Expert: Delores Beck - 8/6/2008

Question
Delores,
I have a four year old Cocker Spaniel. He was used to having family around him since the day we brought him home at age 8 weeks. Recently, in the last few months my entire family has began working. A relative does stay with him for a few hours everyday.
He has started to urinate around the house, frequently. Even when the family is home, we found puddles around the house. Several spots at a time, sometimes. Also, after you let him outside, he'll urinate then a few minutes later when you let him back in, we'll find another urine spot. He doesn't drink excessive amounts of water. But he is a vegetarian. He eats lettuce, apples, etc. And they contain a  lot of water.
He does have some other health problems like going blind, which we, and other vets agree came from being bred in a puppy-mill. Blood and other tests were run to see if he had  a UTI or diabetes, and both came out negative.
Thanks in advance!
-Brittany

Answer
I'm not sure what you mean by "he's a vegetarian".  Does he not get any meat at all?  Dogs need protein and will develop health problems without it.

And what was the diagnosis re his eyes?  I'd STRONGLY suggest getting him to a vet opthalmologist since 4 year olds don't go blind due to how they're bred.  If it's cataracts, this can be dealt with and so can many other eye problems.

As to the frequent urinating - since you've eliminated a UTI I'd back up and start housebreaking from Square One.  
Delores