Un petit probleme.

Some things just sound better in French, n'est-ce pas? Anyway, after my exuberant post of last night, I realized we had a potentially serious problem. Alec had not been urinating well in the cart, and I thought he just "needed time" to adjust. Well, that was a bad call, as I noticed he had peed all over his bed, literally right after I posted about how great everything was with the cart. He has not had an "accident" in his bed in over a month, ever since he started going to the bathroom outside... I even took the wee wee pads off his bed last week (is the universe smiting me for letting my guard down?). So it was a giant mess and all over him too. I could tell he felt really bad, he didn't want to go in his bed; his bladder was just full. And of course he was reacting to my distress. I didn't get angry but I did almost start crying - it was just such a mess and I felt so bad! Not to mention confused. Why is he not going? He pooped fine so it's not some psychological "I don't want to go in this weird contraption" type thing. And I noticed he was going over to his usual spot and lifting his tail (which I have come to recognize as the bladder pump), but nothing was coming out. Juli said she never had a problem with a dog not urinating in the cart (of course!) and that maybe it needed adjusting. She suggested I call Leslie at Eddie's Wheels for their advice. So I emailed Leslie photos today of Ali in the cart and she said it did look like a perfect fit, which I was happy to hear. But that means nothing to adjust in order to fix the problem. She said they "occasionally hear of male dogs who cannot urinate while in the cart. We suspect that their urethras are being pinched off by the way they fit in the saddle. The usual solution is for you to gently lift the dog’s rump - using the tail is ok -and see if he can urinate when you elevate his rump a little bit." So I tried that this evening and the first time it didn't work, but the next time it did... althought I don't know if he was able to empty. I will keep trying. If this doesn't work, I don't think anyone has other suggestions... and he just has to be able to urinate in his cart.

The better news is that he is loving his wheels and enjoying his short walks outside. If only we can solve this little problem...