Puppy Peeing Problem (alliteration go!)

As my last post displayed, John and I have adopted a new puppy. His names is Miles.

Miles is around 4 months old, we adopted him from the county shelter, and have no information on his life before the shelter. He often lays down when people come near, and seems to be afraid a lot of the time (but never angry, he does not respond by growling or showing any violent tendencies). This would be an ok trait to have (one we could work on over a longer amount of time) if it weren't for the fact he often urinates when he is afraid or sorry.

I have read a lot online about "Submissive Urination" in dogs. Most of the advice was along the lines of ignoring him when we get home, not punishing him when he pees from fear, and not treating it like a housebreaking issue.

The last one is hard for us... because he often actually lays down in the pee and the only way to get him out of the way to clean it up is to put him outside. It also means he becomes pretty smelly rather quickly.

Has anyone else had this issue with a puppy? Did they grow out of it? Help!

Miles Davis The Puppy

Oddly enough, I'm listening to Miles Davis' "So What" while posting this blog :D

Check out our new baby :) He's only 4 months old and already nearly 30 lbs (maybe more!)

Weekend of Puppies

This weekend John and I adopted a new puppy.  We've named him Miles Davis.  He is a lab/pit mix, and about as sweet as candy.  He's only 3.5 months old, and we're not sure what his life was like before he came to the Gwinnett County Animal Shelter. It's the first male dog I've ever had, and the first dog I've had a chance to crate train.  We're super excited :-)

I feel like my patience and experience at work has actually helped me with dog training.  Not to say that Programmers are like dogs!  However, there is a certain level of patience needed when working in QA, and a lot of repeating the same tests.  Having worked in a system that sometimes creates errors that are erratic, I've had to become patient with the repetitive tasks - somewhat like when training Miles.  He often gives me different results despite my actions not changing... but slowly, as we tweak his behavior (as a programmer tweaks a program), he becomes more predictable.

In other news I started seeing a therapist.  Without going into too much detail, I think it's going really well.  She suggested I read the book Change Your Brain, Change Your Life.  It's been really helpful in understanding why peoples brains work the way they do.  I wish all parents and family members of people with mental problems could read it.  It could sincerely help in understanding and compassion for people with everything from children with ADD to spouses with severe depression.  It's really made me reconsider my view on medication and therapy exercises.

Aside from those two items, everything is fairly normal.  I'm visiting family for the weekend both to hang out with my dad for Father's Day, and to get him to change my brakes, because I'm not sure how much longer my squeaky ones will last...

Later gators!