manage and I only work two days a week. So, we’re gonna try a bunch of things this week while my husband is home from work and see what works best for Jack and us.

[phylny]

9. This is my first attempt - we'll see how it goes tonight and tomorrow.

I hope that once he figures out he should pee on the pad(s), I can move him into the two adjoining crate system we figured out - much like this, except roomier: http://modernpuppies.com/

It kills me to have him sleep outside of our room, but I need my sleep!

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[phylny]

10. Success success success!

I'm so grateful for all of your responses. I lined our main bath with the drop cloth as you can see in the picture above, put a pee pad at the end near the door, put his bed and a water bowl in, and used our old puppy gate at the door, and went to sleep. No barking or whining, he went to sleep as well. When I went to get him this morning he was in his bed, there was a huge pile of poop on the pee pad, and the drop cloth had a ring about 18" in diameter. He used it, I slept, I'm ecstatic! Funny that he pooped on the pee pad, but didn't pee on it doesn't matter, he'll figure it out. I've added three pee pads to cover more room and once he starts using them, I'll go down to two and then just one.

He did look a little worried when I got him out, but I praised him and have found a solution.

I'm going to use this set-up until the metal pen I ordered arrives. Then I'm going to do the same setup in the sunroom, which is right off the bathroom hallway, and once he figures out what to do, I'll make it smaller.

Thank you all!