Dog peeing in the house question...

[sunlver]

Maybe some of you smart pet owners might have an answer...

First of all, I am not new to dogs...I have had them all of my life. I own 2 dogs. I also petsit in my house, I have dogs coming and going. I also am on my 4th foster dog. She is a coohound. She is 4 yrs old, and for the most part housetrained. I mean the dog never pees in the house when I am gone, never pees in the house at bedtime. She sleeps on the sofa all night, never one accident. But, she had a few accidents when she first got here. Ok, figure new dog, new house all kinds of smells. Now, she pees at least once a day in the living room on the carpet. I am home all day, she goes in and out all day long. She is probably outside 7-8 times a day. she does her business outside as well, I watch her throught the window. We have used the Natures miracle stuff as well, doesnt really seem to help.
How do I correct this behavior. Now I tell her a stern NO, and put her right outside.
Its very frustrating. I get sick of cleaning the carpet each and every day. Before she would only have an accident now and then.. Now its an everyday thing. Yesterday it was 3 times...
Any advice. ???

 

[SydSim]

Maybe something medical? Urinary tract infection?

 

[hiwaygal]

The first thing I would do is have her checked at the vet just to make sure there isn't a physical/medical reason for her accidents.

With fosters it's hard because you know they've been through so much...but she still needs to learn the rules and routines in your house.

Basically, the easiest way is crate training and starting over from the beginning.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Vet and then have to correct while she starts peeing.

Leash her and then keep bringing her to the carpet. Then correct when she starts to squat and bring her outside. It is the only way. Do it over and over until she "gets it".

Do not allow freedom until she is housetrained. No more couch sleeping and all that jazz. Has to be leashed or crated.

I know it stinks, but they do get it pretty quick.

Our rescue wanted to pee on carpets as well. It did take a bit to train her. She was stubborn.

 

[Aidensmom]

We've had our dog for 2 years, he hardly EVER had accidents, and he has just started doing this too the last couple of weeks - going in the middle of the night on the bedroom carpet, or during the day in the dining room. I suspect he may have a urninary infection - he is going to the vet next week. In the mean time I have been crating him unless he is being watched.

It is so frustrating, isn't it? Like others have said, most definitely make a vet appointment as there very well could be a medical reason.

 

[I Love Pluto]

One of our dogs did this 3 years ago when we moved to a different house. It took about 2 months, but he finally stopped. We have no idea why he had this behavior. He is a really great dog.

 

[robinb]

I feel for you. My Standard Poodle who just turned ONE this week is still only about 85% housebroken. I have been trying to train her since we picked her up at 9 weeks old. She doesn't have the excuse of being a foster dog. I really suck at potty training. I had problems with my DD too!

We take two steps forward and then one step back. She seems OK for a while and then I find that she is sneaking upstairs to poop in the TV room or downstairs to poop in the basement. I moved our second crate to the TV room and her food is now up there too. We have not had a TV room "accident" in a couple of weeks.

Someone (I think Mystery Machine) said something about crate training that was an a-ha moment for me. She said that one of the reasons why you crate train (or tie up) is to prove to the dog that they can hold their potty even if they feel a need to go. Since I was home all day and I could (and would) take Darci out every couple of hours she never learned that she could hold her pee and/or poop until she had a chance to go out next. When she got the urge, she would sneak off to take care of it in the house.

I finally bit the bullet and she is either crated or tied up when she's in the house. I take a leash and loop it around a table leg and then feed the latch end through the hand loop. I then latch it to her collar. She has a 6' wide area to lie down or move about. She goes for a walk at about 7AM and then she is crated/tied until my DD comes home at 3:00 PM. If she poops on our walk, she is allowed off for a little while as long as I have her in my sights at all time. Unfortunately, my DD let the dog off the leash yesterday after Darci's unproductive (no poop) walk and Darci snuck downstairs into the basement to poop . I was upstairs folding laundry. So ... the dog STILL thinks it's OK to poop in the house. GRRRRR. And poodles are supposed to be smart .

Good luck with your dog!

 

[mookie]

I got you all beat - my lab is almost 5 years old and STILL does this!!!

I should buy stock in carpet cleaning products - I'd make a fortune just off my own sales!!!

I agree to double check for any medical issues. Unfortunately, many dogs do this because of behavior. It's called marking. This is our problem, and we are still trying to find a way to fix it. The reason behind it is basically a dog is marking it's territory if there are other dogs in the house. Kind of their way of saying "this is my space."

There are some things I've seen on the internet, but I don't really know much about them. At this point, I'm just plain exhausted cleaning up carpeting, but what can you do? The only solution I have found is to really watch him when anyone new comes over...and no strange dogs in the house. (which we used to do all the time when friends would come over, they would bring their dogs for a "puppy date." Not anymore!)

Good luck!

 

[sunlver]

I really believe its a behavior issue. Shes been withus for 5 weeks now. Previous, she was in another foster house. When our group got her she was pregnant,she gave birth to 8 puppies..When the puppies were weaned, we got the mama dog. The first foster said she rarely had accidents, but she was kept in the kitchen there a lot with her babies. Now, this dog never pees in the kitchen when she is gated in, its only the living room. She will go for days with no incidents...then boom it starts again.
We have 2 new doggie customers here today(well not new to me, new to her). I always thought it was the boy dogs who marked their territory, but I see it is not always the case

I mean here is a dog who has never had an accident over night since being here. Her last time out is around 10pm,and my huband lets her out around 6am. I come down here around 7:30, and no accidents.
She doesnt do it when i am gone, or upstairs. Actually she only does it when I am at home, and not paying attention to her. Its so weird, and so annoying.

 

[jmskinner]

Mookie, I have you beat. My Boston Terrier is almost 12 and still does it. Got him fixed and he still does it. Pee'd on the couch just the other day and I was sitting there.

And your right, it is all about marking the territory. He gets upset when we clean, we joke he is mad that he has to mark everything again.

He will also pee on our pillows if he is mad at us. Whenever my DH would go out of town, I could expect to find DH's pillow to be wet that night. He did it when I didn't come home from having our son at the hospital the first. It is always the pillow of the one he is mad at, so it is intentional.

Most people would have gotten rid of him at this point, but I worry about what the next family would do to him. Now he is getting so old, he can't hold it as long during the day. I, like you, should invest in carpet cleaning companies to earn some of my money back.

Now my female Boston Terrier is getting too old to hold it all night and she has started doing it.

Thank goodness for my carpet steam cleaner and my hard floor cleaner.

 

[arminnie]

It was the dining room for my cocker Cody.

Cody would come wake me up at 2 am to go out - would NOT take no or me pretending not to wake up for an answer. So he KNEW he was supposed to go outside.

He had a dog door too, but the dining room (in all three houses we lived in) was his favorite spot at least once a week.

My theory was that he went there because it was the least used room in the house.

I finally bought some pee pads to put in the dining room. They were expensive so I bought a box of "underpads" at Sam's. They are large rectangles much like a pee pad but bigger and not scented. They are meant to be used under incontinent old people on chairs or beds. It was kind of embarrassing to buy them, but it sure was easy to clean up.