English Cocker Spaniel puppies have minds of their own. They are warm, loving, and cuddly, but also can be destructive and unmanageable without proper training. Housetraining the puppy is not always as easy as one would think. The number one issue with housetraining is the over excited puppy. The puppies and older English Cocker Spaniels get so excited when they see you or company that arrives that they will often urinate a little. This is common and some steps can be taken to prevent the accidental urination.

Curbing Urination When Excited

This type of behavior is not bad; it is uncontrollable on the puppy's part. To curb this type of behavior, you are going to need some patience as well as some form of training when guests come over as well as when you come home.

When you come home, the puppy should be close to a door so you can immediately let them out to urinate and when they come back in, you could then show them love and give a reward. After time, the puppy will associate you coming home to going outside and receiving a reward.

When guests come in the house, the dog should be in a different room or a kennel, although when they get out, they are going to be excited and urinate. There is no easy way to correct this problem. You might try picking up the dog when guests come over and when the petting is done; you can put them back down. This is annoying in itself for most people.

Socializing with many different people is another way to curb the problem. If the puppy is used to being around new people all the time as a puppy, then the excitement subsides when guests enter your home. Keep in mind that socializing does not always cure the problem. Every dog is going to be different. You can just keep trying different things to stop this problem.

Proper Training Advice

Proper housetraining is done by rewarding for good behavior and not rewarding or punishing for bad behavior. If you show your dog that they are pleasing you by petting them or giving a reward, they will continue to please you. If you express negative response to unwanted behavior, the puppy will associate attention with bad behavior. A stern "bad boy or bad girl" is sufficient to deter bad behavior.

Sometimes housetraining with the use of a kennel is needed, depending on how fast the puppy learns. If you are following the good and bad rewarding system, the dog may learn to tell you quickly that they need to go outside. If not, you may need to keep them in a kennel in order to learn to control their urination.

Home Destruction

English Cocker Spaniels love to chew. Chewing is probably the only bad habit they have that can be overly annoying. Their playful nature and good heartedness tends to get them in trouble. If you have a puppy, you can expect them to seek out and find things to chew on. They will do this right in front of you and when you are gone. The only way to deter this behavior is to confine them to one room with toys that are acceptable to chew on or by putting them in a kennel when you are gone.

After about a year or a year and half, they should have learned from their bad behavior and grow out of the chewing stage. However, some dogs just never stop. They need confinement whenever you are gone. Cocker Spaniels are also stubborn.