How to stop your dog from peeing in the house

A dog who urinates and/or defecates in the house can be an extremely frustrating problem. No one’s idea of a good time is cleaning up gross messes off the floors and carpets. You may find yourself feeling angry and resentful at your dog, as you once again bend on all fours to scrub a pee stain off your antique rug. Before you stock up on enzymatic cleaners and paper towel and resign yourself to this life, take heart: There is hope for a dog who has broken housetraining.

First off, how old is your dog? If you have a puppy, you can absolutely forgive a few accidents as your puppy goes through potty training, the same as you would a child.

But if your dog is an adult who was housetrained, but suddenly isn’t, your first step should be scheduling a vet appointment. You want to rule out any health conditions that might be causing your dog to pee or poop in the house.

If your dog is cleared by your veterinarian and the problem isn’t linked to anything medical, then it’s time to buckle down: Your dog needs housetraining.

Some things to remember before you start the process:

Do not punish your dog for peeing/pooping in the house. Feeling frustrated is totally normal, but whatever you do, don’t take it out on your dog. This can actually lead to a problem called “reverse housetraining,” where your dog is afraid to go to the bathroom around you. This means he may not go potty on his walks, when you’re standing right there, but will instead go, say, behind the sofa when you’re not around. We want to avoid this at all costs!

No, your dog isn’t “marking his territory.” It can be tempting to attach some kind of meaning to your dog’s behaviour, such as that he’s peeing around the house to “mark his territory” or “establish dominance.” Labeling the behaviour doesn’t solve the problem though. The problem is that your dog is peeing in the house, and needs housetraining.

Don’t withhold water from your dog. Dogs need access to fresh water at all times. Though limiting their time spent drinking water might seem like an easy fix, it’s not the solution and certainly not a good idea longterm.

So what are you actually supposed to do? First things first, contact an educated trainer, like me! If you’re dealing with this annoying problem, I can help. It’s going to be a bit of a process, and having a professional guide you through it will be better than trying to DIY your dog’s training. The best part is, for this issue, I don’t need to be physically there - I can coach you on the steps virtually.

The housetraining plan has three main components:

1. Preventing your dog from having future accidents, starting right now. Time to “treat your dog like a puppy” and remove his ability to roam free in the house. We cannot allow the peeing and pooping indoors to continue, so your dog must be confined (just temporarily!) This is called “rehearsing unwanted behaviour,” and the more your dog is allowed to do it, the more he’s going to do it. This doesn’t mean he’s doing it to be spiteful or rude (though it may feel that way!) Your dog is repeating the behaviour because every time he “goes,” he is reinforced by the feeling of relief. Think about how you feel when you’ve been holding it and finally get to a bathroom!

2. Reinforcing your dog for the behaviour you do want: peeing outside. This is key! Whereas before you may have taken your dog pottying outside for granted, now we’re going to treat each time your dog potties outside as a major accomplishment. We want to heavily reinforce this behaviour so that your dog is more likely to keep doing it. This is going to take a bit of labour on your part, but it’ll be worth it to have a properly housetrained dog.

3. Eventually giving your dog some freedom back. The confinement we started in step 1 can start to be loosened as the housetraining plan progresses. Your dog has earned a “prison break”! But for now, we’re going to keep the free periods short and only let him loose when his bladder is empty.

If this all sounds like a lot, you’re not crazy - it is! But take heart: With a bit of work, you can have a housetrained dog again. A few weeks of hard work are worth having a house free of dog poop and pee.

If you need help getting your dog back on track his housetraining, I can help! Fill out my contact form to get started.

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