Our eldest pup (still not "old" really, about 6 years and a small breed) had something of an accident today... He'd been stressing out around the door and making noise, and we figured he was probably just being neurotic again (and he is neurotic, terribly so). GF asked if I'd remembered to take them for a walk earlier today, I said yes (I remember we rounded the school slightly before recess, which is a notable time because the kids adore the dogs and I get worn out being social with the kids)... And there were still a few hours until our standard evening walk time, so it didn't really make sense that he'd need to make a bathroom run right this minute, and he was being a bit of an annoyance so GF plopped him in my arms to get him to chill out... Or at least hold still so we don't have to follow him around in case he did try something.
I was sitting with him for a bit, and he seemed mostly fine... But then started getting exceptionally stressed, hyperventilating, shivering, staring wide-eyed (wider than usual, that is), and pulling the corners of his mouth back. He was also very intent on getting out of my arms and down from the bed, so I thought he might be having an upset stomach and was gonna puke.
I took him into the bathroom and stuck him in the shower, which is our go-to emergency puke zone on the occasions when we can actually relocate them. He was a bit confused/stressed at first, made a couple rounds, whined a little bit... And then started peeing.
It was clear he'd been holding in a fair amount. This wasn't a standard "lift leg up and let fly" affair, this was a burst dam scenario, and he ended up standing there for a long time as he had a lot that had built up.
When he was done, I let him know it was okay, let him out, and flushed the evidence down with a spray from the showerhead. I kept comforting him, and he looked like he was feeling a lot better, wagging his tail (which is generally reserved for special occasions with him) and bouncing around in a sprightly fashion.
So with the damage done, I let him back out into the main apartment without keeping him restrained as before. He wandered around a bit and clearly wanted to hop up on GF's lap while she was watching Outlander, and I went back to my computer after playing with him a bit to double check that he was feeling better and didn't need any other sudden preparations. He went back to bugging GF about lap-time, and she irritably snatched him up and shot me an eye for not keeping him under control during his "neurotic funtime".
I didn't want him (or me) getting any undue criticism, so I got her to take her headset off and explained that he'd basically just reached his bladder's limit, and that we'd handled things in the shower. Everything was washed down and appeared to be handled.
"Well that's why I asked if you'd taken them for a walk", was her response. So, I reiterated... I had taken them for a walk, both of them. Both had done all manner of necessary doings outside. We had taken the full standard route, not a shortened version, and it was well within standard parameters for walk-taking timeslots, and not like I'd walked them at 6 AM and expected them to just hold it until 11 in the evening.
She just murmured a bit and turned back around to watch the rest of the Outlander episode, cuddling the dog.
I was a bit sharper in tone than necessary when I repeated that I'd taken them for a walk, but dang... I did not enjoy the implication that I'd lied about/misremembered taking them for a walk, doing "my one thing".