Gobsmacked....could do with some advice

[Dilly Donut]

Hi There

I have a 2 and a half year old cocker called Dylan whom we have had since he was 10 weeks old. About an hour ago, completely out of the blue, whilst I was watching the fish in our tank above the fridge, Dylan cocked his leg up and peed on my leg and foot. I noticed he was hovering by my side so turned round as was about to stroke him when I noticed his leg was cocked. He quickly walked off and I still hadn't really noticed he had peed until I felt a wet foot and then saw the puddle on my shoe and on the surrounding area, my skirt was also wet!

He was neutered when he was a year old and has been house trained since we brought him home as a small pup.

You should have seen my face :eek: when it dawned on me what he had done. I didn't shout at him, I just stood there gobsmacked, I called my OH who naturally found it hilarious and we cleaned up the floor and I jumped in the shower. Before cleaning the floor, I pointed to the wee and sternly told Dylan 'No Bad Boy, what have you done' and was met with his guilty face.

What I am asking is, has anyone else had experience of this happening at all, it isnt a problem if it is a one off, but the thought of him getting into a habit of doing it unimpresses me immensely. Any advise will be appreciated.

There haven't been any disturbances or upsets that may have triggered it, the only small thing is that my son has left his bike near to the 'dog zone' in our kitchen for the last couple of days, he isnt a sensative dog and I cant imagine the bike being the cause of this tbh, we have moved it now though just in case.

[Mudmagnets]

I expect some dogs do pee in an out of character situation, but I have no idea why. Hopefully someone will be along shortly who can shed some light on it for you.......and what (if anything) you should do about it.

May ask  had he just woken up maybe and deparately needed to go?

[GeoW]

He's obviously marking you as his property

Many years ago I took my first cocker Ben to the pub to get some cigarettes, I became aware of some tittering and smirking from those within the bar and looked down to see with horror Ben starting to pee up my leg.

We left in some haste, and it was a while before I returned to said pub.

Ben was around two years old at the time, and fortunately it was an action he never attempted to repeat in his long and active life.

Must be a teenage thing.

[CraftySam]

Sometimes they just do gobsmack us.

My experience has been that when mine have had accidents its when somethings upset them and I don't always know what it is at the time but it comes to me later.

However I do have a friend who's cocker suddenly started weeing inside, cocking his leg up chairs and even curtains and she had no idea why.  She went back to basics and treated him as if she were toilet training a puppy and eventually it all came good and she's not had a problem since. Try using Primula cheese as a reward for toileting outside (and only for that to keep it special). I found that works wonders and the tube becomes a visual cue too.

The other thing to consider is if he has got a water infection as that can seriously hamper how they can control themselves. If the incidents continue get the vet to check  him out.

[Nicola]

If he has more accidents in the house I would take him to the vet to rule out a physical cause such as a bladder infection. If there are no other changes you can think of which might have caused him to mark indoors like this then I would probably go back to basics on the house training for a few days as well, let him out really regularly and really praise him when he goes outside.

It's totally pointless pointing at the pee and scolding him after the event though, you have to catch them in the act for a telling off to have any effect, even a minute later is too late. I posted this on another thread earlier and it applies here too...

Dogs don't know they've done something wrong or that they've been 'bad' after the event. They are very good at reading our body language and reacting to it though so if we come in to find they've chewed a chair (or peed in the house) and we're angry the dog may well look like they're grovelling and that they're guilty or 'sorry' but they will only be reacting to our angry body language in this instant and be trying to appease us, they won't have made the connection between us being angry now and the chair that they chewed (or pee they did indoors) an hour ago; they'll know that we're angry but won't understand why. Dogs live in the moment and don't feel guilt or remorse for things they've done in the past, no matter how recent that past is.

[Dilly Donut]

Thanks for your replies

He hadn't been asleep mudmagnets, he had just been having his belly rubbed by my OH not minutes before and we were not 3 foot from the open back door to the garden which makes it even odder that he done what he did. What's also odd is that if Dylan is going to 'play' anyone up it will be my husband as OH isnt very good at taking charge, I am the pack leader and Dylan is usually very good for me.

Craftysam, it's funny you should say that about your friends dog as the other day I was walking down the stairs and thought I could smell pee but could not locate where. I will start taking him outside at regular intervals personally for a few days and give him the 'hurry up' command to pee, see if that works.

He's had an eye infection for a week or so that I have been bathing regularly in salt water and I did notice he had diarroah (sp) a couple of days ago and usually he has the constitution of an ox. Maybe he is unwell but I am hoping it's just a one off. He is eating and drinking ok, is full of his usuall beans and doesnt have any other signs of being unwell, I'll give it a couple of days see how it goes and maybe take him to the vet.

Nicola, I agree with you re dogs living for the moment, however, at the time I was stunned. Only one or two minutes at most had past between him doing it and me finding my voice. Sometimes, just sometimes there are situations so 'left field' that even the most aware and competant of us are rendered useless, this was one such occasion, I have never been peed on in my life by man or beast (and dont intend to be again lol).

[sharonmansfield]

oh dear I hope this is a one off for you,
Hope all is well with him and yes sometimes they do things that render us speechless.

[Dilly Donut]

OH is still laughing about it this morning lol!

[joanne_v]

He's had an eye infection for a week or so that I have been bathing regularly in salt water and I did notice he had diarroah (sp) a couple of days ago and usually he has the constitution of an ox. Maybe he is unwell but I am hoping it's just a one off. He is eating and drinking ok, is full of his usuall beans and doesnt have any other signs of being unwell, I'll give it a couple of days see how it goes and maybe take him to the vet.

This could very well be the reason why he did it. If he's slightly under the weather there may be other things going on. Have you noticed him struggling to pee at all? The only time my cocker ever pee'd indoors was when he had a urine infection/urine crystals. This makes it uncomfortable to pee so they will sometimes only do it when they are absolutely desperate.

[Nicola]

Nicola, I agree with you re dogs living for the moment, however, at the time I was stunned. Only one or two minutes at most had past between him doing it and me finding my voice. Sometimes, just sometimes there are situations so 'left field' that even the most aware and competant of us are rendered useless, this was one such occasion, I have never been peed on in my life by man or beast (and dont intend to be again lol).

It's happened to me too, a Springer peed on my foot at a shoot once... luckily I was wearing wellies at the time

I think what you've said about the eye infection and the diarrohea could have something to do with it; if he does it again or as Jo says you notice him having problems peeing I would definitely take him to the vet for a check up.

[Top Barks]

Be careful not to punish your dog for weeing in the house as he may just learn to wee in the house when it's safe (i.e your not there)
As Nicola said revisit your house training and if it continues first port of call should be the vet.

[Dilly Donut]

Hi all,

Thankyou so much for your input.

I noticed today that Dylan was doing very short sharp peeing, not his usuall at all. We had to pop out for an hour or so earlier and when we got back he had peed up the chair leg in the kitchen. I didn't tell him off, just took him out in the garden and gave him a bit of fuss whilst OH cleaned up and put all their (also have an old english)  bedding which was nearby in to wash.

I telephoned the vet and he said to bring Dylan right in. He was running a temperature as I suspected, the vet gave him a injection shot of antibiotics and a vit c jab for the stool, he also gave us eye cream and a bottle of antibiotics Dylan has to take twice a day from tomorrow evening. We have to telephone back on monday to book another appointment to see him this week. Poor little boy!

I am hoping the curious incident of the peeing dog is down to the  sore eyes and urinery tract infection, it is looking more and more likely. It is so out of character for him to do anything like this. He's usually such a healthy dog too.

[mum2milly]

Poor Dylan  I hope he starts to improve now he has the antibiotics etc.
Fingers crossed for better news from the vet on Monday.

Jo & Milly xx

[joanne_v]

Did thet vet ask for a urine sample? Starting to sound very much like a urine infection.

[Helen]

Did thet vet ask for a urine sample? Starting to sound very much like a urine infection.

yep that's my thought too - poor boy, hope he feels better soon