Puppy peeing when my husband leaves

[courtney2838]

We have a puppy who is almost 10 weeks old. We have had him of a week and a half. He sleeps in bed with us and holds his pee for up to 10 hours in the evening. He is pretty good during the day with going outside as long as he is taken out every half hour while awake. However when my husband leaves ( which is only for brief periods as he is a stay at home dad) he pees all over the house. I’ve tried taking him out every 10 minutes when my husband is gone and he still will pee 5-6 times in the house even though he just peed outside. Help!

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Courtney2838,

Welcome to the forums!

It's really great to hear that your puppy is able to hold it for so long in the evening!

Puppies struggle the most during the day when they're awake because they drink more and being active makes them potty more.

 

It's interesting that the peeing seems to increase more in your husbands' absence. Perhaps he becomes more active when he is away? Maybe a little anxious? Perhaps he's more likely to "hold it" in your husband's presence? Sometimes, if a family member gets more annoyed than another over accidents in the home, the puppy senses that and tries to hold it for longer or sneaks out of sight to potty (check for pee accidents under beds, coaches, if you suspect that's the case).

 

Other possibilities are excitement/submissive urination which takes place when puppies feel particularly excited (like during greetings-even after not seeing you for a little bit, when talking excitedly to puppies/praise etc) or as an appeasement gesture when we loom over a puppy or talk to them in a certain tone. You can read more about this form of peeing here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/submissive-urination/

 

And then, if this is a total new behavior, sometimes excessive, out of the norm, peeing may be due to medical issues, the most common being a urinary tract infection, but this is more often found in female dogs. However, in this case, the excess peeing would still occur in your presence and there may be likely other signs, but always worth mentioning medical causes, just in case.

 

Since your husband leaves only for brief periods, it may be best to simply manage this situation by either taking your puppy out with you in the yard while hubby is away or bringing him out to potty, making sure he eliminates, and then keeping him in the crate with some safe chew toy (if you are crate training) until hubby returns.

 

Also, one thing to consider, is that puppies often pee more than once when out. They may pee in one spot, then a little bit after in another, and then maybe another time. Often they are distracted when outside so they do a little dribble rather than emptying their bladder. If you take your puppy back inside too early, he may have therefore not completely emptied his bladder, so it's a good idea to stay outside more and while you're at it, you may find it handy starting to train your puppy to pee on command. Here's how:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/potty-on-command/

Edited January 29, 2020 by Adrienne Farricelli
added details

[courtney2838]

Thank you!!!

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You are very welcome,

Keep us posted on how it goes!

Best,

Adrienne