So sick of cleaning up pee.

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

Cocoa is for the most part potty trained.  But if she gets excited she will pee all over. I was told they outgrow this phase.  But i am afraid my husband started a new Pee issue that she will never outgrow and I am sick of cleaning up pee.

Last month I left for a week to vacation with my parents. I am almost positive that my husband has been "spanking" the dog.  We do give her swats on the nose for biting us but that's all I will do (yes I tried the grabbing her mouth thing and she would just come back and bit harder thinking it was a game).  But I have a feeling when I was not here he took it farther than that.  Every time I called to check in all he did was complain about the dog. He thinks pets and kids need this and there is no other way to disipline and we are always fighting over this.  Well ever since I have come home if I try to pick Cocoa up to put her outside or in her cage when she is running from me, as soon as I touch her she drops down and pees. If I am doing laundry and drop a sock or something and chase her down to get it back when I get close to her she drops down and pees.

I am so sick of cleaning up pee. I have to put the dog in her cage every time my daughter eats or has a snack because she will sneak the dog food and we are already dealing with poo food issues. So this is happening about 2-5 times a day.  I try to trick her to go potty and put her outside but if I try to put her in the cage its pee time.  I am still watching her poo with new food or I would use treats to get her to go in the cage.  Heck its been over a week on the new food maybe I will just go ahead and use treats for this?  But then I will still have to deal with it when she steals the kids toys or laundry.

I just needed to vent and maybe beat the crap out of my husband.

They say they outgrown excited pee but do they ever outgrow fear pee?   None of my other dogs ever did this.

[Adina P]

Have you been trained to train her in obedience? I think obedience training would be your ticket out if this mess :) First, through obedience training submissive dogs learn more confidence and trust and respect for you and, of course, they will learn to actually obey commands instead of having to be manhandled, chased, and picked up and put places. You can tell your dog to go out, give it a cue to potty, call your dog to you instead of chasing it down or grabbing it, tell your dog to 'drop' whatever she's carrying in her mouth, tell your dog to 'down' and 'stay' a few feet from the table while you eat so she can't take food from your child. There need NOT be intimidation, just training. Now whatever your husband did or didn't do, your dog has learned to cower and respond submissively and that is unfortunate. But I'm quite confident that with a good obedience training program you can surmount this by giving her a world of black and white rules to follow with consistent outcomes that are fair. Soft and Submissive dogs need consistency MORE than tougher dogs so they feel they have some control in their lives and things don't happen randomly.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I really think this advice is perfect....and that is why you are our "fearless leader", Adina.

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

No I have no training in dog training.  I dont have the money for obedience training. This dog was a Present from my inlaws and they said they were going to pay for it and we have had her 2 months and not a word again about it.

 

I took her today to the pet store for the first time and new people were walking up to pet her and I warned all them she may pee and not once did she pee... so I dont understand this.

 

I do need help with getting her to stop running from me when she does wrong or if I need her to go into her cage.  I have tought her to sit and shake but the bad behavor I am having problems with.  She is very ruff with my daughter and bites her feet so hard she is drawing blood and I am tryin so hard to stop this and its failing. She does not bite us like she use to but my daughter is a whole other story.

 

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

I don't know if this will help but Hurley has a tendency to pee when excited.  Our trainer told us to tell people that want to pet him to not look in his eyes or talk to him but to just pet him.  The excitement in the voice or body language tends to get the dog more excited and thus the peeing.  We have been doing that and Hurley has stopped the nervous peeing.  

I bought a rug cleaner as I was getting frustrated with the peeing wherever.  We got a trainer who comes to the house to work with us and Hurley.   The trainer has us keeping a leash on Hurley and we loop it under a chair leg or something similar near us when eating or cooking, or we put him in his kennel.  We take him out every 1 1/2 hr quietly saying potty as we take him to the door and we continue to quietly say potty until he goes. Then a quiet 'good boy' until we are sure he has gone both ways or obviously only needs to go one way. Then we praise him with excitement and pet him.  We limit his time to go potty to no more than 3-4 mins so he doesn't think it is a play time.  That has worked well for us.  

[Adina P]

Yes!  Keep a leash on Cocoa!  Then there is no chase :-)  Just step on leash to stop her, then reel her in to you.

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

Can we say tripping hazard for a pregnant woman who can not see the ground...LOL  I might have to try this on the times of day I know she will get into things.  Today just the act of me walking to her to put her leash on she squatted and peed.  All I was doing was putting it on so she could go bye bye with me she was not in trouble, I did not yell or anyhting.

 

I am thinking about leashing her outside when my daughter is out there because she is doing things like grabbing her shoes off her feet and then we cant catch her to get them back and she chewed up her flip flops in seconds this week.

[Adina P]

It doesn't have to be a trip hazard. The leash drags on the floor and is no taller than an area rug...so I doubt you'll trip over it. But you can buy something smaller from a hardware store that lays even lower on the ground. Leashes are only trip hazards if the dog is attached to something and the leash is above ground. I'm saying use a longer, light leash (cut off the handle too) and let her drag it around the house. No trip hazard.

Do you feel comfortable approaching your inlaws about paying for training classes?

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

She does really well with going potty and is going about once an hour - two hours depending on how much she drinks and her level of play. 

She will have just gone out to potty and come in and dribble all over the floor if she has something she is not supposed to or i want to get her in her cage.

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Lindsey - you have a very full plate right now with a 4 yr, old, new baby coming and a puppy, so I can feel your frustration.  After reading your post, I just wanted to give you a hug. 

If you have not had any training in obedience and are unable to get to a formal obedience class right now, I would suggest the book the Puppy Listener by Jan Fennell for you and your husband to read so you can get on the same page to use positive training methods.

As far as biting goes, you might try immediately yelping and walking away from the puppy instead of grabbing their mouth. If the puppy continues to chase after your pant leg or keeps trying to play rough, quietly pick her up and give her a time out in her crate, or an area baby-gated off from the rest of the house. Remember, even training 10 minutes here and there will make a big difference and the mental stimulation is so good for them.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

We have the bitting under control with myself and my husband its my daughter that we cant get under control now. And you can not get a puppy to take a 4yr old seriously, She will yell at her and it just amps the dog up more.

 

And yes I am so frustrated. I am having one of those why did we get another dog days as she is sitting here barking at me at 10:30pm.

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

My husband and I are arguing about this right now because she has done this 2 times in the last 30 minutes we have been home tonight. This last one was because she came inside with a stick in her mouth so he got up to get it from her.  She squatted and peed right when he grabbed the stick.

His theory is since she is squatting when she does this its on purpose and not submisivie or fear peeing.  So he put her nose in it tapped her on the rear and tossed her outside. I know this is old school but he thinks its how you potty train...UGH

 

So is his theory correct if she can think to squat down like she does any other time she pees is this really fear peeing or is it purposful????  Or is she trying to use this for us to leave her alone when she is doing wrong like my husband seems to think???

[Donna K & Quincy]

Lindsey, Your husband is so wrong. She is fearful and if your DH continues this treatment of your puppy it may just  be the beginning of your troubles. It's a puppy, they don't think or reason they just react. If you can't get your DH on board you are in for a long battle. Take the puppy out to potty on a leash, when she is inside keep her confined to one small place that is easy to clean. Take her out often and have a potty party when she goes. Punishing her will not get the results you want and will make potty training a very long process.

What your puppy is doing is submissive urination because she is being intimidated by your husband.

Submissive urination is normal canine communication. Dogs do it to show social appeasement. When a dog submissively urinates, he’s trying to convey that he’s not a threat. Not all dogs submissively urinate. However, some will urinate when they’re exceptionally excited or feeling submissive or intimidated. Dogs who submissively urinate usually do so when greeting people or animals (especially unfamiliar ones), during exciting events, while playing, during physical contact, such as petting, or when scolded or punished. It’s as though they lose bladder control. Some dogs produce dribbles of urine, while others void large puddles.

There is lots of training you can do with her on your own that you don't need a trainer for. Join the training group and you will find lots of help. I'll get the link for you.

This is just a baby that has been entrusted to your care, patience, patience, patience.

I really hope you can get your husband on board, it will make a world of difference.