End of tether with DDog suddenly wee’ing in house!

[Twinklebinkletoes]

Following the arrival of DD six months ago, DDog has started wee’ing in the house. It started about 8 weeks after she was born. We never see him do it, and he never does it in the same place. If we discover a wee patch and say to him ‘What’s this?’ he will slink off and go and hide under the table. We don’t shout at him as it’s after the fact so we know he wouldn’t understand. We clean up all messes with proper enzyme spray to remove smells etc

We keep all doors shut but yesterday he got into the nursery whilst I was putting clothes away (I went downstairs for two minutes to collect clean washing and came back up) and discovered he had wee’ed on the rocking chair!

I am absolutely at the end of my tether with him! It’s happening at least twice a week and he has wee’ed on all sorts of things (some of which have been ruined and have had to go in the bin such as shoes, bags etc).

What can we do to stop this behavior? I understand that there’s been a change in the environment and family dynamic but what I can do to stop this? I’ve asked the vet and the helpful advice was ‘he will grow out of it’!

If it’s relevant he’s not bothered about DD- generally ignores her, isn’t bothered by her crying etc.

For background, he is a two-and-a-half year old Spaniel. He was fully toilet trained as a puppy. He has two walks a day and has outdoor access at all times during the day. At night he goes in a pen/crate. He gets playtime every evening, he has a selection of toys which he plays with himself or plays with us. He is quite smart and knows a number of tricks so I do trick training with him three times a week. Once the baby is in bed he comes on the sofa with us for cuddles.

Any advice?

Oh dear - so difficult. I'm assuming it's not huge amounts - so it's not that he needs a wee, but is marking his territory. I'd guess that it is a bit of jealousy - you often get the same when you bring a new puppy into the home, with an established dog - but not really sure how to solve it.

Sure it's the dog, not your husband?

Yes it’s scent marking, not masses of wee.

I’d not thought to ask my husband if it’s him

If vet check says no problem
Then I’d consider taking house training back to basics perhaps
But I’d also think if he needs full run of the house and garden at all times? Can you introduce a schedule - it may make things more interesting to him
Our puppy doesn’t have full use of the garden, he has to ask to go out. Then twice a day we go out in the garden and play and he loves it. But in the beginning we had the door open all day and he didn’t care at all.

So could he have just a room you’re in, then maybe move into the kitchen if it’s ‘puppy proofed’ so there’s nothing he can damage whilst you leave him alone with toys and sort the baby, go for his usual walks, add in some garden time, some crated quiet time with a chew etc. And then his day has a bit of structure

And when you say you do trick training, do you mean at home? Could you make the sessions shorter but more frequent - so he gets some solid one on one time most days.

Is he castrated? - just thinking if he’s marking things
I know there’s lots of thoughts on that though and I’m not educated enough on the subject so I won’t comment too much!

Thanks for the suggestions! Maybe I could up the trick training to once a day so he has a bit more stimulation. And yes the trick training is at home, things like roll over, play dead, sit, stay, wait etc.

And I forgot to add that he was castrated at a year old on the advice of our vet

Has he been to the vets for a check-up?

There could be so many reasons why OP

Have you taken him to the vet?
Whether you have or haven’t, you need to go back and ask for at least a full urine analysis. Could be a UTI, could be incontinence - young dogs can suffer from it aswell

I know of a fairly young dog who was doing similar to yours. After investigating it turns out he had diabetes!

It could well be that he’s absolutely healthy and it’s all behaviour based. If so just be patient and go back to house training again.

Spaniel owner here. They need some sort of mental stimulation every day. Could you start scent work? Gmhiding things round the living room to find.

When you walk him, how is the walk. Is it just an on lead gentle walk.

With our spaniels we do off lead (once recall is spot on) and work them. So we have ballsx constantly call them back, keep the focus on us. One of us often hides and let them find them.

For now keep him in a room you are in and absolutely keep all doors shut. Go back to taking him out to the toilet often. It's easy to forget to close a door ot think it will be ok for 2 minutes. So I get it's easier said than done.

Repeated scent marking is a sign of anxiety and him trying to 'normalise' his environment.

Your babies arrival has likely also brought increased visitors and a decrease in time and attention for him which is stressful.

You're also adding to his anxiety by telling him off to the point that he's slinking around.

Get him to the vet and check for a UTI
Stop telling him off when you find urine - you already know he doesn't associate this so why bother doing it? Him slinking off is a fear response to your tense body language/tone of voice - it is not guilt
Ensure he has a clear daily routine with regular walks, feeding and playtimes
Give him lots of praise for urinating outside.
Offer him attention for calm quiet behaviour in the house - train the 'settle' command
Ensure he has stuffed kings/puzzle feeders/chews to keep him occupied when you're busy