UTI? Incontinence? Terrible housebreaking??
We've had Dakota since October... he's estimated to be a 10mo Husky/Shepherd/???-mix. Housebreaking has been terrible with him. To the point where I am actually starting to wonder if there is now a UTI or some form of urinary problem going on here. He'll go weeks with no accidents whatsoever, then all the sudden, he's having tons of accidents. (This pattern has happened a few times, now.) They're always either first thing in the morning, or while we're home in the evenings. I let him out before I leave for work. He can hold it fine until lunchtime when I come home to let him out. Then he holds it again just fine until I get home for the day. In the evenings, sometimes he tells us when he has to go, by barking randomly. Most of the time, he just runs back and forth from door to door, and that's how I know he has to go... but a lot of times (more and more lately) he doesn't do this until he's already peeing a trail! We got a bell to put on the door and taught him to hit it with his paw, and he'll do it when I tell him to, but not on his own when he has to go.
Most nights he seems to be able to hold it through the night. On occasion he'll wake me up in the middle of the night, but most of the time he wakes me up between 4:30 or 5am. I get up at 5am, so a lot of times he can make it until then, but sometimes he can't and jumps all over me around 4 or 4:30... and if I don't get up quick enough, and sometimes even if I jump right out of bed, he pees a trail in our bedroom and sometimes down the steps!
I'm very good about getting him outside 1st thing in the morning, the last thing we do before bed, after he eats, after playtime, after naps, etc.
Also, sometimes in the evenings, he goes out frequently... sometimes not even an hour apart. We're having one of those nights tonight. I noticed he was pacing, so I got up fast and let him out, and here when I came back, he had pee'd a little on the couch!
I can't figure out if it's us just expecting too much from him (he was a stray before we got him, so may not have had much potty training before) or if we have a real problem here. I am calling the vet tomorrow morning to make an appointment for him, but any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!