Everlilly

Hey all, I've posted here before, I have a 4 month old male moodle pup named Teddy. Thus far everything has gone swimmingly, Teddy was a bit hesitant about puppy school but he opened up and is now a really great, social little guy. Toilet training was always something of a miracle. When he arrived he was already trained to pee on command by the owner, and had hardly any accidents at all (once or twice if I failed to take him out soon enough after playtime, or something like that). He is always in the same room as one of us, or in "his room" if we cant watch him. Recently we were playing on the couch and I went to the other side of the room to get his toy, turned around and he was PEEING ON THE COUCH. Just squatting there, peeing. I gave the corrective "utttt", ran over, picked him up mid stream and rushed him outside.. said his "pee trigger" and he finished his business. I spent the next 3 days cleaning that couch. Deodorizing with stuff specifically made for dog urine (Urine Off, which I got from my local vet clinic), using the couch cleaner which came with the couch, using some carpet cleaner.. everything I could think of to get rid of the smell because I definitely do not want him thinking it is an "okay potty place" at all. I thought that was the end of it, apparently not. Came downstairs this morning and my partner was in the room with Teddy, as I walked in I saw Teddy literally squat and pee on the couch!!! The back door was wide open and my partner had taken him out 10 minutes before so it wasn't like he was busting with no options. I understand that this was a fail on my/my partners part by leaving him unsupervised (well, he was in the same room he just jumped up when my partner had his back turned) but what can we do to discourage this kind of behaviour? And is there a reason he'd suddenly start doing this? Teddy only has access to two rooms in the house - our bedroom and the living room - so there's no way we could cut that down any further he needs to be allowed in the room with the couch. We're trying to get him used to not being allowed on the couch but previously it was not a no-no so he doesn't understand. I really am at my wits end. The couch absolutely reeks now and it's one of those ones without removable cushions so I'm not even sure how to fix it. At the moment I have Teddy on a leash any time he's out of his room but it hardly seems far that he has to be dragged around attached to me for the rest of time? Please help

So many responses, thank you so much everyone for your input! I apologize for the slow updates but I havent had internet all week so imagine my pleasure when we got home tonight and it was finally connected (yay Optus for finally getting your sh!t together!) To give 1 massive update, here we go! I decided I was not going to ignore Teddy because I thought it was too cruel (which, as I read these posts, I'm glad to see a lot of people agree with). I did, however, try to be a bit more hands on with his socialising and letting him see lots of new things in a comfortable and safe way. In the space of a week he met probably about 20 people (within the comfort of our home/yard) one or two at a time, with them coming to the house and pretty much ignoring him until he got curious and came over for a sniff and a pat! It worked a dream and now he'll growl a little at the door but he immediately runs up to visitors when the door opens.. :D Such a small thing but it feels like a huge victory. We also went lots of places in the car, and while he had to be carried around once we reached our destination as he isn't vaccinated yet, he seemed a lot more relaxed toward the start of this week than he was last week. I also decided I'd give the trainer/puppy school one more try (as I paid the whole course up front and Teddy had seemed to really come out of his shell) and I'm really glad I did. I arrived early this time to give him some time to sniff around before the other dogs got there, and had time to chat with the trainer. I think we had a bit of a miscommunication or I misunderstood when she was explaining to me last week, either that or she completely changed her mind between then and now. She was still fairly adamant about the "pack leader" thing but she also seemed a lot more .. human? I guess? With regards to Teddy being a puppy and needing to be treated differently because he is just a bit shy and takes a little longer to get involved. Needless to say, class tonight was one BILLION times better. Teddy had a sniff of each pup as they arrived and by the time the dogs were all there he was comfortable sitting next to my chair instead of under it. During off leash time he sniffed at each of the other puppy owners, and even played a little with the quieter maltese/shitzu (with some warning growls at the more loud/energetic pups). During on leash time he was relaxed enough to be able to focus on me while we were learning how to walk on the leash correctly! It's almost a complete 180, I am so, so pleased with how far he has come. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for all their feedback and advice.. I'm glad to know my instincts were right about this. It's so nice to have a resource like this forum where I can see multiple opinions and make my own informed decisions.

I have a 10 week old Maltese x Poodle male pup named Teddy. At home he has a gorgeous temperament, gets a little over-enthusiastic when we play and will occasionally nip my hand instead of the toy but what puppy doesn't (this is also something we're working on, he isn't just allowed to bite)? In general he's good with people, though he takes a bit longer to warm up to men than women (the lady who owned his mum was a single mum and he didn't see many men before he came to me). We started puppy preschool on Wednesday night and I was shocked to see how different he was to all the other pups. In a group of 4, 3 of the pups got really rambunctious and played together after only a few minutes of growling/sniffing.. but after an hour Teddy was still sitting under my chair, unwilling to go near the other pups during off-leash time and growling if they came too close. He even had a snap at one of the more enthusiastic pups who came bouncing over to say hello. He did however let a more quiet maltese/shitzu pup come over and sniff/hang out. I was confused because Teddy had a visit with my mother-in-laws 8 year old Bichon and after about 5 minutes of being unsure/sniffing he was running about like a mad hatter, playing and trying to get Momo to play with him, too. After the class I stayed back and spoke to the trainer who said that Teddy is withdrawn/aggressive with other dogs/people because he doesn't see me as the pack leader and I need to assert my dominance so he can feel more comfortable in new situations and know I will protect him. She said to avoid picking him up for cuddles or interacting with him too much (her exact words were to "remain aloof with him").. I don't really understand this because who gets a puppy just to ignore it all the time? Also, how will he know I'll protect him if I ignore him all the time? To give you an idea of his lifestyle/my training style, I'll let you know what we've been doing: - Teddy sleeps in my room but he has his own bed beside mine. He will come up for cuddles/pats while I read before bed but he always gets put back in his own bed for sleep. - He is already fairly solid in toilet training and has only had 1-2 accidents total, both of which were my fault for not taking him out frequently enough. - We have been working on training, he will "sit" on my first command and knows to sit before being fed/before I open doors. He also knows "drop it" and "go get it/fetch". - He eats only puppy food and is fed after the rest of us eat to encourage him not to beg. - I work 8am-4pm monday-friday and my partner works 2pm-11pm monday-friday so he is home alone an average of 3-4 hours a day. During this time he is put in the laundry with a bed, some toys, his kong and some water. - I spend about an hour every afternoon when I get home playing fetch with him and in general running around like a crazy person to get him his exercise (since we cant go for walks yet). - He hasn't had his second pavo vaccination yet (this is actually booked for tomorrow) so he hasn't visited dog parks or anything but he does get a fair bit of outside time in our courtyard and my mother in laws backyard on the weekends when we visit. Does anyone have any tips on how I can better assert myself as "top dog" without completely ignoring him? Of course if the only way for him to feel safe out and about is for me to ignore him, I'll do it, but it really doesn't make sense to me. Surely there must be another way? (attached is a picture of him dead to the world in his bed with his monkey toy.)

Hi all, I apologize if this has been addressed before, I tried a few different search terms but I wasn't really sure exactly what it's called and came up with nothing. I have a gorgeous 10 week old maltese x poodle pup who has "leaky eyes" or "eye gunk". My first puppy when I was young (a maltese) had this and I used to be able to just wipe it away with a damp cloth, but this stuff goes hard really quickly and I'm not sure how to clean it off without hurting Teddy. He's sensitive enough about grooming (we're working on it, daily brushing etc..) so I don't want to traumatize him with ripping his facial hair off by accident. I would just leave it til his washings, but it's clearly bothering him, he keeps pawing at his eye area/face. Is there any grooming secrets to cleaning this off? I'd prefer not to use scissors if possible, he's still learning to sit still for grooming and I'd be super scared of him thrashing and me poking him in the eye.

He hangs out at my feet of a morning while I blow dry my hair so I think that might actually be an easy thing for him to adjust to.. hurray! 1 thing might actually be easy!

It's Teddys legs in particular that he really dislikes being done so we're going to start paying extra attention to them with pats and games and 5 minute spurts of "fake brushing" etc.. I will definitely try getting him higher up on the table or bench, that would help I think so he doesn't have a clear escape route to try wriggle for. On a side note, it's very hard to be mad at a cheeky face like this.. "That yucky bath lady is gone, right mum?"

I thought of that Fuzzy but with how badly he reacted to being clippered today (the groomer actually had to stop mid-cut) I don't think I could safely shave him without traumatizing him even further. I will try also a little brush before each feeding.. that's a great idea as Teddy is very food motivated.

KaseyC, I may not have elaborated enough on the situation. He wasn't filthy, he just had "extra strong puppy cologne" happening, if that makes sense? And his fur was starting to stick together. Teddy is a licker.. like a cat, almost? He's constantly licking his hair and the saliva seems to make it stick together etc, and then he gets "puppy breath" smell on his coat too. I took him to the vet on Saturday and she said he's a healthy little boy so I'm not worried anything is wrong he's just scared and I want to eliminate that fear for him. I will start doing the play-brushing today, the brush was recommended to me by the owner of PetCafe (where I get my food and supplies) with his coat in mind, but I will get a get a soft bristle one to get him used to the idea of brushing with. Thanks so much for all the advice everyone.. I'm so glad I found this forum. :)

Hi everyone, I have a 9 week old Maltese x Poodle that came home with me last week. He was in dire need of a scrub as he had been living with 5 litter mates and his mum, and though the breeder had washed him twice since he was born he was still very stinky/his hair was a sticking together etc. I figured for the sake of making it easier for him/traumatizing him least I should book a groomer.. they have more experience etc, and know what they're doing and are less likely to hurt my baby than if I was to make a mistake from inexperience. Anyway the groomer came today and she was able to wash Teddy and dry him, but he cried the whole time and she had to stop mid-trim because he was thrashing about too much and she was worried about clipping him. I don't know what I can do to make sure Teddy is more comfortable Being a poodle x he really needs to be washed frequently and brushed everyday but he flips out any time I try. Does anyone have any advice about what I can do? I've tried feeding him treats while brushing him, talking to him in soothing tones and holding him against my chest while my partner tries to brush him.. nothing works. He's normally a very calm, trusting dog so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong Please help, Confused mum.