Five month old housetraining regression or marking??

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Hi, two incidents this week after five weeks housebroken perfectly:

1. Rippley (already neutered) just turned five months. We returned from vacation last week, and our house sitter/dog trainer combo lady said how great he was and that he is housetrained and we should give him more independence (?) as he is too much a follower and to help avoid separation anxiety. So, our second day after return, Rippley came upstairs to greet me in the afternoon (unusual as we are really never upstairs during the day, but I was tired) and my husband came up after him. I called him over for a pat and then left him to hopefully sit in the room with us. Well, he explored a bit and in the minute we weren't supervising, we discovered he peed in my youngest son's bedroom. He had pottied less than two hrs earlier, so he wasn't bursting. I cleaned with enzymatic cleanser, but wondered if this was marking (and thus dominanance over my son?) or a housetraining issue as he has not been upstairs on a regular basis during the day? Should I go back to strict supervision? Should I expose him more upstairs or close off the doors to him?

2. Additionally, last night a friend came over in the evening (unusual) with his dog (female, submissive) and Rippley, so excited, peed on the kitchen floor in the midst of chase. Another example of dominant or just excited, play pee?

Getting frustrated with two setbacks in one week now after that long stretch of successful housetraining! Can I trust him anymore? Should I go back to treating for every outside success? Dislike treating that much. Waiting on Doggy Dan's answer to this, but would love help/suggestions in meantime, thx!

[BG and Gavin]

Still so young.  I recall Gavin having a couple setbacks around that age.  One was in the basement where he had not spent much time - I don't think he knew how to get to the back door from there and once after a play session.  Don't worry - just stay consistent and watchful.

[Sheryl & Safiy]

5 months is young, he'll get it. I'm very confident that Safiy (about to turn 1 year) is house trained, but I still keep a close watch on him-but it's much less stressful as when he was younger. The excited pee is just that and I fund that Safiy who is a submissive sweetie does that when new people show up and his bladder is full. If I know someone is coming over I have him do his stuff before they get here. I don't know much about marking territory- thankfully Safiy doesn't do that, not even on our walks. But he is getting more and more curious about other dog's markings .... So knock on wood. Good luck!

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Thanks guys, this does make me worry less. So many on here claim their pups are trained so quickly, that it made me concerned. I'll give gim some time. Plus a trainer advised me today that they can "drop pee" when exercising. Good to know ahead! Thanks again,

[Jen, Lachlan, and Declan]

Just got home from work, so I thought I'd drop in my two cents, for what it's worth. <grin>

Five months? Nah, he's not "housebroken". He's got the general gist, but not the bladder control. Puppies at that age are like toddlers - they do well with the pottying thing under ideal conditions, but they don't generalize well and they're liable to lose control when excited or tired. He sounds perfectly normal to me.

If it makes you feel better, I didn't consider Lachlan reliable until he was somewhere around ten months - and Declan just had an accident a couple of weeks ago, which was my own silly fault. He was way over-tired and I wasn't paying attention to his signals and his bladder was bursting, all of which led to a lake by the door.

I wouldn't worry so much about treating for every outside success at this stage, but I absolutely would still supervise him, and try to anticipate when he might need to go but not realize it until it's too late, as toddlers sometimes do.

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Thank you - helpful!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I do think there can be some power playing in it though.  As a youngster, Ned peed on a bed my mom's dog had been laying on.  I really think he was saying something!

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

This question also lingers in my mind. Doggy dan, where are you?

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I wouldn't worry too much, but for now I'd go back to some restrictions to reinforce his training.  The "excited pee" while playing is something that my Guinness did until he was almost a year.  Please let us know what Doggy Dan's advice was...I'd be curious.

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Thanks, absolutely will let you know but it's been 5 days and I am still waiting for Doggy Dan's response. He must be busy! I am glad for everyone's feedback in the meantime :) Until then I have been supervising Rip again way more closely. Our class trainer said there is a difference between them knowing we prefer them to elim outside versus them knowing they CANNOT go inside. Learning to really hold it will take time and lessons of catching him in the act.
I just wish he gave signals when indoors. No more accidents since, but perhaps I am taking him out too frequently so he hasn't had to learn to signal me. It's hard to know....

[BG and Gavin]

On the other hand, it is always good not to allow them to practice bad behaviour.

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

DD responded! He says five month mark is where you can make or break it with housetraining, and this regression though frustrating, is typical. Tighten up training for another 2-3 mos. and keep him downstairs where he can signal more easily, and do mini separations using baby gates when I go to another floor. Also I was weak with ignoring after separation, so need to follow that better. He is just so darn CUTE that it is hard. The boys absolutely cannot follow that one. Rip is an attention vortex for them, haha!

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

Nice to hear DD responded to you. Maci just turned 4 months, and had not gone in the house for a couple weeks, then went 3 times in a couple days. It does take awhile for them to be really dependable. No worries.

Yogi who is now a year old was perfectly trained everywhere in the house around 4 1/2 months, except for in our dining room. We rarely ever go in there, so a trainer suggested maybe Yogi considered this to be "outside". Not a part of the house, so we just gated it it off for a couple more months. Then we were fine. Maybe that is what your upstairs seems to be to Rippley. We still have our gates up at the dining room for Maci. Just try not to let them fail.

Another thought, Yogi learned to use the bells right away to signal us. Maci on the other hand did not and has not. So I started watching her REALLY close for the signal. Sure enough it was there. She would walk to the back door, sit, and peer out very briefly. Then pee. So the problem wasn't with Maci, it was with me figuring it out. So once I saw that, I was super vigilant every time she went near the back door to see if it happened again. Every time she sat and looked out, I went over and let her out. Eventually she added a single bark ( that is helpful because DH can't see the back door from his home office).

So now we pretty much rely on her signal unless we need her to go before bed.

Good luck, it will work out!