Peeing problems
I realize I might be overreacting, but I'd rather have experience owners put me in my place than have it turn out that I wasn't paying enough attention.
My corgi pup is roughly 14 weeks old and not completely potty trained. The first week we had her she did a great job of going to the bathroom on the puppy pads. Then it was so-so, but nothing too bad. The past week and a half she's only peed on the pad once. Everything else has been on my bed or the floor in front of the bed. The thing is, she knows she's supposed to pee on the pad. I understand that she is young, but she goes to the pad after she pees when we're upset and she can tell by the tone of our voices.
When Ian and I are home, she comes right up to us and pees beside us or in front of us. It's very obvious what she's doing. When she goes poop she wanders off and usually does so on the tile in the kitchen, but she does it privately. It's the fact that she comes and sits right next to us when she pees that has me worried.
I've heard of dogs that have UTI's doing this. And if she was still her happy little self right after she peed I would just think she was being damn stubborn - but she runs off and hides with her ears down either in the bathroom or the corners of the kitchen. Other times when she does something wrong - like chews on a sock and I take it from her - she just makes a face and wanders away, but is back moments later and ready to play again.
I've checked her urine and nothing seems to be wrong. It smells fine (as fine as urine can smell...) and there isn't an unusual color.
Any advice on what could be happening? I'm probably just overreacting, but the fact that she always comes and pees right in front of us is just a bit worrisome.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Stephanie on
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Maybe she's giving you a signal to go out that you haven't figured out yet?
She's very young, it's pretty normal for her to still be figuring it out at this age. Does she go out at all or just use a puppy pad? Having used the puppy pads with one and not with the other, I really feel like they cause confusion. Bear never used a puppy pad and is completely reliable. Goldy used a puppy pad when she was young, and she has a couple of accidents a week.
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Permalink Reply by Joanna Kimball on
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First of all, she has absolutely no clue that peeing anywhere is wrong. If she did, she wouldn't do it; dogs don't do things they think are wrong. She's running and hiding because she associates peeing + your presence with being punished and yelled at. She has some kind of positive association with her pee pads (though not as pee pads), so she feels like maybe she should go there when she's being yelled at, but she has zero comprehension that the pee pads have anything to do with either peeing or with being punished for peeing.
The only being who is allowed to be punished for bad puppy peeing is the human who let it happen. So IMMEDIATELY you must stop disciplining her or yelling at her or around her for peeing. That's step one. Then your job is to so closely supervise her that there is no physical way for her to pee anywhere unacceptable. Every pee must be supervised, named, and praised (with verbal and treat). Once she's had about fifty perfect pees, you can see if she can make the choice herself, but if she messes up even once you are 100% back on the job again and totally supervising.
Dogs are not stubborn about elimination; it makes no sense to them that they can't go wherever feels comfortable to them and it never will. What they have to do is habituate to a certain spot so that's the only one that feels comfortable to them, so it feels UNcomfortable to eliminate anywhere else. That's your job; it's not so much a training process as forming a habit. And habits in dogs are formed the same way they are in humans; you do it over and over and over again a certain way, and never do it any other way, until it's locked in your muscle memory. Habit forming is actually hurt (a great deal) by any punishment associated with the action, so completely stopping the punishment is a vital part of your job.
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Permalink Reply by Renee Kovacs on
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I wholeheartedly agree with Joanna, point by point. It sounds like the dog is not clear on the concept - and that is your job, to make it clear. I also once had a puppy that would run to me and pee right on my feet - hey, we're not all "A" students, and some are quicker/easier than others. I knew, though, that this little pup was getting the idea that she was supposed to do *something* about peeing, and it had *something* to do with me ...she was trying her best to figure out the sequencing! She was also a real case of high-anxiety, which didn't help her. In order to change her behavior, I had to change my OWN. I had to be ACUTELY diligent in watching for signs or staying ahead of the game (taking her out regularly, sign or no sign, on 'dedicated' potty-trips - which are different than 'out to play' trips - and praising lavishly IMMEDIATELY upon voiding). I had to lower my energy (calmer voice, slower movements, etc) to counter her high level of anxiety. Once she stopped worrying so much about the whole thing, it fell into the right sequence (first tell mom, she'll get me outside, THEN pee!)
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Permalink Reply by Alexsandra Papoban on
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That's exactly what I am doing with my corgi Charlie right now. How long did it take until your boy went to the door himself??
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Permalink Reply by Beauty and the Beast on
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Once you teach your dog that it's OK to pee inside it's very hard to rid that habit.
Start taking your puppy out every 20 minutes, use a command and praise/tear when she goes.
Do not let her "wander off" inside the house, you have to watch her at all times. Because as you know already when she wanders off she poops.
Get a crate and keep the puppy in it when you're not watching her, that way you can actually puppy train her. She won't pee in the crate because it's too small, but a house is a lot of space and she doesn't understand yet that it is her home.
She pees right in front of you probably because she's scared. I can imagine that peeing all over the house brings a lot of frustration, but it is confusing for the dog what you're frustrated about.
And by any means get rid of the puppy pads. Puppies need to pee outside and the more they go inside the harder it is to teach them that it is not OK.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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She should not be given the opportunity to eliminate so much inside. She should be taken outside every hour when she's awake and you are home, and when you are not home she should be confined in a small space. If you must be gone longer than she can hold it (which is only about 3 hours) you want to make sure she has enough room to get away from where she peed.
I'm not a fan of pee pads. They are confusing to the dog, unless you plan on using them the dog's whole life.
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By the way, when Jack was too young to hold it 4.5 hours til my lunch break at work, what I did was lined his pen with newspapers. That way he could relieve himself if he needed to, but since the papers are not terribly absorbent the puddle was still there and that gave him incentive to try to hold it. By being in a pen, he was able to get away enough that he was not forced to stand in his own urine. That is cheaper than pads, and works better. But it is NOT paper training. Paper training is teaching to use paper. In this case, we taught to go outside (by praising and taking him out frequently when we were home) and the papers were only there for his "can't hold it" moments. We neither praised nor scolded for using papers. I simply came home every day at lunch, took him out to eliminate then quietly cleaned up papers and put down fresh ones. By about 4 months he was physically able to hold it until my lunch break, and the papers were slowly removed. And he never had access to the papers if we were home.
The only time I think pee pads are good is if you plan on always having pup go inside (you're in a high rise or the dog has health problems). But just think long and hard before making that choice because an adult Corgi can be 30 pounds or so and they generate very large puddles/piles.
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Permalink Reply by Samantha, Ian, & Toast on
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It's more of a temporary solution until she gets her last set of shots (April 14th!) and we can begin training her to go outside... but I think with my next paycheck I will buy a gate to close off the kitchen and do something similar to what you did :) Make sure to lift up all rugs and just spread out a bunch of newspaper. Thanks for the suggestion!
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Permalink Reply by Kimberlie on
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My adora did that at around 3 months of age. We would take her outside, but we had a puppy bad inside just incase she had to go and we couldn't notice the signs. Then after a month or so so got annoyed and didn't want to use them anymore, she only wanted to go out side. so she starting going beside it, then she started going infront of us, then infront of door, i we where in the same area and could see her, and then one day she started tearing the puppy pads appart, so out side it was from then on. Since we made a potty let out routen we haven't had any unwatnted accidents, eccept when we dog get home soon enough due to traffic.Your pup is probably telling you she is ready to go outside from now on, as dogs naturaly don't want to pee in there living space.
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I just wanted to add don't get discouraged! A lot of times when you read stuff online or in books or articles, it makes it sound like your little one will be housebroken in a matter of days. In reality, all but the rare pup really isn't physically capable of much control until she's a bit older. Right now, she thinks "I have to pee!" and then she pees. :-) So right now, it's a matter of timing and getting her to an appropriate spot frequently, and praising lavishly.
I do understand your concern about shots, and you know your area better than I do so I can't comment on that. Our little guy had two sets of shots before we brought him home so we were good to go.
Good luck with your new puppy!
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