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Originally Posted by jessica30  He is left on his own for around four hours and has been since we got him. He is very clingy with me, he is taken out in the morning and when I'm home from work to the local park. I'm constantly playing with him (taught him some tricks too) and he is happy all the time. I don't know why he has peed on the sofa, when nothing has changed........x |
If he's clingy, he's insecure for whatever reason. He could have been born that way, something in his day-to-day life is making him that way. But it could be that insecurity that caused him to pee where your scent if strong. If you do play with him a lot, he might be dependent on you and not have a strong sense of his own confidence. Reading all that you can online and in behavioral books will give you some insight into how to help make a clingy dog more independent and self-assured. A good, rigorous, daily training program or agility program where his achievements are emphasized can keep him busy with a job and gaining confidence and a series of challenges for him to keep his mind busy figuring out how to overcome the problem can help with lack of self-confident, build him up in that area. Some separation anxiety training could also be in order just in case he's started really stressing when you do leave him, even for only 4 hours.
Your dog could have become a submissive eliminator that day, peeing out of fear, stress or excitement or extreme respect. While you were away, something could have happened to trigger one or more of those emotions and he relieved himself for one of those reasons. If he never repeats it, don't worry about it. If he repeat it, then you need to delve further into it.
Prevent him from accessing the sofa or bed so he can't have easy access over the next few weeks to prevent a recurrence and then what could become a bad habit. Once a dog does something twice, it can easily become a habit if he liked it or it made him feel good.
Steam cleaning the couch is good but if you didn't use a special urine odor eliminator with enzymes that break down and destroy all biologic material in the urine, he will still smell it and will likely try to repeat on or near the sofa.