Puppy -- peeing on the carpet

Question
I have a 5-month old cocker spaniel. she is house trained
for most part, except recently she has taken to peeing on
the carpet. she did it a couple of times this past week
while i was away, so i didn't scold her, but today she did
it right in front of me -- that too about 30 minutes after i
had taken her out.
She's had the peeing problem when meeting people since she
was little -- i try to keep her calm when she's greeting
people, but she pees nonetheless. It's difficult to invite
people over because even after the 'greeting' phase is over,
she will pee each time they pet her!
i know she is a puppy, and some of this is to be expected,
but i wanted to check if there is something i might be doing
wrong or unaware of?
thanks for your help!

Answer
Hi,
Before you do anything, I would get a urine sample. (hold a clean plastic cup under her when she goes outside) and take it to the vet to make sure she hasn't gotten a urine infection.  Cockers can be prone to that.

The good news is that cockers usually house break very well.  And they can have a relapse at about 5 or 6 months when there are hormone changes in the body.   

Whatever you did that worked in the beginning to house break her, you have to do it all over again.  The good news?  it will go faster this time.  Just take her back to step one and start all over to house break her.   She needs to be introduced to each room and not have freedom in the house until she is very steady with going outside.

Submissive peeing  has a lot to do with eye contact as well as petting.  Tell your friends not to pet or even look at her when they come in.  You can drop little bits of really good treats on the floor to distract her from the "greeting" stage when people come in.
After everyone is settled, the guests can hand her a treat and ONE PAT ONLY on her head, but NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT.  Eventually this will build her confidence and the peeing will reduce drastically.  Depending on how you handle this, will depend on how drastically it is reduced.  Of course the hard part is training your friends to do this.  Hopefully they will be cool with this procedure.  Explain why to them and they usually cooperate.
Nancy