OT: Need help from Dog Experts...

I'm far from an expert Kate but I'd guess it's a medical problem. If he's been well behaved up until now, just bound to be that the poor darling needs help. (I realize that you do too.) I hope his appointment with the vet is really soon. Does he have access to the outside so he can get out when he needs to? Polly

I have no veterinary expertise, but have lived with dogs all my life, and have found that any time a well-behaved dog has a sudden change in behavior without other explanation, it's almost always a medical problem. As such, as frustrating as it is to you, it's also frustrating to the dog, and nobody's fault. Patience can be difficult, of course, but is necessary. Good luck!

Forgot to add this. As to how they get a dog to weewee a sample into a container, this is what they do at my vet's office -- they take the dog outside the office on a short leash to where there are lots and lots of good smells from all the other dogs, and when your dog lifts his leg or squats to mark territory with a bit of weewee, they quite literally hold a pan underneath to catch it. When they need to get a sample from a tiny little dog too small to stick a pan under, they wait until the dog starts to weewee and then literally lift the dog and hold the dog over the pan. (Apparently, once a dog begins to weewee, the dog keeps on going even if you stick a pan under it or pick up the dog.) When my mutt Clara needed a follow-up lab test to check infection, I got out an old saucepan from the camping stuff, followed her in the back yard, and used the pan to catch the sample of weewee, poured it into a plastic margarine container, and took it to the office while she stayed at home and napped! The saucepan now lives in the garage and will be just for weewee-catching, and I always keep several throw-away plastic containers with tight-fitting plastic lids just for that sort of thing. (And I always keep spare plastic spoons and forks for scooping up other samples . . . ) This is probably more than you wanted to know, but being able to catch a sample is easier (and cheaper) than having to take the dog to the office.

Urinary tract infection if he's neutered. If he's not, I'd guess his prostate is having problems. But get him to the vet quick. That's not behavioral, it's illness.

Sunny (please let us know how it turns out)

If you need to provide a urine sample, here's the easy way. Tape a soup ladle to the end of a yardstick. When he urinates, slip the ladle under the stream. Easy peasy. I've had to do it on more than one occasion and it works well. With my female pup, I just popped the ladle under her backside just before she squatted.

Denise