Accidents! In need of serious help 😢

[Mammaaof]

So our puppy is now nearly 9 months old and is still having accidents like a 12 week old. I'm really struggling with it. I'm following all the advice I've ever been given. I've re started toilet training 3 times and he just never ever goes one day without weeing in the house. Multiple times. Last night was the final straw when he peed on my sofa. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. He just doesn't seem to understand it at all 😢😢
One day this week I took him outside he went for a wee I praised as always we came back in and he cocked his leg up on my washing basket and did a wee.
He is now restricted to being in the kitchen most of the day because as soon as I turn my back he wees somewhere. I really am at the end of my tether and I feel like it's definitely coming between the bond of me and my lovely puppy as it's just so constant 😢😢

Does he ever do it in front of you, or always just after you leave the room?
Could you pre-empt this by coming inside post-wee, still on the lead, then after a minute straight back outside again?

@Mammaaof

Yes the vet ruled out a urine infection. I can tell he's done an accident without even seeing the accident as he goes straight into his bed, I show him the wee and put him outside and say " pee pee outside" He sleeps in a crate in the night and has never had an accident, I was surprised that he peed on the sofa as usually dogs don't wee where they sleep. Yes he is a toy breed he's a cavapoochon. I've gone through 2 bottles of enzyme cleaner in the past 2 weeks it's the RSPCA that I bought. *@Veterinari* this is the point we got to a point where he wasn't going inside, but this last few weeks has been horrific, he is also humping absolutely anything he can, earlier he was humping his toy and all of a sudden wee just started going everywhere while he was humping.

I can tell he's done an accident without even seeing the accident as he goes straight into his bed, I show him the wee and put him outside and say " pee pee outside"

So you're pushing him towards his urine inside then giving him a timeout by putting him outside. That is punishing from his perspective.
That manhandling and you're obvious annoyance are scaring him.
The fact that his response to you entering the room is to hide shows that he is frightened of you. Anxious dogs urinate as a fear response. Gimping is also an anxiety behaviour. Dogs learn that it feels nice and then hump when anxious to self soothe.

Does he cock his leg or squat when he wees?

Honestly it sounds as if you have a toy breed dog who naturally would take a long time to toilet train and because your frustration has grown, his anxiety has increased. All of his behaviours (urinating, humping, hiding) are classic young dog fear behaviours) . Additionally fear inhibits learning, so whilst ever he!s worried about your reaction, he cannot cognitively engage with learning what he should be doing.

I strongly suspect that your own behaviour and his resulting anxiety is what is driving this situation. To change it you need to change your own behaviour

You need to stop all punishment, work in building a positive bond with him so he doesn't try and hide when you come in the room and positively reinforce the behaviours you want. Please stop punishing him, it isn't helping. And please don't castrate him, it will remove any confidence he has. Castration is contraindicated in anxiety

Gimping=humping

Have you ever thought that he's weeing in fear because he knows you'll punish him after you enter the room?

His weeing is a response to your approach. He's scared of you.

Just to confirm I am definitely not "manhandling him" I literally just take him to the wee and point to it, never have I "pushed his head towards the wee" so not sure where youve had that from!
I think I'll take the vets advice regarding the castrating, but appreciate the advice on toilet training will continue to take him out every 10 mins and hopefully one day he will get it

@Veterinari why would he want to be punished 🥴

[quote Mammaaof]@Veterinari why would he want to be punished 🥴[/quote]
I'm confused - I haven't said he would want to be punished

I think I'll take the vets advice regarding the castrating, but appreciate the advice on toilet training will continue to take him out every 10 mins and hopefully one day he will get it

Please do some research.

Old school neuter at 6 months has been largely discredited.
Surely you want to make the best decision for your dog? Castrating an anxious dog is a bad idea and you could end up with this becoming a longterm problem
And surgery is permanent

Just to confirm I am definitely not "manhandling him" I literally just take him to the wee and point to it, never have I "pushed his head towards the wee" so not sure where youve had that from!

Ok so what is the purpose of doing this? What are you trying to achieve?

Does he squat to see @Mammaaof ?

To wee

Dogs don't understand pointing, so don't bother with that, or 'taking him to the wee' - that's meaningless to him too.
I agree that it sounds like you've got an anxious nervous puppy who needs positive bonding & reinforcement when he does the right thing, and support & patience to learn what that is - he's certainly learned when to be scared of you already.
Learn his behaviour patterns & be patient.

It sounds like he is weeing whenever you are out of his sight. Could it be some kind of separation anxiety?

Definitely back to the crate during the times you cant have your eye on him, and a lead attached to you when he is allowed to free roam. Out for a wee as soon as he leaves the crate, and then by your side when back in the house.

@Veterinari if I don't show him what he's done how will he know what he did wrong.

Yes he has started to lift his leg to wee in the last couple of months when all the issues started to happen

He doesn't need to know he has done wrong. Unless you catch him doing it, then you say no and put outside. Otherwise show him what to do right, instead of focusing on what he has done wrong.

[quote Mammaaof]@Veterinari if I don't show him what he's done how will he know what he did wrong.

Yes he has started to lift his leg to wee in the last couple of months when all the issues started to happen[/quote]
But he's only a dog - he doesn't understand why you're annoyed and pointing at the floor.

You really need to stop telling him off and pointing him at his wee. You're likely making his behaviour worse. Like PP said the urinating when you're out of sight could be a fear response because you come in the room and tell him off.

Accidents should be ignored and cleaned up silently and calmly. Expressing annoyance and telling him off won't stop him peeing in the house.

Ok point taken I will ignore the weeing inside I mean it's the only thing I haven't tried 😂

Because as a PP has pointed out he won't associate the patch of urine with the act of urinating. The two things are separated by time so how does he connect them?

Also for something to be learned it needs to generate an emotional response:
Generating a positive emotional association with a behaviour means the behaviour is likely to be repeated
Generating a negative emotional association with a behaviour means the behaviour is less likely to be repeated.

You are generating a negative emotional response at a time that your dog is not urinating.

This teaches him absolutely nothing about where to urinate.

It is teaching him to fear you entering a room and making it much more likely that he'll urinate (in fear) as he hears you approach.

You can show him the wee a gazillion times but he still wont know he has done wrong, he is not human, it wont connect. Please listen to the really wise people on your thread. You posted for advice and you have got some really good advice, why not try it.

He does not think the same way you do.
You showing him a recent wee spot means absolutely naff all to him, but he can certainly tell when you're angry, the poor puppy. Perhaps he is scared when you leave the room as he knows when you return you are angry. But he doesn't know why, so he wees & humps out of anxiety.

@Mammaaof

Ok point taken I will ignore the weeing inside I mean it's the only thing I haven't tried 😂

Honestly OP do some reading around basic conditioning. You wouldn't reward a dog for sitting when he is standing, why would you punish a dog for urinating when he's not in the act if urinating?

You need to ignore the urinating inside, work on reassuring your dog so he's not scared of you abd reinforce the correct behaviours - you have to teach him what you want.

Be prepared though it will take some time - he has to unlearn his fear of you entering the room

@Veterinari but usually when I enter a room he gets so excited to see me, it's only when he wees that he goes to his bed so I just find that strange for him to do

@Ihaventgottimeforthis I don't think the humping is anxiety he humps the kids, my leg, my foot the vet said he's going through sexual maturity now at his age

When he wees outside, positive praise, then when you come back in, don't leave the room, just spend a good amount of time with him doing your obedience training, grooming or play or whatever. Get ready to intercept wees by going straight back outside. Then if he hasn't weed in 30 mins of accompanied time, outside again for a pee & positive praise
Is he generally anxious when seperated from you? Perhaps working on some separation anxiety reducing techniques will also help.

Humping can be displacement behaviour. My dog doesn't hump anything, he's 28 months & still entire - the vet has advised not to castrate yet as he's not that confident with strangers & some dogs, so we're waiting till he is a bit older & we can do some more socialising work.