Urinating In The House?
By trickiwoo
@trickiwoo (2702)
United States
September 14, 2008 12:12am CST
About two weeks ago my boyfriend and I adopted a dog. They think she's about a year and a half old. She was a stray that was picked up by animal control and taken to the shelter. Before we got her, she'd spent a month living with a foster family. While living with her foster family she never had any accidents inside and always used the bathroom outdoors. The first week we had her she was very good about going outside and never had any accidents indoors either.
Then last weekend it stormed pretty bad. She was terrified to go outside and ended up peeing inside. We cleaned it up using a pet odor remover. But ever since then she's been going inside more and more often. We take her outside frequently throughout the day, but she still urinates inside as well. She usually goes outside in the mornings, but inside in the evenings.
We've been rewarding her when she goes outside and following basic potty training techniques. And we've been cleaning up the spots where she goes inside with a pet odor remover. But nothing seems to be working. She keeps going inside more and more often!
Has anyone experienced anything similar? Does anyone have any suggestions? She has a vet appointment coming up, we were going to bring it up with the vet then. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
1 person likes this
8 responses
@maximax8 (31046)
• United Kingdom
14 Sep 08
It is lovely that you have adopted a dog. I think that you should speak softly to her and give her much fuss when she is being well behaved. If she goes to the toilet inside you should remove all smell of the urine then you should spray the areas of the room with something that dogs don't like. You could have an alarm clock that goes off every hour then take her outside at that time. If she goes to the toilet outside you could reward her with a treat and sound pleased with her. If you keep her an area like puppy crate at night it won't ruin your home's flooring. You might find it helpful to take her out in all kinds of weather to get her used to this. If a puppy misses the learning window they may grow up nervous of unknown things or events. However it is not too late to make your dog confident of stormy weather and clean in your house. Your vet might be helpful. Good luck.
1 person likes this
@trickiwoo (2702)
• United States
14 Sep 08
Thanks for the tips! Hopefully in time she will get used to all kinds of weather!
@StrawberryKisses (2833)
• Canada
14 Sep 08
I would start with buying a spray to stop her from going to certain areas. I used this stuff to train my cats to use the litter box. anytime she pees inside clean the area then spray it. secondly confine her to a small space at night, like a kennel, she will not pee where she sleeps unless she has to go really bad. if she continues to pee inside I would suggest keeping her in a kennel while indoors. it will teach her that she only pee's outside. after probably a week maybe 2 of her being in her kennel when she is indoors she will be in the routine of going outdoors only and should be fine to have her out. The last spray I used is called shou! and it comes in a white and yellow can.
My mother has a shitzu and they are awful to train. When she first got him she had to confine him to a kennel for a couple of weeks and take him out every hour at first then lengthened it to 2 hours and so on until he could wait upto 8 hours. Now he sleeps in his kennel at night and rarely has an accident during the day.
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@trickiwoo (2702)
• United States
14 Sep 08
We are crate training her, and she was crate trained in her foster home. And we're also using a pet odor remover spray designed to remove the smell of pet urine.
@StrawberryKisses (2833)
• Canada
14 Sep 08
The spray I am talking about is not to remove smell you will need to your that as well. This spray has a funny smell and animals do not like it so they stay away from it.
@ronaldinu (12422)
• Malta
14 Sep 08
Give your dog some time to settle with you and your new house. You have to be really patient with her. Do not shout at her or beat her. If you do so you ll make the problem bigger. Try to praise your dog when she does the right thing. If possible try to take your dog out for short walks during the day. Let's say first thing in the morning, late before going to bed and during mid day. Make sure that after your dog drinks water you take her out just in case she needs to do her buisness. Use firm words when she pee inside, saying no but dont hit her. Try to praise her when she urinates outside. Hopefully she will grow out of this very quickly.
1 person likes this
@trickiwoo (2702)
• United States
14 Sep 08
Thanks for the advise! Yah, she's a very high energy dog, and we live in a small apartment. So she goes for quite a few walks throughout the day- both long and short! Hopefully this is just something she will grow out of!
@sidyboy (284)
• United States
14 Sep 08
The dog has been through a lot of stress- being abandoned, then at a foster home and now at your place. For all she knows, she'll be somewhere else next week. It's going to take some time for her to adjust to things, and right now she may be either acting out, unsure of exactly what she's supposed to do, or there could be a bladder infection going on too.
If you're certain that it isn't a bladder infection (usually the urine will be very dark and have a really strong odor), I would treat her as if she was a puppy. Crate her when you cannot observe her, when she goes potty outside, praise her like she just saved the world.
If you're still having problems, I'd suggest getting her a urinalysis done to make sure she doesn't have a medical issue going on. When I adopted my Weim from the shelter he was already housebroken but a few weeks later he peed in the house- I put him on antibiotics (yes, I spoke with my vet first) and that cleared the problem right up- he hasn't done it since and I've had him nearly 3 years now.
Oh, and as for threatening her... that's the first good laugh I've had today.
1 person likes this
@trickiwoo (2702)
• United States
14 Sep 08
Thanks for the advice! Yah, I was thinking it might have something to do with her having trouble adjusting. We'll talk to the vet, keep up with the training, and hope it gets better with time!
@zigzagbuddha (4601)
• United States
15 Sep 08
Hahahaha, be thankful it's not your boyfriend p!ssing in the house! I woke up one night and saw my bf standing with his face practically against the wall. It was the middle of the night and he was just standing there with his face against the wall! I asked him what he was doing and he said "haven't you ever heard of p!ssing on a wall?!" 
He was pretty plastered when he went to bed and was walking and talking in his sleep... he didn't remember any thing about it in the morning. I made him clean it up anyway! Too bad you couldn't make your doggy clean his own mess up! I don't know what to suggest to you. My dog is terrified of storms too, but he does not go to the bathroom in the house because of it.
I had that problem with some kitties and I read online about cleaning it up and using the area to feed them since cats will not go to the bathroom where they eat. You could try it with the dog, it wouldn't hurt and it might even work. It did with my cats.
Here is a photo to show your puppy dog to give him the idea what you expect of him, hehehe:
He was pretty plastered when he went to bed and was walking and talking in his sleep... he didn't remember any thing about it in the morning. I made him clean it up anyway! Too bad you couldn't make your doggy clean his own mess up! I don't know what to suggest to you. My dog is terrified of storms too, but he does not go to the bathroom in the house because of it.
I had that problem with some kitties and I read online about cleaning it up and using the area to feed them since cats will not go to the bathroom where they eat. You could try it with the dog, it wouldn't hurt and it might even work. It did with my cats.
Here is a photo to show your puppy dog to give him the idea what you expect of him, hehehe:1 person likes this
@trickiwoo (2702)
• United States
15 Sep 08
Oh that is too funny! You're right, I guess it could be worse! Thanks for the tip! I'll be sure to try that!
1 person likes this
@kezabelle (2974)
•
14 Sep 08
Please dont listen to the threatening her "suggestion" above, that will NOT help it will simply scare her and a scared dog will often wee themselves ive seen it with my own dog he was a stray and had an obvious bad past. If she is mostly peeing inside in the evening when it stormed she wont forget that in a hurry so maybe stay with her in the evening when you put her outside to pee make her see its safe and nothing bad will happen.
she is also still a puppy really so the slightest mixed signal could have her confused about what she is doing.
Reward the good ignore the bad is what ive always been told, show her how you want her to behave by rewarding the good wanted behaviour giving attention the bad wont help.
We just got our dog from a rescue center he is house trained about 6 months older than your dog but he has other issues we are working ie he wont allow me to leave him alone, you dont know their history when they are strays and that alone makes it difficult to try and solve any problems but i really think with a lot of love and care and time it will all resolve its self in time.
Good Luck
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@trickiwoo (2702)
• United States
14 Sep 08
Thank you for your advice! We'll be sure to try to make sure she knows it's safe outside! Good thinking! And good luck with your rescue dog!
@divinchris (2449)
• India
14 Sep 08
Try to threaten her that if she urinates again at home your going to punish her.That will work sometimes.Thank You
@trickiwoo (2702)
• United States
14 Sep 08
It's been proven that punishment doesn't work when potty training pets. Rubbing their noses in it, yelling at them, hitting them, etc. does not stop them from urinating inside the house.
@kezabelle (2974)
•
14 Sep 08
Threaten her are you serious! she is still a puppy!!! She needs time and a gentle hand threats and frightening her will only make her more scared which will surely only make her wee inside more!
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@foxtrot91 (84)
• United States
14 Sep 08
StrawberryKisses advice about the crate is very good. It is true that dogs will not urinate where they sleep. A few other things you can try if you have not already is right after your dog eats or drinks a lot of water, take her out right then. You have to be very diligent about it. You are doing the right thing by rewarding her when she does go and cleaning the spots. Some dogs are just more difficult to train than others. Now as far as her being scared of the storm and you noticing the accidents picking up after that, that is something I think the vet would be able to help with. Good luck and let us know how her "potty training" goes.
1 person likes this
@trickiwoo (2702)
• United States
14 Sep 08
Yes, we are crate training and her foster parents were crate training her as well. And we are very diligent about taking her out frequently throughout the day. We're doing everything trainers recommend with potty training, only the problem is getting worse, not better. Hopefully the vet will be able to help! Thanks for your suggestions!
