"Your puppy really drinks his own urine?" I was surprised as no other puppy owner had complained to me about this behavioural problem of puppies.  Stool eating was the most common complaint from puppy owners.

Puppy drinking urine?  This 3-month-old Siberian Husky who had been conceived out of accident had grown up trim and long bodied and had come for the final 3rd vaccination. 

He had a pastel brown colour coat with white patches and was one of the four puppies shown in this picture.

"He drank his urine before the newspaper soaked it up," the owner said. "I have searched for information about this behaviour but so far, nobody has reported this. I even bought the powder claimed to stop the dog from eating his own stools, but it is ineffective. So, what should I do now?"

"This is an intelligent Siberian Husky," I said as he was paper-trained within 7 days.  The home breeder had not paper trained him at home at that time because he was with his mother and other puppies messing up the floor.

The breeder sold him at six weeks of age because he was getting too much to handle and the mother refused to suckle all four Huskies.  



The buyer  put him in the bathroom. He covered half of the floor area with newspapers.  Two drops of the smelly toilet training aid was dropped onto the newspaper. The puppy just went to the newspaper to urinate and defecate without much training. 

Now, his problem is the drinking of urine for the past six weeks.

"He sleeps in the my bedroom and will go to the toilet to urinate. Feed twice per day, 7 am and 7 pm.  He poops 5 minutes later.  During the day, he poops 1- 2 times.  But he pees many times.  Are there any drugs to resolve his problem?" the owner asked. 

"No drugs," I said.  Then what is the solution?

"Is it harmful to him?" the owner's wife asked. 

"Yes," I said. "The urine contains the waste and toxic products. Therefore, the puppy should not be killing himself with such waste."  But what is the solution?  This is a behavioural problem and veterinarians are supposed to know what to do.

Solutions discussed with the owner

1.  How many sheets of newspapers used?  3 sheets insufficient to soak the urine.  Use a large number to soak up the urine.  If the owner can afford, use the absorbent puppy training pads or adult human diapers. These can be very costly for bigger breeds but they absorb the urine much better than newspapers.

2. He urinates many times a day, the owner said.  He has his own room with newspaper, when the owner goes to work.
 
Can he be given water to drink for 15 minutes, twice a day. Remove the water after 15 minutes so that he will not be drinking frequently and therefore need to urinate frequently?  Will this cause other problems like dehydration and heat stress?

The Siberian Husky dislikes air conditioning. This is unusual. In this case, he may be acclimatised to Singapore's hot and humid climate.  Since the husky is housed inside the apartment, monitor the volume of water drank per day and restrict his drinking times.

3. Is he seeking attention from the owner?  Owner will come when he hears the puppy drinking urine. Simply ignore him?  This is difficult for the owner to do so.

4.  Physical punishment like hitting him gently on the bum or with a rolled-up newspaper when he commences to drink urine?  Not advised as this will harm the owner-dog relations and cause fear during his fear-imprint period. 

5.  Distract him with noisy cans, water gun, play with him, give him a treat as a reward when he starts to drink his urine? Take his mind away from this vice.  I thought this would be the solution as it felt logical in theory. But may not be practical in practice.

Well, he drinks urine when the owner is at work too.  How does the owner know?  The owner said that the patch in the newspaper is smaller and therefore the puppy must have drunk the urine.  This is hard to quantify.  Install a video camera in the bedroom? Too expensive.

6.  Add vinegar (acidic) to neutralise the smell of urine (ammonia is alkaline) on the newspapers?  This is impractical advice.

7.  Or add fainting salts into urine as the Husky just dislike the strong smell of fainting salts and would back away from the urine-stained newspaper? The owner offered this solution.  Not practical.

8. Ultrasound collar?  The collar emits an ultrasound by remote control when the dog starts drinking urine. May be expensive. No guarantee.  Has anybody done this before?

9.  Squirt water gun into his face when he starts to drink urine?  The owner laughed and said the puppy loved water. 

This is an intelligent dog.  What should be done now?  Restrict his water intake during the day time? Let him urinate after breakfast and then no water. Would this work?

10. Perhaps the best solution is crate training? Confine him to the crate with floor grate for 2 hours such that he cannot soil the small space he lies in. Take him out to pass water downstairs or on the newspapers at regular times. Give praises and treats. The owner has to be full-time in training and this may not be possible as he is working. As the dog grows older, this problem should be resolved, hopefully.

CONCLUSION
A very rare case of a puppy drinking her urine. Most common complaint is that of the puppy eating his own poo.

Readers with ideas, email to judy@asiahomes.com
This webpage:  asiahomes.com/singaporepets/040314urine_drinking_Husky.htm

Your feedback appreciated in this
Toilet-training research blog. Over 100 cases of how Singaporean and expatriate puppy owners toilet train their puppies.   Some cases are mentioned below.
See also toapayohvets.com

LINKS: 
1.  asiahomes.com
2.  sinpets.com
3. Community Education: Be Kind To Pets
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Revised: February 09, 2008