Pissy puppy advice

[Skippys Mum]

Hello there,

I have a border collie puppy who is now 6 1/2 months old. I got him at 14 weeks old and noticed straight away that his pee smelled really strong. I took him to the vet and she said not to worry. I have known him since he was about 6 weeks old and the previous owner had also checked with a different vet and been told he was fine although he was kennelled outside at the time so it wasnt so noticible.

4 weeks down the line he was peeing everywhere, constantly. You could let him out and he would pee then 5 minutes later away he went again - floods of the stuff.

I took him back to the vets and got a different vet. She immediately said there was something wrong and a urine sample showed blood. He was put on antibiotics and dried up almost overnight.

A week later, he came off them and started peeing again. By this time I was at Christmas Eve so the vet left me out more antibiotics and he stayed on them for another fortnight. Again, when he came off them he peed for Britain.

This time, the vet took him in and did some tests including putting a dye into his bladder and kidneys to make sure everything was in the right place and also took a sterile sample of urine straight from the bladder. The xrays came back as fine and so did the sample.

She then put him onto metacam incase there was any inflammation and propalin to try to stop the peeing (which by this time was even happening in his sleep). With all this and then yet another course of antibiotics, we are nearly sorted but he is still really pissy when he meets anyone - dog or person.

He is now dry in the house and overnight, he can hold on no bother at work (he comes with me to work) but when he meets folk its a flood.

What I really want to know is if this is still normal? I would love to go to training classes without my trusty towel. Has anyone any idea when a pup should be able to control himself when he gets excited?

Sorry this is so long btw.

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

dogs wee doesnt smell so strong once they have been castrated, and he might calm down a bit which could help the greet and wee cycle. good luck, my puppies have always grown out of the weeing when over excited or meeting people.

 

[Skippys Mum]

He is booked in to get done next week! I've never had this before and I just would love to know if there is a magic age that he will finally manage to stop doing this at - or do I just issue wellies to everyone

 

[beeswax]

the poor wee thing - well IMO he has had so much attention in the past with his constant peeing he is probably now a bit embarrassed and hence is weeing when meeting people and other dogs because he is actually scared, please tell me you have not been smacking him or rubbing his nose in his pee when he has done it, it does knock their confidence right back (how are wee dogs supposed to know that us humans dont like them peeing on our floors and so we punish them for doing what is so natural), i would just go along with it and praise him all the time so he gets his confidence back and he will grow out of it, trust me. Give him a big hug XX

 

[Skippys Mum]

Fortunately I have never smacked him for it - I would have been mortified if I'd smacked him and it hadnt been his fault. He is really really good at going on demand now and its not smelly any more (just as well I'm a dog groomer - he reeked when he was younger!). I used the "ignore the wrong ones and praise the right ones" method.

He says thankyou for his hug

 

[Alexart]

Dogs peeing themselves when they get excited isn't that uncommon, it's a submissive gesture and nothing to do with wether he has been told off for peeing before - it's just he is a naturally low ranked dog that is very excitable.
The best thing to do with him when someone new meets him is totally ignore him - don't look/fuss/touch or talk to him until he is totally calm, as you are just re-enforcing the behavior. He will eventually learn to stay calm when new people are about - it takes time, practice and patience, just make sure you ask people before they meet him to ignore him and only reward him when he is nice and chilled out and on your say so! Neutering and maturity will help a bit too - good luck!

 

[CAYLA]

As above ^^^
You need to make all things "exciting" as low key as possible, no bendig down to stroke him, eye cotact or talk, ask people to act neutral when they meet him.
If he is submissive to the point he tries to roll over and show his tummy, then ask the people to turn their back on him, he will tehn flip back up to get back i their eye lie, again turn there backs, no bending down to stroke him.
It's maily always the initial greeting thats sets the submissive behaviour, so have somethig at the ready, call him to u and maybe introduce a clicker and (click and treat) as means of a distraction, and when people want to stroke him, as suggested wait till he is calm and not focused on said person then get them to stroke very briefly and walk off, or stand tall and remove all attention (never prolong) the greeting or fussing.

 

[Skippys Mum]

Thanks for all the advice. Poor wee guy is going to have to get used to being ignored for a while! I've already started a bit of clicker training with him but I never thought to use it for distraction purposes (he would walk backwards through fire for a treat!). He is very submissive with new dogs or people - once he has met them a couple of times he is fine and stops peeing all over them

Oh, and Cayla - he's entered in your calendar competition - he better get this sorted before he becomes famous