Why does my puppy pee on the couch after walks? Is it anxiety?

Question

My treeing walker coonhound is almost 4 months old and he still has some accidents inside sometimes but overall he's been doing very good with housebreaking. Except.for. the. COUCH. He just randomly jumps on it all of a sudden and just lets go. Not a light spray....a paddle. Right after his walk. I think he gets anxiety when I'm not in the room. I went to take a shower and he's very attached to me. My friend was with him at the time. Could it be separation anxiety or revenge because I left him? Pet's info: Dog | Treeing Walker Coonhound | Male | unneutered | 3 months and 13 days old | 30 lbs

Makenzie Kurth, DVM · Accepted Answer

Argos is a BEAUTIFUL dog! So revenge is out. We don’t believe dogs have the mental capability to understand or act on revenge. More likely this is behavioral. He has either gotten in he habit of going there after his walk and now thinks that’s normal, or he does have anxiety when you leave and that is his go-to spot. Some suggestions- 1) Try coming in from your walk but keeping him on the leash. The second he goes for the couch, take him outside again. Praise him quietly but enthusiastically when he goes outside. You may have to repeat this ten times for days until he gets the idea, but that might work. 2) kennel/crate him when you get in from your walk or need to leave him unsupervised. I am a huge proponent of crate training puppies. This can help tremendously with both anxiety and other behavioral reasons. 3) move the couch to another place in the room, out of the room, or even get rid of it entirely. Sometimes just changing things up and getting rid of the smell is enough to break the cycle. 4) If you do catch him in the act, firmly tell him no and immediatley move him outside to finish. Then praise him. Hope this helps and best wishes to you and Argos!

Why does my puppy pee on the couch after walks? Is it anxiety?

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