Why Do Dogs Pee on Beds?

Dogs may pee on beds for reasons such as age, anxiety, UTIs, or territorial marking. Understanding what may be causing the problem is the first step to fixing it.

You may have noticed your dog wetting their bed, and even yours, from time to time. It may be frustrating to deal with pee often, never mind how costly it is to change soiled beddings constantly. Understanding why dogs pee on beds is essential to know what to do about the situation. 

Dogs urinate on beds for a variety of physical and emotional reasons, some of which are medical. An anxious dog may urinate in their bed due to feelings of panic, while some dogs urinate due to UTIs. Being equipped with adequate knowledge on the dog-peeing issue will help you better deal with it.

5 Reasons Why Your Dog Is Peeing on Their Bed

Dogs pee on their own beds and their owners’ beds for various reasons. Urinary incontinence, fear, anxiety, and kidney and urinary tract diseases are some of the top reasons dogs wet their beds. Some dogs even pee on beds because they have a ‘grudge,’ such as if their owner has been gone a long time. Narrowing down to a possible cause is far from easy, but it’s the first step to solving the bedwetting problem.

If your dog wet the bed while asleep, that may be urinary incontinence. When your canine friend wets the bed while fully awake, that may be a behavioral or hormonal issue such as territorial marking. It is not a pleasant sight coming back to your bed full of pee, but the dog-peeing problem is one that you can address. Here are 5 reasons why your dog is peeing on the bed.

Urinary Incontinence 

Urinary incontinence occurs when your pup passes out urine accidentally. Just as humans pee in the bed accidentally when growing up, your dog may have peed on the bed involuntarily. If your dog’s urethral sphincter fails, the muscles that close your pup’s urethra involuntarily stop working properly, allowing urine to leak.

The sphincter that holds the bladder closed may relax while your dog is asleep. This is more common in older dogs and spayed females that lose some muscle tone in the bladder area. 

Urethral muscle failure results in accidental urination when your pup relaxes or sleeps. Other factors include tumors, neurological problems, or infections. 

If your dog accidentally urinates and leaves stains, opt for the bio-enzymatic PawSafe Pet Stain and Odor Eliminator is specifically designed dog urine remover. This removes both the odor and the stain.

Young puppies are likely to experience urinary incontinence too. This is because they can’t control their bladders for more than a few hours at a time, causing them to pee in the middle of the night. Spayed female dogs can experience hormone-responsive urinary incontinence due to estrogen interruption from the removal of ovaries. Estrogen plays a vital role in controlling the urethral sphincter, meaning that the ability to hold pee in is affected.

Behavioral Issues such as Anxiety

Some innate personality traits may cause dogs to urinate in their sleep. After a whole day of being nervous, your dog may end up with anxiety-related urinary incontinence. 

An anxious dog may exhibit other signs such as excessive paw licking and destructive behaviors like chewing on furniture. Changes in the environment such as moving or separation from owners may trigger anxiety in dogs.

Emotional and Hormonal causes 

Fear

Sometimes, dogs urinate in beds when they are in unpleasant emotional states. Fear due to loud noises like thunder can cause bed wetting in your pup. If you see your pooch backing into a corner or urinating on the bed, that’s a sign that they are afraid of something in their surroundings.

Your pup may opt to pee on their bed or yours because it’s a safe and familiar environment that they are hiding in. If your dog urinates and stinks up your coach, our article covers how to get a bad dog smell out of your couch.

Excitement

Your dog can be so excited that they cannot help themselves, sometimes even from helping themselves on the bed. This is especially common in puppies full of excitement for life and their environment. Young puppies are still developing complete control of their bladders, causing them to pee in extreme happiness. One common situation is during transportation, prepare yourself before road trips by reading our getting the dog smell out of the car article.

Male Hormones and Dominance

Unneutered male dogs may take to peeing on specific surfaces to mark their territories. This can include “high-value” spaces such as a favorite couch or your bed. This kind of behavior can increase if they feel threatened by a new male, strange person, or even to “get back” at you.  Despite what people may think, dogs do have the capacity to hold grudges.

Sometimes,  these kinds of dogs can take to peeing on your bed after you scolded them, or on the bed of a visitor they don’t like. Neutering should mostly stop this behavior, but it is important to raise your dog in a safe, positive environment with clear rules and boundaries to avoid this kind of acting out.

Medical Problems

There are a number of medical issues that can lead to dogs peeing in the bed too. These include:

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)

Dogs suffering from an infection of the urinary tract experience an increased urge to urinate. In addition to needing to pee more often, you’ll notice your dog struggling to pee because it’s painful. UTIs lead to urgency incontinence due to an overactive bladder (AOB). As a result, your dog pees where they are, even on the bed.

UTIs result from the adherence and multiplication of bacteria in the urinary tract. Stress, bladder stones, and tumors may cause UTIs in your pup. Chronically dehydrated dogs can also suffer from these infections.

Kidney Disease

Dogs can suffer from either acute or chronic kidney disease. Kidney disease results from the failure of the kidneys to eliminate toxins from the bloodstream. Chronic kidney disease develops gradually and is untreatable, while acute kidney disease is sudden and is at times reversible.

Acute kidney disease results from improper diet, ingesting toxins like antifreeze, or urinary obstruction. Chronic kidney problems can come up because of genetic makeup, severe dental issues, or autoimmune disease. A dog with kidney failure will urinate more frequently and even pee on the bed.

Diabetes 

Diabetes mellitus causes increased water intake and urination. Dogs with diabetes will urinate more frequently in an attempt to eliminate the excess sugar in the blood. Excessive blood sugar in diabetes is due to the lack of insulin production or a reduction in the sensitivity of the cells to insulin.

Incomplete House Breaking

Dogs must be potty-trained to know where it’s okay and when not to pee. If your pup pees in multiple places in the house, including the bed, they’re probably not fully house-trained yet. If your dog is peeing because of incomplete house training, it is important to start the process from scratch.

How to Stop Your Dog from Peeing on Bed

Final Thoughts

Dogs urinate on their beds because of anxiety, age-related incontinence, excitement, kidney issues, or UTIs. You can clean the urine spot with a commercial pet stain remover to discourage your pup from peeing there again. Consult your vet if excessive urination occurs with other signs like changes in appetite or showing pain.

Meet Your Experts

Tamsin De La Harpe

Author

Tamsin de la Harpe has nearly two decades of experience with dogs in rescue, training, and behavior modification with fearful and aggressive dogs. She has worked closely with veterinarians and various kennels, building up extensive medical knowledge and an understanding of canine health and physiology. She also spent two years in the animal sciences as a canine nutrition researcher, focusing on longevity and holistic healthcare for our four-legged companions. Tamsin currently keeps a busy homestead with an assortment of rescue dogs and three Bullmastiffs.

Tamsin de la Harpe has nearly two decades of experience with dogs in rescue, training, and behavior modification with fearful and aggressive dogs. She has worked closely with veterinarians and various kennels, building up extensive medical knowledge and an understanding of canine health and physiology. She also spent two years in the animal sciences as a canine nutrition researcher, focusing on longevity and holistic healthcare for our four-legged companions. Tamsin currently keeps a busy homestead with an assortment of rescue dogs and three Bullmastiffs.