Hormones & More...

Hi, new to the group. I joined when we first adopted our Cav this summer at 10 weeks. Just now having time to sign in!

Max is now 8 months old. He's been a sweetie, even with the several 'hurdles' we've had along the way...

short version - coccidia & ear mites at 12 weeks, kennel cough beginning around 14 weeks - lasting for almost 2 months...eye injury from his best buddy, our outdoor cat (I have allergies) at 4 months - he had a stitch placed in his iris and his third lid flapped for 3 weeks -- healed perfectly with no ill effects. PTL!

Throughout this time we've had struggles with housetraining. We crate train & placed hanging bells on the doors...he's not our first dog btw...he's being quite stubborn about it. I've even kept him on leash right beside me while in the house, taken him out to the same spot, he'll pee, praise -- blah blah blah...walk back inside and he'll hike right there! Ugh. LOL.

We have successfully house-trained several dogs, some easier than others...any ideas on what may be going wrong here?

On to issue #2...he's our lone dog, no other pet except aforementioned cat. They are friendly, will play together and often sleep side by side in the sun...

In the past 2 weeks we've noticed that Max is now attempting to mate with the cat! Silly sight for sure.

We have an appointment to have him neutered in 2 weeks. I'm hoping this will help with the housetraining issue and lust for the cat. LOL.

Any other ideas/suggestions?

Thanks!

Any ideas??

cavtinyMax is still wondering what you all think!

Well, the housetraining issues could be a medical issue (UTI), could be whatever environment he was reared in by the breeder did not teach him the basics of needing to keep his den area clean; could be that he still needs even more attention than you are giving (for example, how is he able to hike his leg inside without being instantly stopped before he can even start spritzing? Is he wandering on his own? Off the lead? No one watching him when on the lead and tethered? Do you also use a crate? Is he always watched 100% of the time when not sleeping? It is just that most of us find that what we thought was adequate watching actually was letting the dog develop unwanted habits when we trusted the dog had already reached a level of housetraining it hadn't! It is a common problem and usually the issue is lack of supervision even if we think we are doing enough. Alos -- dogs do tend to continue to have occasional accidents up to age one or so but sounds like this is more than occasional...).

Neutering will help marking most of the time -- and perhaps what you are describing is marking, not actually lack of basic housetraining?

I recommend Shirlee Kalstone's book on housetraining if you are having problems.

Smaller breeds can be more of a challenge as they wee very quickly and often this goes on a long time without being noticed -- so the dog scents furniture and the carpets/floors then keeps returning to the same place. Maybe some things now will need to be thrown out; you need to use enzymatic cleaner (not just household cleaners) to remove the embedded scent if that is still possible, etc.

does he do it in the same place, or is "marking"? I've no solution to marking, but if he goes in the same place, put his food there.