Male with anger/peeing issues

[jodylp1]

Atreyu was diagnosed with a U.T.I. a week after we brought home(he was 8wks when we brought him home, he is almost 11wks now). We are almost complete with his antibiotics at this point.
At this point, he will hold "it" in his kennel at night, he wakes me up every 3 1/2 to 4 hours to go outside. He will generally hold it during the day. We put him on a form of water rationing to help him learn to hold it better. The vet said based on his urine sample that he was drinking waaaay more water then he needed to.
I've never had a puppy that I've had to do this with. He seems to have a sort of gorging deal with food & water. He thinks he's never full. It is a good quality food that he gets & the vet says we are still giving him more water then he requires.
So my big question is this. He still goes in his kennel occasionally, which I believe is a potty-training issue at this point & it doesn't worry me overly much yet.
It that when I have things I need to do in the house & I can't watch him, I put him in the keenel(after taking him outside first) and he will pee in the kennel even tho he can see me while I"m doing my cleaning or whatever... It's like he's mad. Any suggestions ?? The nylar bones just don't distract him for any length of time.... & I need help.
Also, I have 2 other dogs that I don't put in their kennel when I clean, as they are housebroken & don't need to be watched the way the baby does.

[Sargeant_C]

When you take him out make sure you give him time to empty his bladder at least twice before placing him back into the kennel. Some dogs will go pee 2 - 5 times before done peeing.

It is not an anger thing, it is a puppy thing. Possibly the UTI is not helping either. And how much water is too much?

[SABELLESMOM]

Generally the crate size should be small enough for him to lie down, and turn around. I realise with a growing puppy this is challenging. Is it possible your current space is too large? Because if he can pee at one end and sit in the other, he will.

He's also very young. Having started his life at your home with a UTI is certainly a set back, but give a guy a chance. NO puppy is potty trained in a month anyway. It's more like 3-4 and even then...you'll find some to have accidents. Your expecting too much.

[frontierrots]

Some pups pee in their crates for months. And housebreaking? at LEAST 6 months old before reliable and some male pups are older than that! (males being harder to housebreak than females- mostly because they just stop walking to pee and people don't notice)

A UTI in a male pup is uncommon. I would have a urine sample sent out to a lab for culture and sensitivity a few days to a week after the meds are done to make sure it's reall gone

MOST pups eat and drink more than they need to. MOST pups will indeed gorge on both it is our job to make sure they don't. Have you tried not feeding or watering after like 7 pm??

[tyson01]

The same thing happend with my dog at that age. I say its just a potty training issue, my dog is 4 1/2 months and he's doing great, i take him out at least 5 times a day, you just gotta make sure you stay on top of it

[Kitty]

Jody , I also have a female that has a U.T.I . as early as 7 weeks she has had it once since ...... she is now a year old . I have found that giving her vit. C and cranberry capsules once a day has helped to prevent her from having them since ! Maybe you should try this it won't hurt ! My vet has also told me getting this allso an be caused from to much anxiety ... good luck with your pup !

[jodylp1]

Well, Atreyu is now 14 weeks old & will go for 4 or 5 days with no problem, he does hafta be watched... but there will be no actual accident.
Then with no warning, he'll have an accident. I'll clean it up. Take hime out, he'll go... we come back in 20 minutes later, another accident.

Then we go back on "lock-down" for a week...
Which means, we limit water intake, never after 6:30 at night.
If I, or spouse cannot watch him with full attention then he must go in his crate. I wish I could just leash him to me, but from previous experience he'll pee right next to me, no prob.
We have a timer set to go off every hour - to every hour & 15 minutes. Then, out he goes.

He hasn't had an accident in his kennel in awhile.
I ttok a while but I figured out that he likes a pillow or blanket to sleep on at night. But if there is one in there during the day he will pee on it & bunch it into a corner. So now, he only gets his pillow at night.

I feel like such a failure that he still isn't potty trained.
He's almost 4 months old & I see all these stories about people who never had accidents, or were potty trained in 2 weeks...
Has anyone else taken this long ??

[hcelsa]

Here's an article on this subject that is worth reading (I'm sorry...I saved it as a word file a few years ago and neglected to save the author's name as well)...remember that much depends on his early experiences with where to go (what happened while he was still with his breeder).

Housetraining is Not a Race

I am not going to explain "how" to housebreak a puppy. That has been covered in lurid detail in MANY books and articles. It is not particularly complicated. What I would like to address is the overemphasis I think is often placed on completing housetraining quickly. I think it can be risky for people to think that faster is better and then put more pressure on themselves and their puppies because they feel they are failing if they have not housebroken their puppy at a certain age. Many dog owners, particularly somewhat novice pet owners, place WAY too much emphasis on quick housebreaking. On many occasions I have had people tell me how "smart" their dog was, and their only evidence has been that the individual dog was housebroken quickly!

Obviously I share a desire not to have my house covered in excrement; however, I feel that establishing the tone of a lifelong relationship is so much more important, and since this is the first "training" that is going to occur for most dogs, I hate to think how many people are in such a hurry that they do not apply the same care and compassion they do with every other behavior.

I have watched many otherwise competent trainers forget everything they know about communicating with canids when their innocent puppy happens to squat on their precious carpet! It is easy to housebreak quickly, but is it ideal? I would rather take longer, and manage around it with baby gates and lots of outside time, then rush this key time in my puppies life. This is exacerbated by the fact that people tend to think animals should naturally be tidy and are somewhat revolted by their puppies willingness to soil everywhere. So for several weeks, puppy gets to know its new person as a frustrated, unhappy, lunatic who has a fit every now and then for no obvious reason!

Put another way, most of us would not correct a dog for failure to complete a behavior UNTIL we were certain that the dog understood the desired behavior. Yet how many people start correcting this behavior from day 1 without first ensuring the dog understands what is being asked?

Furthermore, I find that how quickly my puppies end up housebroken has more to do with our circumstances than anything else- if it is summer and I am staying at a friends house or in a hotel, I can have a puppy fairly reliable in a few days, but it takes CONSTANT attention on my part. If I am at home, and it is raining out and cold, it may take weeks because I am careless.

Let me reiterate that I am NOT saying you need to go slowly. Just that you need to do it right and not worry about the time it takes. Lots of praise for success, lots of opportunities, lots of good management on your part so the puppy learns without stress or unhappiness!!

[jodylp1]

thank-you, that does make me feel better. Also I diagnosed him again & confirmed it with a vet, he has ANOTHER uti. Which doesn't explain the pooping. But it does make the peeing thing more understanding.
To be honest, I think it's partially becasue he doesn't clean himself well enough after peeing. Does anyone else deal with this >> & if so, how did you deal with it ?