Accidents on Bed

ACES5

I have a 2 year old male that is completely house trained, even asked to go outside in the morning and throughout the day, but in the last month he occasionally has an accident on my bed. It seems to be right around the same time at night before I go to bed. I have even picked up the bowl of water and that seemed to be an answer for a little while, but he had another accident last night. It seems as though he is showing that he is not respecting me? How do I set more boundries so that maybe he does? I was thinking of crating him at night in order to avoid this, would this be a good idea?

philsergeant

Yes. My opinion is that it's not a good overall plan to let them sleep with you, both parties sleep better and he would not be claiming your bed as his by marking it. Let him get comfortable with having his own crate to sleep in at night... ours even go in their crates occasionally in the day to take a nap.

BulliesofNC

That's not an accident, it's deliberate. He's not the first Bull Terrier to do it either. I've heard of a few others that had Bull Terriers that did the same thing and I am amongst that group. Our older female (Kolohe) used to do the exact same thing years ago and it lasted for a while too. Once I made it a habit to keep my bedroom door closed she stopped the antics.

There's no question in my mind it's a jealousy issue. With Kolohe she would deliberately jump up on our bed and pee on it when nobody was watching. Having other dogs in the house that share attention and affection is often the trigger to jealousy. It may also be a sign of showing dominance to the other dogs. Perhaps there's a challenge of alpha dominance in your home between him and another dog?

Kolohe ALWAYS peed on my side of the bed too. It was like she was marking her territory as if she actually thought I'd settle my self in bed on top of her pee and sleep the night and wake up the next morning walking around with her scent of pee all over me. Sounds pretty sick but dogs are animals and they think a little different than us humans. Scent plays a big part of their natural instincts and behavior.

It would be difficult to train your Bullie to stop doing something he finds to be natural and proper but it can be done. Start by shutting your bedroom door. In the event that another accident happens bring him into the room and scold him for what he did.

ACES5

I do have 2 other dogs, an american bull dog and a american pitbull terrier, quite a selection of bullies I know. I kinda have to agree with the jealousy thing, although he is the center of it all every second of the day, I did take note that every time he peed on the bed it was when a came back from walking the other dogs. and now that you mention it, it was my side of the bed each time. (interesting note thank you)

I will definitely take your advice and keep him out of that room, just concerned he will find another location. Child gates have proven to be ineffective. I do want to break him out of his habit of sleeping with us and we wanted to start with crate training, but he is extremely vocal when we leave him out of anything we are doing. Do you have any suggestions on where to start? I was thinking of crating him in our room so that he is not alone. Whether it be that we are sleeping, eating,  he definitely needs to be a part of it all. I realize that we cater to it because he can be quite loud. 

BulliesofNC

Start with putting his crate in your room with the door open for his use at leisure. After  a few days put him in it at night and provide him a bone right before the lights go out. He will get adjusted and start enjoying his crate as most Bull Terriers naturally do.

mbgood

We have a crate in our bedroom that was originally used for our American Bulldog/Mastiff (115 pounds), so it's oversized for our petite bully girl (45 pounds). We put a blanket over the top of it and Murphy sleeps in it every night very willingly. We don't even always latch the door; it is "her room,"  and she has a few blankets she can nest in. Like Phil's dogs, she frequently goes in it on her own to chill (and hide her stolen goodies--socks, underwear, slippers, etc.). We all sleep better, together but separate.Highly recommended.

Djammy

It was one of the first things I learned when I got introduced to Bull Terriers: Allegedly they LOVE boxes and love to stay in them as their own room.

At that time I only knew of such behavior in cats and found it odd to imagine for a dog.

For our Bull Terriers, the former one and now Djamila, we have a supersized plastic box with metal grid areas, just as shown in Steve's photo above, but I think ours may be eben larger, not sure. Too many dogs in the photo to decide This kind of box allows for more privacy than a crate.

Both dogs got crate trained and used their "own room" as refuge to relax in a protected, remote atmosphere and walked/ walk in themselves for bedtime.

Crate training them is mostly easy. First luring them in with treats, leaving the door open. Later rewarding and praising them with treats once they walk in themselves. Then for staying inside etc.

Getting them used to be locked up for longer period of time such as overnight sometimes can take a little longer. Training it through the day, only locking the door for a few minutes first and leaving them the option to use the open box to sleep in at night first and then extend the lock times bit by bit will usually even get very anxious dogs used to it.

Djamila does not even need to hear her "Go crate" in the evening any longer. After her last potty business outside she swings right into her box waiting politely sitting in it for her bedtime treat. She usually sleeps through the night. If it happens that she needs to go in the middle, she will "knock" on her metal door which wakes us and after having relieved herself and a hearty hug she returns into her room on her own to finish sleeping.

No problems with that whatsoever.

It is just a matter of time and acclimatization.