Unexplained indoor peeing
We are at our wits' end here! A little back story...
We got our Corgi, Rocky, back in January 2011. At the time, he was about 10, 11 weeks old. As soon as we got him, we began potty training him with the crate method. By the time he was about 7, 8 months old (my memory's a little fuzzy on the exact timeline), he was fairly good with telling us when he needs to go (no more pee pads in his play area and rare accidents in the house). Fast forward to May of this year, when Rocky was almost 19 months old, we moved from my house (with a fenced yard) to a townhouse. On the very first day we were there, we also had friends over for a housewarming party. With all the people and excitement, Rocky understandably got very excited and peed in my brand new kitchen (embarrassing but not the end of the world since it's hardwood so that made it fairly easy to clean). When we originally moved to the townhouse, we only let Rocky stay downstairs since it was all hardwood floor and it would be easy to clean up if he were to have an accident. As the days went by and he did not have another accident (save the very first day), we decided he could come upstairs with us (where it is carpeted). He has always been good... until this past week.
On three separate occasions this week, Rocky has decided to turn the inside of the townhouse into his own personal bathroom. The first occurance, he decided to pee on the doormat that led out from our family room and onto the patio. The second time, he decided to come and pee in the en suite bathroom while I was getting ready for work. Both times, it was on hardwood or tile flooring, which, while frustrating for me, was at least a relatively quick and painless clean up job. The third time, however, takes the cake. With no indication whatsoever of needing to go, Rocky wanders into the master bedroom and decides to raise his leg up and pee against the leg of the footboard of my bed! The carpet was completely soaked and we had to lift up the bed in order to clean the carpet underneath. Can anyone think of any reason as to why Rocky would start peeing inside? I can't think of any reason why he would do this (other than him being a teen and rebelling against me making him pee outside. LOL!)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lemmy Winks on
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Is he fixed? I seems like marking to me.
Go back to potty training basics for a week or so? I had to re potty train Pilot basically when we got Lemmy. It didn't take very long before he go the message haha.
Best of luck!
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Permalink Reply by Dora & Rocky on
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He was neutered when he was around 7, 8 months old so I don't know. He seems to know he's in a lot of trouble though. LOL!
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Permalink Reply by Ludi on
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First thing to do when a normally housetrained dog starts to pee inside the house: vet check. UTIs often cause errant peeing from otherwise perfect dogs.
Second: are you using an enzymatic cleaner to solve those messes, to prevent those spots from being "re-used"? I heard a brand called Nature's Miracle is what works best in these situations. Once he's cleared the vet check, then you can start asking yourself as to why he might be doing this.
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Yup, using Nature's Miracle to clean up the spots (maybe that's why he went to different spots in the house all three times. LOL!) But yes, I am worried it's a health issue with him :(
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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on
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It's tied to your change of house. Put him on a schedule and start with every 2 hrs out to pii or whatever he needs to do. Praise, and keep that up for a week, then progress to every 3 hrs for a week or so, then ease into your usual schedule within a month's time you should be home free. Don't wait for him to ask. If he does ask, praise and take him out. He has to create a new routine in the new place. Had you done this to begin with, you would have had an easier and shorter adjustment time, now you also have to break the habit of going in the house. Confine him when you are not there and at night, preferably in a crate. Personally, I would leash him in the house for awhile when not crated, helping him be successful. Housebreaking is a zero tolerance thing. There is no such thing as "mostly housebroken". As Ludi says, use an enzyme based cleaner. If you've not, go back and re-clean those areas, following directions, especially the carpet where urine has certainly gone into the pad underneath.
If you have no accidents, it will work out, but any accident is your signal that you are either progressing too fast, or giving too much freedom. When you take him out of his crate in the morning, do so on leash. He can pii faster than you can get to him!
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Permalink Reply by sarah & tapiola on
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I agree the move is probably the cause. Sounds like you went from corgi heaven (house w/ fenced yard) to not-so-corgi heaven (townhouse with no yard, lots of stairs, confined to first floor during introduction period). I agree you'll have to go back to using the crate for him to relearn pottytraining in this new environment that is strange (and probably less than ideal) to him. Do you have a small garden area (you mentioned a patio?) where you could set up a fence and let him go outside in a way that reminds him of the yard he grew up with?
And don't don't don't go back to pee pads (never should've used them!) they just teach a dog to pee inside!
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We've been taking him out every morning after breakfast for a brisk 20 minute walk so he can do his business. We originally wanted to set up a little area for him on the patio but with the way it faces (northeast, I think? I'm terrible with directions), the surface of the patio is super hot for the majority of the day and I don't want him to walk out there and burn his paws (I made the mistake of walking out there barefoot one time and it was very painful)
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Permalink Reply by Janna Banana on
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Perhaps you could set up a little garden box and grow a nice patch of grass on the patio for him to do his business? It wouldn't be too hard to go to a hardware store, pick up some lumber and nail together a box with short walls, fill with soil, and plant with grass seed. Then it would just be a matter of training him to do his biz out there! Maybe it would be worth a shot! :)
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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The most important thing is if he's neutered. I agree it sounds like marking. If he's not neutered, it's almost impossible to get him to stop. Even if you neuter him now and he's already marking, he may continue even after the surgery.
Secondly, if this isn't a brand new house, it's very possible that he is marking where he smells previous dogs' urine at. You will need to clean ALL the carpet with an enzymatic cleaner (I too use Nature's Miracle). BUT, it takes weeks sometimes to completely dry, and you may need to repeat it.
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This is just in addition, if you're not using an enzyme cleaner, check to see if what you are using has ammonia in it. I was using what ever it was we had at the time, and I noticed Lemmy kept going in the same area most of the time... it was because the ammonia lol.
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Hi Dora, It sounds like Rocky was not quite housebroken, too much freedom too soon. Potty trained in my book means no accidents in the past 6 months. If there's no change in environment, family member addition, new furniture, UTI, then the only question left is how much on leash walk does he get daily? Does he get to walk EVERYDAY? off leash yard runs / fetch don't count.
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