Most of us dog owners really don’t mind that our dogs seem to really like sleeping on our beds. Yes, they seem to love our beds even if we get them the most awesome dog beds. Sadly though, it can become quite an unpleasant experience at times when some puppies or even full grown dogs wet our beds.

The completely normal and natural way to react to a recurring situation like this is to get concerned and wonder – why does my dog keep peeing on my bed? Is everything ok? Is it a health issue? Is my dog experiencing some anxiety that I should address?

There are many possible reasons why a dog wets its owner’s bed. In this article, we’ll go through the reasons why. Overall, there is nothing to be extremely alarmed about. Of course, don’t forget to consult a vet any time you suspect there might be a more serious underlying cause.

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Reasons Why My Dog Pees On Your Bed

Your dog is trying to cover its scent

This is more often the usual case with younger dogs than with older ones. This often stems from the fact that when dogs live in the wild, they instinctively cover their scent as a method of self-protection. Sometimes, your puppy or dog will stick to this natural instinct and unintentionally act on it.

It’s common for dogs to roll around in their owner’s bed as they love the scent of their owner. As part of their behavior and instinct, the dog then tries to cover its scent by urinating on the bed.

Your dog has a medical condition

Let’s hope this is not the reason, but unfortunately, it’s one of the possible ones.

If this behavior (peeing in your bed) appeared out of nowhere and really suddenly, especially if your dog is older, it might mean that there are some health issues involved. If your dog has never done anything like this before and has been perfectly potty trained, it’s probably happening because it suddenly can’t really control its bladder. If you’re afraid this might be the reason, see a vet immediately. Some of the medical conditions that might be causing this are urinary tract infection, diabetes, and incontinence.

Your dog is scared

If your dog has recently been through some stressful or upsetting episodes, it might still be scared and nervous. Just like little kids might do sometimes – it reacts by accidentally peeing in your bed.

If you can’t think of a specific unnerving incident your dog has been in recently, yet find your dog peeing in your bed when you’ve been away for a while, that might be the exact reason – it’s scared and anxious that you might not come back to it. If this is the case, be sure not to jump to conclusions and assume your dog is rebelling against you or misbehaving on purpose. Try to see things from its perspective and realize that it’s only afraid and peeing in your bed as an unintentional way of coping with its anxiety – Studies show hugging your dog is fine too.

Your dog is extremely submissive

Did you know that dogs that are overly submissive actually tend to pee more than other dogs? They just get easily excited and most of the time, they end up leaving a mark. It’s not only when they are excited though, they also tend to pee when they are scared, even with the smallest of things. Some of these overly submissive dogs even pee as a sign of respect for their owners. All in all – these dog with such submissive temperaments do tend to pee a lot and everywhere – your bed might just happen to be one of those places. If your dog is still really young though, don’t worry as it will most probably grow out of this behavior as it grows older.

Your dog is trying to mark its territory

This is perhaps the reason that most dog owners are familiar with. As we know, dogs have the natural tendency and instinct to pee on things to mark their territories and in this case, your bed just happens to be one of them. Dogs that are more dominant or even aggressive can try to mark the surrounding of your house or even your bed just to assert its ownership of that territory. A common advice when it comes to this is for the dog owner to start being a bit more assertive and somehow act in the alpha role more significantly so your dog knows you’re the pack leader.

What Should You Do?

Now that you might be able to pinpoint potential causes of your dog’s peeing on your bed, here are some solutions and ideas that you might want to try out.

What to do when your dog is peeing in the wrong place

Consider getting a crate

When you’re not at home, putting your dog in a crate will help keep it off your bed. Some dog owners do think that it can sound cruel at first, but some crates are actually a lot more comfortable than they seem and dogs don’t take long until getting used to them. Just remember why you’re doing this – your dog needs to learn what’s good and what’s bad, and in order to stop it from peeing on your bed, it has to go through a phase like this.

Keep things super clean

Try to wash your sheets more often. By doing so, you might reduce the chances of your dog smelling the scent of its urine and peeing over it once more. Try to use an appropriate pet odor eliminator. This method, unfortunately, isn’t the most effective although it wouldn’t hurt to try. This is because dogs have such a strong sense of smell that it might still be able to smell even the tiniest trace of its urine on the sheets after you’ve washed it.

Understand your dog

If it’s not an underlying medical issue, try to find out what the real reason for your dog peeing in your bed is. This will help you respond to it more appropriately. Is it possible that your dog is scared? Has it been through something stressful? Has it not been properly trained? Take some time to analyze things as this is the only way that you can really solve the root issue the right way.

Immediately consult your vet

Of course, if you can tell that it’s not exactly a behavioral issue and more of a medical one, you should immediately consult a vet. If you’ve eliminated the possibility of an underlying medical condition, you can do the second best and most logical step – not to allow your dog to get on your bed. It’s the simplest prevention!

Conclusion

As much as we love our dogs, having urine stained bedsheets is certainly not ideal. Try to find out first what the underlying reason is so you can try to target the root cause and stop your dog from peeing on your bed. Have you tried any other ways to stop your dog? Share with us in the comments!