Is there a way to stop the

Question
QUESTION: My girlfriend and I just got a 16 week old male cocker spaniel puppy this weekend. So far so good with the potty training- he was paper trained by the breeder and he's got the concept of sniffing his way towards the door and sitting next to the door or our shoes at the door. Two problems-

one: when we're playing with him he's randomly stop and pee, no advance warning whatsoever. Just tonight we were playing fetch with him and in the middle of running into the kitchen to get the ball he stopped near the living room chair and peed.

two: Bo definitely likes Tracy more than he likes me right now, and when she's been gone for a while he gets so happy to see her, he starts peeing everywhere. Yesterday, she ran out to run some errands for about an hour. The entire hour he was wimpering and waiting for her to come home. Lucky for me he was calm enough to lay with me on the couch and fell alseep as we were watching TV. Unlucky for me he woke up just in time to see Tracy sit next to us on the couch and he peed all over my leg. Tonight she called when she was pulling into the street so I could have the lease on him and have him waiting at the top of our front stairs so he'd pee outside rather than in the house. That was ok, but I'm not going to be awake at 1 AM Thursday to do this and she'd not going to want to be cleaing the "happy trail" around the house when she comes home.

Any suggestions?? Thanks in advance.

ANSWER: I'm pretty sure, Jim, that your boy has a urinary tract infection.
It's no big deal but make a vet appt. and take a urine sample in with you.  Or let the vet get one from him.  A "first morning" sample is best and get it directly to the vet.  Actually you don't even have to take him - just the sample in a sterile container.  If you can't get the sample and take it in immediately - refrigerate it.  If he has a UTI, the vet will put him on a course of antibiotics and that will solve this problem.

As to Bo liking her better than you - I'm betting that she feeds and walks him?  Start sharing that.

When it comes to puppies, "routine" is your friend so try and keep him on a schedule so he knows what to expect every day.  He needs feeding 3x daily - with a 1/2 hour walk after each meal.  Exercise is the most important factor in a dog's life and a tired dog is a good dog.

He'll get to know when he gets fed, gets attention, gets his exercise and when he's alone for awhile.  Right now if he's fretting when Tracy is gone - make that a "good thing" for him and take him for a walk when she leaves and do a little training with treats.  It's a fun distraction and he'll come back happier and not be whimpering with separation anxiety.  Which is something you want to nip in the bud NOW !

I'd really like to know what you're feeding him because if it's "supermarket kibble" you're asking for trouble.

So get that UTI looked after and, in the meantime, take him out on leash every two hours to keep his bladder empty.  And don't be cross with him - he can't help it right now.
Delores

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: UTI, or the submissive urination I've seen on-line? IF it's a UTI would it matter who he peed in front of? I was home alone with him from 4-10 last night and not one little accident at all. We were with him from 10-12:30 when we went to bed and he peed in the house with Tracy right near him at least 5 times.

We have a vet appt tomorrow morning so we'll see. Doubt I'm getting a urine sample- like I'd even know how to go about that. I'm having a rough time with him tonight. Tracy warned me that he was afraid of the back deck today because there was construction on the street behind us this morning followed by the neighbors playing around with a fence, so everytime he went out he got scared and came in. She tried the front door with some success until a local cat was under the deck and scared him. I got him out the front door  couple times, too bad the first time the cat was under the deck making hissing sounds at him and he got scared and hid under my car. I tried shooing the cat away, throwing snow at it and eventually hitting it in the head with a snowball to get rid of if, but he still smells it and gets scared. Not to mention it's raining outside so his "potty spot" no longer has it's scent and it's been rough. I know he needs to got potty when I see him sniffing around and he already knows to go to the back door, but he won't go outside for longer than a few seconds, comes back in and pees. I can tell he knows it's wrong and can tell he feels bad by the way he walks away with his head down and lies down, but it's not really his fault. He was "partially paper trained by the breeder but his teething has taken over that as he pics up the paper and walks around with it.

As for liking Tracy more, I've been trying to do ALL the feeding, but he doesn't eat right when I feed him....he comes and smells it so he knows it's there, but doesn't eat it until later on. He's actually much more successful with the potty training with me, so I do that as much as possible, but if Tracy's home he tends to wait until Tracy brings him.

It dawned on us last night that the breeders had a stay at home mom and a dad that worked all day, 6 kids- of which only the three girls liked to play with the puppies, so he's basically been with nothign but girls his whole life. It's just weird that when we went to visit him on Tuesday and pick him up on SAturday that he came right to me and sat by my fee tand then in my lap- it wasn't until his sister starting playing with Tracy that he went to her...and still ended up back with me.

ANSWER: What are you feeding him?  You "should" be giving him a premium canned food like Canidae - Innova - Merrick - Eagle Pack Holistic.
A 4 month old refusing food is telling you he doesn't like it and he's in a major growth spurt right now.  Go to Canidae.com and find a dealer near you.  Whoever carries that will carry the other premium foods.

You get a urine sample by simply popping a container under him as he goes.

You don't PUT him out - you TAKE him out ON LEASH and when you see he's about to go then give your "potty" command. Praise & reward.
Anticipate!!
This puppy has been paper trained and is now totally confused and you're not teaching him.
He has no idea what you want and he's in a new environment, has been taken away from his litter mates and somehow you seem to think he's just going to "get it".  Wrong.

Puppies often have "nervous piddling" or submissive urination but that's not what you're describing.  So get him checked for a UTI.

And don't ever let him out on his own unless you have a fenced in yard.  That's asking for a tragedy.
Delores


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: We took him to the vet today, we described to the vet the same thing I described here and she laughed at the thought of it being a UTI- she was laughing as she said, "right, and it only acts up around one person?"

We're feeding him Puppy Chow, the  same stuff the breeder was feeding him and the stuff the vet suggested when we were talking about the past couple days. It's not like he refuses the food, he chows it up in no time when he's ready. The breeders "schedule" for feeding the puppies was based on when their kids woke up and when the family ate so they were eating at the same time the family was eating. So us putting him on a strict schedule isn't working right now. He's not really hungry at 7:15 before I go to work if there were days when he didn't eat til after 9 at the breeders. And we're working on 6, at night. They were feeding him 5,6 sometimes after 7.

Not teaching him?!?! Yeah, we was paper trained by the breeder supposedly, but we're having more success with him going to back door and sitting than they were having with the paper training. How's paper training going to work when the breeders also had a doggy door so they could go out when they wanted?

And when did I say we PUT him out? We take him out on the back deck and go out there with him. And the deck is completely blocked off so he can't go anywhere. When we go out the front we put him on his leach for the walk.

Major growth spurt....tell me about it. The vet weighed him today and he's already 19 lbs!! They said at 6 months double it and that's how big he will be. If we're lucky he'll gain a pound in a month and still be a 40 lb dog. So much for the 18-25lb average, lol.

Answer
one: when we're playing with him he's randomly stop and pee, no advance warning whatsoever. Just tonight we were playing fetch with him and in the middle of running into the kitchen to get the ball he stopped near the living room chair and peed.

The above is what you told me.  That screams UTI.  If your vet laughed that off and didn't run a simple test then you need a new vet.
Delores