well housebroken 10 week female cocker deliberately poops and puddles

Question
Hi Delores, I want to bring my follow up question to answer (http://www.allexperts.com/user.cgi?m=6&catID=2531&qID=4634703) with you, seeing you do own the breed and have a psychology degree. Labman's advice showed I was doing, full time, just the opposite in all the 24 Top Dog rules, so I spent all last night, awake, being the top dog. We spent the night in my room with her sleeping most of the time and me sitting with some embroidery. We had three large puddles in my room, which I never even sensed, so did not comment on and one pee  early morning which I did see and said "no" into her eyes which made her stop for 2-3 seconds and attempt to go to her spot before her bladder gave way. It ended with the dog in her room - wire barrier, able to see my room. Since 6am, when she ate -after me- her usual amount, I am waiting for her poop to go and get some sleep. It is now 10:30am. She dropped a bit (about 1 1/2 inch long) and is still waiting for I dare not guess what. She is 10 weeks going into 11! Do they have this type of bowel control at this week? I want to emphasize again that she had NO accidents during her 2 week disability (not able to command both her hind legs without trying a couple of times) and half the time she went out to her newspaper without me even knowing. She DOES know and uses her acceptable spot VERY well. I DID see she could hold her pee for 15 minutes after she started yipping (in the taxi)when she was 8 weeks.
My first proper eye contact try last night lasted at least 20 seconds!
Also I need to ask another question which might be related. Last night she dug furiously in her full water bowl (steel, new and shiny, same as her food bowl, in my room, away from the puddled spots). She did not stop after all the water was out but continued more furiously until she -sort of- lost hope. She has only so emptied her water bowl twice before, both on the same night last week. I had taken that for asking for a wash(asking for a repeat of her first ever wash the previous noon, the hottest day in a century here). I am hoping that this dig-the-water-out business means she was unhappy about her poodles and wanted to cover them up.

Please would you provide breed specific info. I read somewhere that some female cockers challenge their female owners but this situation seems too bizarre even for that.

Could it be that her poodles are due to affection and she has a lot of fun that she does not want to go out?

She is truly very distressed, very dissapointed, very put out, sort of accusing now that everything has changed -no hugs anymore, no bed where she chooses my own pillow to put her head on and growls when I push her aside, no immediate food when she yips, no feeding her regular food by hand, no tug-of-war where she always wins and gets a hearty "goo-od girl"...

I don't want to create a situation that a very affectionate and loyal puppy suddenly finds herself being treated unduly bad. She did not respond this hurt when it was punishment (physical and confining).

Could it be I am pushing her too much for training and it causes her stress (I do a lot of it, both to get her eat more - the treats- and also to keep her occupied in a resting position while she is recuperating)

Please can you give me some insight?


Answer
I don't know what advice you got about housebreaking but a 10 week old puppy has very little, if any, control over their bladder so you're asking way too much of her.

The very first thing I'd do is take a urine sample in to your vet since quite often a urinary tract infection is the problem.

Yes, you are pushing her too much and at her age, all you can do is take her out every two hours, wait, praise and repeat.  At night she should be confined in a space with newspapers.  You can't even comment unless you catch her right in the act and then you simply say NO and take her outside.

Digging in the water bowl is simply puppy behavior and she's just doing it because it's fun.

The one thing you do have to address is any growling.
At her age, when she growls you simply get on her level, make eye contact and say NO and keep eye contact until she turns away.  No praise - no conversation..just NO and then ignore her after she's broken eye contact.

What you have here is an infant and housebreaking a cocker means patience, routine, and consistency so stop asking for what she can't do.  They cannot hold their bladder...so take her out every two hours and don't come in until she goes.  Use the same word so she'll learn what she's out there for, then praise.  At night, she'll use the papers (or not) and you simply clean up.  She absolutely cannot get through a night so don't expect her to.

I don't know what you mean by "punishment (physical or confining)" and I'm hoping you've never hit her?  It doesn't work and it's counter-productive.
Delores