Peeing too much!

Question
I found this little puppy 2 weeks ago about 8 weeks old, out in the middle of nowhere.  He was ate up with maggots(feet and ears), but he survived! Unfortunately, his 6 brothers and sisters didn't. Anyway, Little Mattie is doing great. He has had many medicines and many bowel movements, as you would imagine for a dog that lived in a trash pile for 7 days through Hurricane Frances. Question is this: Mattie has being using the bathroom outside for a week. We are keeping him in the house and he has been hinting(sniffing around) that he needs to go outside to use the bathroom. Lately, he will just pee right on the couch with no warning. Is it possible for a dog to eat too much and pee more often?? It seems that he pigs out and then pees mucho!  Please help, my wife whipped him twice today and cried for 2 hours because she had to "pop" his butt! lol HELLLPPPP!

Answer
Hi Jon;
God bless you for saving this baby. It is really sad that you couldn't save the others too, but that was strong odds for some so little.
First I want to talk to your wife.
Reading what Jon said about how you were crying, and all that has gone on, I could feel what you have been feeling. It made me cry, because I have felt this confused pain a bunch of times.You want to do everything right, and afraid you will do something wrong and lose this baby, or not teach it right, and have to give it up. It is emotionally draining.Knowing the tradgedy of that hurricane, all the little animals that didn't make it, the danger to humans,all that. It is a highly emotion charged thing you are going through, and naturally, you are going to react emotionally.
This is the same emotional upset that it is if you were trying to save a human baby, maybe a little less intense, but not much.
The upset comes because you are desparately trying to save this little life, and afraid you may fall short, because you are not that well trained in doing this.
Don't feel, or let anybody tell you it is less upsetting because it is just a dog. A life is a life, and the intensity of it is governed by what you are going through now, not whether it is a 2 legged or a 4 legged animal.
God put you there to find that puppy, and he knows what he is doing. Trust him to help you through this.
Stop being afraid you are not going to succeed, You are going to do fine.
You just need to learn a few basics that I think you are not aware of.
I too first learned you have to pop them on the bottom to make them understand. That is one of the old wives tales that most of us leaned, and later learned was wrong.
I bit my first child because she bit another child, and I was told this was what you had to do. Seeing that tiny bruise on her arm, when she took a nap, and knowing I did it, made me feel like I was not worth killing. THEN I learned from my pediatrician, that you DON'T have to do that to teach a child not to bite.
This puppy's first weeks of life were, to put it very mildly, frantic. Naturally he is not going to be as easy to get through to as a pappy with a normal start in life. At 8 weeks of age, he is going to poop or pee wherever he is at the moment.
He is too young to have any contol at all over his litle organs.
He sniffs around like he has to go outside. Grab him up immediately when he does this,say "NO!" and take him outside. When he does his business, praise him a lot. Pet him, say "What a good baby" things like that.
Don't spank when he has an accident. If you miss getting him outside fast enough, the little baby organs are going to do what they have to do. It is not anything he can contol.
I have learned it is very seldom that a spank is needed, but like with an obstinate child that has too much bullhededness for his own good, as a very last resort, you may have to give a whack on the bottom.Not until he is old enough to know what he is doing is wrong, and doesn't care.
When he is older, and well trained, and he does something he knows he is not to do, and looks you right in the eye while he does it, then is when a whack is called for.
When they are puppies, the need to learn what is acepted and what is not. You teach them this with a soft tone of voice when they do right, and lots of loving praise, and a stern "No!" when they do wrong. They really only want to do what pleases us. We just have to show them what that is.
A puppy that age is going to eat often.He should be fed 4 times a day, or about every 5 hours.He can go a little longer at night, when he is supposed to be asleep, but like a baby that age, he is not likely to sleep through the night.
After he eats solid food, he will need to move his bowels. After he drinks water he needs to pee, and when he is asleep, as soon as he wakes up, he is going to need to pee.
So if he is asleep,as soon as you see him wake up, take him outside and wait for him to go, and then praise him.
After he eats, watch him. His bowels will should need to mave within 5 to 30 minutes. When he sqwats take him out, or as soon as he eats, take him out and wait for him to go, then heap on the smart puppy praise.
He may want to eat more than he should, Little ones, whether 2 legged or 4 legged, need security, and food is a form of security to them, especially considering his terrible first experiences of life.
If you watch him close enough, you will soon learn what his schedule is for his bowels to move, and how long after he drinks he has to pee. He is going to have to pee within a couple of minutes of waking.These organs will work on their own schedule until he gets old enough, and the organs are mature enough for him to have some control over them.
You know, with all the meds, and everything he went through, it could have afected his organs so that he has no warning when they are going to act. That is a possibility, and one that I think would be temporary, but you know how some medicines can mess up normal body rythms for humans too.
Be patient and just stay close enough to him so that you can catch him in time. You might want to make a pad to put under him on the couch, so if he has an accident, it won't soil the furniture.
You can get those pads they use in hospitals, at the drugstore, and they are waterproof on one side, absorbant on the other side, and you can just throw them away.
Don't spank. It won't do any good, because he has no idea why you are hitting him. To him, you are just being cruel to him for no reason.
So don't cry anymore mom. You are going to be good at this rescue business, and this puppy is going to do well in your care.
You have the main ingredient, a good heart and a desire to do it right.You just need some basics in raising and training these 4 legged children. Contact your local Humane Society. They will be glad to help you learn the best methods of training, and any time you feel I can help, write me. That's what I am here for, and it doesn't matter if you write every day. I want to help others get the pleasure out of having these little 4 legged kids as I do.
What I use for punishment is what I used for my children when I was raising them. Time out.
Dogs hate time out as bad as children do, and they will behave better when that is threatened. My little Lhasa, Max, tries to be a dictator to the other dogs, and sometimes his nasty side comes out. I say "MAX! do you want to go to time out?"
He straightens right up. Time out is being closed up in the small bathroom for 30 minutes with no toys and nothing to do.He is the only dog I have had to pop on the bottom in more than 10 years, but Max likes to push the buttons.LOl
Write anytime, again, Bless you both for being such caring people, and a personal Thank You from me, for rescuing this baby.
Charlotte