Cocker Spaniel Puppy Questions

Hello,

After the death of my two dogs 2 1/2 years ago (they died three days apart), my husband and I recently purchased a 12 week old female Cocker Spaniel. He's doing very well except for a couple things. The first is when she's excited, she piddles a little. I'm not sure if this is because her bladder is weak because of her age. I hope she will out grow this. The other issue I have is she stays in her kennel during the day (which she's very fond of her kennel) from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and then from 12:30 - 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. She is reluctant to return to her kennel in the afternoon. We try and exercise her when she's out of her kennel. Fortunately, I only work three days a week and will be home with her the other four days. Is this too long for her to stay in her kennel. I don't want her to develop separation anxiety. I'm hoping that in time, she will adjust to our routine. At this point, I have no other options, because she is not house broken, but getting there. Can anyone tell me when a dog is housebroken? When can she go outside by herself to go potty? Is she old enough to start discipline and to start with commands such as come, sit, etc.

Thanks for any advise anyone can give me on the above mentioned issues as well as anything else I should know. Its's been a long time since I've had a puppy. It's been rather exhausting.

Michelle

Hi Michelle,
I am Heather, this board is very helpful! I have a 9 month old English Springer Spaniel. She also pee when excited. My vet told me that it is common for her breed and that she may or may not out grow it! She has gotten better but we also do a couple preventive measures. When we leave even for a short trip to the store we always let her outside to greet us, that way she pees outside and I don't have to clean it up! She us to do it whne people came to the house too but she doesn't do that very often anymore! I took our puppy to a puppy kindergarden class when she was 5 months old, the class was for 4-6 month old puppies. We got her when she was 4 1/2 months old and she was already starting to learn command so I would think you could start working with her! She started asking to go outside sometimes by herself at 4 1/2 month, we have a bell on our door that she rings when she wants outside. I haven't had to deal with seperation issues, so I don't have an suggestions for that! The only other thing that I can think of right off hand is make sure you clean her ears weekly. Lou Lou got a bad ear infection a few months ago, poor baby! All that hair on their ears and the floppy ears makes it even more important! have fun with your new puppy!

May I ask if you keep the puppy in her kennel when you are home, or just
the 3 days you have to work? On the peeing question, a lot of puppies do
the submission peeing but outgrow it as they mature.It's important that you
not greet her with any excitement in your voice or actions to set her off.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MRichardson50

Hello,

After the death of my two dogs 2 1/2 years ago (they died three days apart), my husband and I recently purchased a 12 week old female Cocker Spaniel. She's doing very well except for a couple things. The first is when she's excited, she piddles a little. I'm not sure if this is because her bladder is weak because of her age. I hope she will out grow this. The other issue I have is she stays in her kennel during the day (which she's very fond of her kennel) from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and then from 12:30 - 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. She is reluctant to return to her kennel in the afternoon. We try and exercise her when she's out of her kennel. Fortunately, I only work three days a week and will be home with her the other four days. Is this too long for her to stay in her kennel. I don't want her to develop separation anxiety. I'm hoping that in time, she will adjust to our routine. At this point, I have no other options, because she is not house broken, but getting there. Can anyone tell me when a dog is housebroken? When can she go outside by herself to go potty? Is she old enough to start discipline and to start with commands such as come, sit, etc.

Thanks for any advise anyone can give me on the above mentioned issues as well as anything else I should know. Its's been a long time since I've had a puppy. It's been rather exhausting.

Michelle

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Welcome to puppy world. Did you know that the love of a puppy who turns into a good dog causes complete amnesia of the previous time spent with other puppies, including....

sleepless nights, nibbled hands, spots on carpet, chewed table legs, and etc?

:D

1) Yes, she will outgrow the submissive urination. Try to ignore it. Any attention to it will only cause it to escalate. In dog society, urinating in the presence of your superiors is EXCELLENT manners. Your puppy is telling you how much she respects you when she does this. Over time, with your gentle caring kindness and training, she will outgrow it. Mean time, do a search on SUBMISSIVE URINATION, and you will find lots of helpful hints on how to greet a puppy to minimize the sprinkling effect.

2) Honestly, I don't think that's too long in a crate for a puppy since she is having a one hour break in the middle of the day. One thing you might consider is changing her crate. If you are using a sky kennel, you might try a wire one that is slightly larger than the one you are currently using. A nice raw marrow bone might increase her willingness to go in the crate in the afternoon. Pick up several at your butcher or grocery, and freeze them. When it's time to leave for the afternoon, with very little ceremony, put her in th crate with the bone. Make sure she has a bucket of water, bone chewing is thirsty work. When you get home, again, with little ceremony, matter of factly take up the bone, put it in a plastic bag, and refreeze it. She will get the bone only when you leave in the afternoon and she is going back to her crate. This single action can eliminate crate/separation anxiety in MANY dogs.

3) I don't even think of puppies being completely housetrained (meaning eliminating outside reliably) until near 6 months of age. You should go out with her and supervise elimination until she is reliable in the house. That can be 2 weeks for some puppies, and 2 months for others. I am going to post my housetraining piece on a different topic. Print it out, and go by it religiously. :D

4) I will also put up the recall game, and a link to some attention training games. I do not believe in negatives with puppies this age, and I'm not sure what you mean by discipline, but if you will let me know, I'll let you know if it's appropriate or not. I'd be checking out training classes, and get in one as soon as you can in your area. Look for someone who uses treats and positives in training. Stay away from the collar yankers.

Have faith that it will become less and less exhausting as time goes by. The first 3 or 4 months can be awfully hard tho.

Have a look at the two training articles I'm about to post, and if you have questions, please let me know.

lizbud,

Thanks for responding. She's only in her kennel the three days that I work and at night. Her kennel is in our bedroom and she has no problem at all during the night.

Hello,

Thanks for the response. I should not of used the word discipline. I am trying at this point to use only positive praise and distract her when she is doing something wrong (such as chewing on the couch). Thanks for the suggestion of the chew bone in the crate. I will try right away. I've been hearing alot about puppy kindergarden. I might look into that.

She is actually a good dog and a pleasure to have (my cats probably would not agree at this time).

I will check out the websites you suggested.

Thanks again for your help!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MRichardson50

lizbud,

Thanks for responding. She's only in her kennel the three days that I work and at night. Her kennel is in our bedroom and she has no problem at all during the night.

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Thank you. :) No, I don't think the time in the crate is excessive.She
sounds like a smart little pup who would tire quickly of time spent with
nothing to do. Some folks leave the dog with a Kong filled with little treats
they they "work on" to get the treats out.Any safe chew toy is good to
pass the time.

Cocker spaniels are actually quite known to pee when exicited and I don't think they outgrow it but I'm not exactly sure. :D

This website has some cocker spaniel info on it if you're interested.
http://www.angelfire.com/ma4/mypups/breed.html
About a few points above the first picture it says...
Peeing everywhere- especially when excited or scared- keep them out of carpeted rooms!

www.dogbreedinfo.com has helpful info on any breed :)

I have an English Cocker Spaniel, somewhat different from American Cockers but also similar. She is now 2 years old. She was "crated" (in our bathroom, she never liked her crate) for about the amount of time you are doing, and seemed to do fine with it. She was always happy when I came home, and she still chooses to sleep in the bathroom if she is not on our bed. She was definately more difficult to housetrain than my Golden Retriever, and in fact was not reliable until about 10 months old (I thought she was trained at 6 months, but had a couple "accidents"). She is now excellent, and will let us know when she needs to go out.

Good luck!

Jake's mom

Congrats on the new puppy! I bet she is cute, do you have any pictures of her?

Peeing when excited/submissive is very common in cockers. We get a lot of cocker spaniels in our grooming salon and most of them do this, so she may not outgrow it.

Cockers very very commonly urinate or defecate when scared or excited -- alot of them grow out of it, alot of them don't. You may want to buy a little doggy diaper for her to wear. :) You can find them at most pet shops.

I got my puppy last week and she has the submissive elimination problem too. A tip to help that we are working on is when you get home... ignore the puppy for like 5 minutes and do what you need to do so the excitment dies down. Then go to your puppy and gradually greet her.

We crate the dog as well. We went to State Fair (a fair around here) last week and remarkabely held her bladder for almost 6 hours. A little puppy- (like 8-10 weeks) usually hold their bladder about every hour and then 2-4 hours while sleeping. I've heard a controversary but thats the majority.

If you are thinking of using the crate system as she is older, i would definitely start now. Put her in her crate for ten minutes and come back. Gradually every day increase the time. You can go into another room, leave the house, anything. While you are away- especially if you are gone a while- put safe toys in her crate. We have been using a nylabone and a kong. A kong is an amazing invention and i think every dog should have one. If you don't have one i suggest you get one for the puppy.

My best friend has a cocker spaniel and their dog is very very onto a "schedule". When she was a puppy, they took her out every night at midnight.. she is so used to it she still does that and she is almost 8 years. Schedules are very good especially feeding and such but if you want to try and get her through the night... add a little bit each night so she learns to grow with the time and not get set on midnight.

Good luck

Thanks to everyone who responded to my concerns. Sasha is doing very well. She loves her crate and is ready for bed at 10:00. She sleeps until 5:00 or 6:00. As far as her submissive urination, we do ignore her for the first five minutes when arriving home to let her settle down. This has been working 95% of the time. We also don't let visitors pet her until she settles down, this seems to work as well. We took her to Pet Smart today and didn't have one piddle. My husband said we'll have to put a sign on her that says "don't pet, puppy in training." He's just kidding.

We are trying to expose her to different elements. We take her to the park 3-4 times a week and walk her daily. Her brother lives on the street behind us and they get some play time.

Other than the submissive urination problem we have, she is a great dog. We have enrolled her an 8 week puppy class next beginning next week.

I haven't looked at any area pet stores yet, but does anyone know where I can get a deep water bowl so her ears aren't wet after getting a drink?

Thanks again!!

I will post pictures soon.

Your welcome.

That's Lizzy's schedule too! (10-5:30) I hate that submissive eliminattion thing. Everyone was telling me not to take her to petco or classes until she is fully vaccinated. - they even told me not to take for for walks (shh! lol) because of parvo, which is what someone's puppy got and almost died. but hopefully next month i'm going to start her on classes.

Thats great that she is doing so good! I would love to see pictures of her. and taking her to different "elements"... thats exactly what you should be doing with her age. good job :)

post pics sooon!

We had our two cockers pass this year about 45 days apart. Jackie was 11 and Jessica was 13. Jackie was always good about potty training (3 days!) and didn't "greet & pee". Jessica took a couple of weeks to potty train and peed when greeting for about her first 8 years.

Part of the joy of a cocker! :)