Why Is He Peeing In The House?

[Guest dude]

A year and a half ago, my wife and I got two very young rescue greyhounds. They are brother and sister and also litter mates. Next month they will be four years old. Over the summer we put up a very large fence and put in a very large dog door so they can go outside anytime they wanted.

 

We had a problem before summer of him peeing in the house. He did it for about a month and then stopped. He would have his accidents every now and then when we would change furniture around or broke our routine. We just thought it was the boy not liking change.

 

Now that the fence is up we didn't have many accidents until late last month. Every since then, it seems to be a daily thing with him. He has his spots he likes to pee in. One is under our coats by the door and the other is right in front of my media center computer which is now rusting from his pee splashing on it.

 

We thought it was because of the holidays at first. Our routines were all over the place. But now, everything has settled down and he is still doing it. I even went as far as cutting out the square of carpet he likes to pee on and replace it. Thinking there was some scent left over, I cleaned the floor underneath as much as possible next to using industrial cleaner.

 

Considering he can go outside anytime he wants, we just don't know why he is do it. My wife and I are out of ideas. If it is anxiety, we really don't know what to do about that. He is more or less indifferent to his sister and there is no way we can bring another dog into the house because he would kill it. Maybe if I know why, I could try to fix it. We really don't want to crate him again.

 

Any ideas on why he is doing this?

[Batmom]

1. Vet check.

2. Take him out, early and often. Don't rely on him to go on his own.

[Guest Giselle]

Exactly what Batmom said.

 

From what you wrote, it sounds like the dog never actually learned to potty in the appropriate area. He just learned to potty indoors, in his favorite spots, and that was that. No change. No negative consequence. No alternatives. So, he continues to potty indoors. If he is healthy per the veterinary exam, then, you need to go back to basics and supervise him like a young puppy. Guide him outdoors to an appropriate potty area every 2-4 hours. Reward lavishly for pottying outdoors. Never let him out of your sight or otherwise crate him when he's indoors. Remove his ability to potty indoors and reward heavily for pottying outdoors.

[Guest DogNewbie]

You could try the Nature's Miracle Odor & Stain Remover. It is supposed to help neutralize the enzymes so they don't smell it.

 

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4075219&f=PAD%2FpsNotAvailInCA%2FNo

 

Good luck!

[GeorgeofNE]

Putting in a dog door is great; if the dog understands the concept! Frankly it sounds like he's not really housebroken enough to understand that he needs to go outside.

 

You can't just clean the carpet either. If you truly have a rusty area of a media center, then it was not properly cleaned after it got splashed. You can't just use cleaners--you need a special cleaner that kills the smell of urine. There are many out there. One I have used with great success on both new and old spots is from http://www.planeturine.com It's a powder, so you don't pour additional liquid on the urine stands (which actually spreads the urine before it gets rid of it!).

 

But before you do anything else, do like Batmom said and take him to the vet for a UTI check!

[Guest dude]

Update: I got an idea to put down plastic where he likes to go the other night. It turns out that he didn't have an accident when we got home from work yesterday. Strange.

 

It is hard to give advice when you don't get all of the information you need to make an informed observation. So here is more info.

 

 

- When this first started, we took him to the vet and got him checked out. He is in perfect health.

 

- He uses the dog door to go outside all of the time on his own when we are home and not at home. How do I know, you ask? I have cameras in the house and fenced in area so we can watch them when we are at work. He knows where to go and where not to go. He never pees in the house when we are home.

 

- My wife and I work 8 to 5 shifts so taking him out every 2-4 hours is not really practical. That's why we put in the dog door and trained them how to use it.

 

- I have been using Nature's Miracle and a lot of it.

[Batmom]

If you don't change anything, you're likely to continue having the problem.

 

Was bloodwork done earlier, or just urinalysis? A dog can have a UTI that is not quite detectable on urinalysis in the beginning. Always worth checking again.

[Guest Giselle]

But does he go outside specifically to potty? If not, then what have you trained him?

 

I know many dogs who can "hold it" from 8AM-5PM, but I also know of many dogs who cannot. I personally cannot fathom asking any creature - dog or human - to withhold from urinating for 9 hours. Can you hire a sitter to let the dog out around 12PM?

 

Also, the tendency to potty indoors only when you're gone hints very strongly either of separation anxiety or a physiological/medical issue (i.e. he only pees indoors when you're gone because there's no one home to let him out ^ see my point above).

[Guest k9soul]

My RB golden retriever suddenly started urinating in the house after using the dog door successfully for a couple years. He went in the living room by the front windows. I cleaned it up thinking he got too nervous outside and came in and went. He had always been on the timid side about anything sudden/loud or unexpected, so I figured something happened outside that scared him. The thing is, he did it a couple days later, and then again, and after awhile that was his chosen spot. It was easier, it was safe, whatever was going on in his mind it became self-rewarding for him to go there.

 

I put a gate up and began blocking his access to the living room. He began going outside again. I took the gate down after a few days but then found a wet spot in the living room again. So I ended up blocking unsupervised access to the living room for several months. That did the trick. Later I was able to take down the gate again without anymore issues. It would have been tougher if I had not been able to limit his access, thankfully he did not need to go through the living room to reach the dog door, but since I could not watch him constantly it ended up being the best way to reinforce that he would need to go outside to potty. It can be tricky I think once a dog decides they found a new place they want to go and no one is around to redirect them.