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February 16, 2006 10:52 AM Subscribe
My puppy is losing his housetraining when we get visitors.
My 10 week old golden retriever is more or less housetrained. He whimpers or sniffs at the door and makes it clear when he needs to go. Last weekend we had company and he had 3 accidents over the course of 2 hours. Then followed 3 days of alerting us as usual when he needed to go and last night we had company again. We take him out at the top of the hour to go before company arrives. People arrive 2 minutes later, he gets a little excited but is soon happily doing his thing and by 20 after, he's left a puddle with no noise or signal. The mess is cleaned up, we have dinner and he's happily chewing on his toy at the base of our feet, showing no signs of excitement. By 40 minutes after the hour, he's done it again. This time, we catch him and take him outside to finish, and within another half hour is over I see him walking a little funny and take him out for his 4th pee. His bladder control is good enough to last 6 hours through the night, and at the time of the accidents he's just doing his usual thing and not being fussed over.
It's definitely being caused by the visitors as he doesn't do this when it's just us with him. I'm sure that he's not giving us his usual signals and we're missing them, he's just standing around and peeing, sometimes even as he's walking. Part of the reason we have guests is to introduce him to as many new people as possible to socialize him, so putting him in his crate is not really a solution. It seems too early for this to be marking behavior. Is it just the excitement? It seems as if he's just not bothering to hold it at all, which means that even when we do take him out, in half an hour he's going again. How do we get him to remember his housetraining when we have visitors?
During the day he's either under direct supervision or in the crate, we use a pee word and give a reward when he's completely finished. All messes are on hardwood floors and immediately cleaned up with Nature's Miracle so there should be no lingering scent triggers. It's never in the same place twice.
My 10 week old golden retriever is more or less housetrained. He whimpers or sniffs at the door and makes it clear when he needs to go. Last weekend we had company and he had 3 accidents over the course of 2 hours. Then followed 3 days of alerting us as usual when he needed to go and last night we had company again. We take him out at the top of the hour to go before company arrives. People arrive 2 minutes later, he gets a little excited but is soon happily doing his thing and by 20 after, he's left a puddle with no noise or signal. The mess is cleaned up, we have dinner and he's happily chewing on his toy at the base of our feet, showing no signs of excitement. By 40 minutes after the hour, he's done it again. This time, we catch him and take him outside to finish, and within another half hour is over I see him walking a little funny and take him out for his 4th pee. His bladder control is good enough to last 6 hours through the night, and at the time of the accidents he's just doing his usual thing and not being fussed over.
It's definitely being caused by the visitors as he doesn't do this when it's just us with him. I'm sure that he's not giving us his usual signals and we're missing them, he's just standing around and peeing, sometimes even as he's walking. Part of the reason we have guests is to introduce him to as many new people as possible to socialize him, so putting him in his crate is not really a solution. It seems too early for this to be marking behavior. Is it just the excitement? It seems as if he's just not bothering to hold it at all, which means that even when we do take him out, in half an hour he's going again. How do we get him to remember his housetraining when we have visitors?
During the day he's either under direct supervision or in the crate, we use a pee word and give a reward when he's completely finished. All messes are on hardwood floors and immediately cleaned up with Nature's Miracle so there should be no lingering scent triggers. It's never in the same place twice.
At that age, the pup is going to be somewhat unpredictable. You'll just have to be patient and continue the normal course of housetraining. It will eventually stop.
It doesn't sound to me like excitement, which usually means he dribbles some pee when someone new shows up and leans over to pet him.
posted by knave at 11:00 AM on February 16, 2006
It doesn't sound to me like excitement, which usually means he dribbles some pee when someone new shows up and leans over to pet him.
posted by knave at 11:00 AM on February 16, 2006
he's really young, poor baby -- he gets emotional and pees himself, it's life. God knows it still happens to me, too, when I'm excited to see my friends, and I'm not a puppy anymore
posted by matteo at 11:00 AM on February 16, 2006
posted by matteo at 11:00 AM on February 16, 2006
Response by poster: I am certainly not expecting miracles, but the last thing that I want is to develop a pattern of behavior where he always dribbles when we get visitors. Strangely enough, he doesn't dribble when he's outside of the house and meeting new people and has been able to hold it for as long as 3 hours when he goes out and he meets waves of strangers that coo and fuss and excite him even more. I didn't even consider that, jerseygirl.
And because this thread is useless without pics, here are some pics.
posted by hindmost at 11:23 AM on February 16, 2006
And because this thread is useless without pics, here are some pics.
posted by hindmost at 11:23 AM on February 16, 2006
My pup was a bit of a dribbler when certain people came over, too. He liked to spritz my MIL, particularly. This continued until about October when he was 9 months old and well past the time he was housetrained.
It's a socialization thing, and it can be part of their insecurities. As he gets a bit older and more confident with himself, you, his place in the house and in society, it should stop.
Maybe try crating him (in a common area) before and while people are over for a little bit. I know it sort of contradicts what you are trying to do with socializing indoors, but you've got time for that. This issue kind of goes hand in hand with the socializing anyway, really. He goes in the crate, people come over, greet him... as time goes by, take him outside to do his business, bring him in, put him back in the crate with a toy as a reward. It might help him get into a pattern of holding it while others are in the house.
Puppies can be so different and react differently with training, it's all trial and error. I'm still just super impressed that you've got this far at 10 weeks. And also, he's adorable!
posted by jerseygirl at 11:46 AM on February 16, 2006
It's a socialization thing, and it can be part of their insecurities. As he gets a bit older and more confident with himself, you, his place in the house and in society, it should stop.
Maybe try crating him (in a common area) before and while people are over for a little bit. I know it sort of contradicts what you are trying to do with socializing indoors, but you've got time for that. This issue kind of goes hand in hand with the socializing anyway, really. He goes in the crate, people come over, greet him... as time goes by, take him outside to do his business, bring him in, put him back in the crate with a toy as a reward. It might help him get into a pattern of holding it while others are in the house.
Puppies can be so different and react differently with training, it's all trial and error. I'm still just super impressed that you've got this far at 10 weeks. And also, he's adorable!
posted by jerseygirl at 11:46 AM on February 16, 2006
My old dog, to the day she died, peed when my grandpa came over. The last year of her life, she didn't do much but eat and exhaust - but when company was over, she would let forth a dribble of excitement.
posted by notsnot at 12:08 PM on February 16, 2006
posted by notsnot at 12:08 PM on February 16, 2006
This is totally normal for a puppy so young. Since you know it's a problem, be extra vigilant when guests are over. If he drinks some water, take him out. If he eats a treat, take him out.
Our golden retriever, throughout her life, had occasional accidents when guests came over. Maybe once or twice a year.
posted by xyzzy at 12:42 PM on February 16, 2006
Our golden retriever, throughout her life, had occasional accidents when guests came over. Maybe once or twice a year.
posted by xyzzy at 12:42 PM on February 16, 2006
Sounds like submissive urination + excitement. He'll likely outgrow it. Good luck - sounds like a great dog.
posted by theora55 at 1:29 PM on February 16, 2006
posted by theora55 at 1:29 PM on February 16, 2006
10 weeks is still just a baby. (And my, what a cute baby!) I don't think dogs generalize very well and it's possible that while she's got a pretty good imitation of 'housebroken' going on in your routine life, the presence of visitors changes the dynamic enough that she just doesn't have all of her signals (internal and external) coordinated in more random situations. Also it's easy to miss very brief precursor signals in the hubub of visitors.
posted by cairnish at 2:33 PM on February 16, 2006
posted by cairnish at 2:33 PM on February 16, 2006
No 10 week old puppy will ever be "more or less housetrained." Just be vigilant with your housetraining until his bladder gets larger, his control gets better, and he becomes less excited by visitors. The most important thing is to stay consistent and supportive.
posted by MrZero at 3:13 PM on February 16, 2006
posted by MrZero at 3:13 PM on February 16, 2006
theora55 has it dead on...it's submissive behavior, and will go away when your pup has a bit more confidence in his boundaries. All the big people around makes him scared/worried about his position in the pack, and he's showing submission.
Our dog did the same thing until about 3 months or so...after that, she was more certain of her position, and of her space.
posted by griffey at 3:14 PM on February 16, 2006
Our dog did the same thing until about 3 months or so...after that, she was more certain of her position, and of her space.
posted by griffey at 3:14 PM on February 16, 2006
Response by poster: The comment in the submissive urination link about not being aware of the act sounds dead on. He's just walking around and dribbling instead of doing the usual sniff, squat and pee. It results in a long path of pee instead of the puddle that you get when he has an accident. I find it interesting that this behavior is only when he meets new people at our house and not when he's in other buildings. We'll definitely warn the houseguests and stock up on paper towels. I'll try crating him in the living room when we have guests also. Thanks!
posted by hindmost at 4:34 PM on February 16, 2006
posted by hindmost at 4:34 PM on February 16, 2006
Response by poster: Update: The next time we had houseguests we made sure that he didn't feel neglected and took him out frequently. A few days after my post he learned a specific behavior to be let out and we've been pee free ever since.
posted by hindmost at 1:37 PM on March 10, 2006
posted by hindmost at 1:37 PM on March 10, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
Is he doing this when you introduce him to new people outside of the house?
posted by jerseygirl at 10:58 AM on February 16, 2006