What prevents dogs from peeing on things?

If you own a dog, then you know the frustration of walking into a room and finding a puddle of urine or giant spot on the carpet. And while this is a natural and common occurrence with dogs, it’s still not pleasant to deal with.

Nicole Ellis, a certified professional dog trainer (CPDT-KA) and a pet lifestyle expert with Rover, offers the following tips on how to stop a dog from peeing in the house, so you can spend more time playing and less time cleaning.

Start Tracking Your Dog’s Behavior

Take notes about your dog’s behavior and when they do certain things — eating, sleeping, drinking water and going potty. “This allows you to track how long they are holding it and help get you both on a routine to success,” Ellis says. Getting your dog to pee outside may be as simple as adjusting their potty schedule to fit their daily rhythm.

Use Positive Reinforcement

When your pup goes potty outside, be sure to praise them as soon as it occurs. Offer dog treats, give belly rubs or play. These dog training tools positively reinforce the idea of going outside and encourages them to continue.

Be sure to reward them as soon as it happens, so they understand it’s for peeing outside and not for coming through the door or some other behavior. As they learn, you can gradually wean off the treats. Until then, make it a big deal when they do go outside.

Keep Your Dog in the Room With You

Until your dog is fully potty-trained, keep them near you. This allows you to see the accident when it starts and quickly rush them outside to finish. Once they complete their business outside, you should immediately reward them so they associate going outside as a good thing.

Confine Your Dog When You’re Not Home

When dogs are left unsupervised, accidents are more likely. If you’re not at home, a dog crate, pen or small bedroom is helpful for controlling accidents. Dogs are less likely to pee where they sleep or play, so confining them to a small area can eliminate the temptation.

You can also try placing them in an area where they’re allowed to go, such as a dog run or a crate with a pee pad inside.

Treat a Puppy Differently Than a Senior Dog

Puppies and older dogs have more accidents, but likely for different reasons, according to Ellis. Puppies must be taught the difference between going potty inside versus outside. You will need to show the puppy where to go outside and offer frequent bathroom breaks.

Senior dogs may simply not be able to hold their bladder as long as they once could. In either case, you will need to continue using rewards. Adjusting the timing of when to take your dog outside is key.

Determine if Anxiety is the Real Issue

Some dogs pee in the house because they are nervous, anxious or overly excited. This occurs with puppies and older dogs. Your dog may react to loud voices and noises, strangers, sirens or other “scary” situations. If this occurs, identify the situation causing the fear or excitement.

You can help your dog by slowly introducing them to other people or situations where this may happen, or limiting these fearful interactions when possible. For some dogs, a thunder jacket helps ease anxiety.

Get Your Dog Spayed or Neutered

“Marking” an object in the home is common, especially with male dogs who haven’t been neutered. Though marking behavior can be triggered by various reasons — moving to a new home, the introduction of a new dog or even new furniture — it’s most often because a dog that hasn’t been spayed or neutered feels the effects of hormones and suffers from anxiety.

Spaying and neutering tends to lessen the urge for the dog to lift their leg and mark inside.

Rule Out a Medical Condition

Ellis says your veterinarian can determine if it’s an age issue, behavior problem or a medical condition like a urinary tract infection. Any sudden accidents out of character, more frequent urination and whimpering when urinating are all warning signs.

• Ignore the problem. Proper training or medical attention should help get to the bottom of the issue. Ellis says most dogs can master potty-training.
• Leave any pee behind. If you don’t use an effective enzyme cleaner each time your dog has an accident, they will continue to be attracted to that spot and will likely pee there again. Thoroughly clean the area to remove all traces of urine.
• Scold or yell at your dog. Don’t use fear as a motivator, because it can backfire in a big way. Instead of raising your voice, quickly rush your dog outside to finish their business.

Originally Published: December 15, 2021

Most dog parents have dealt with occasional accidents. Maybe you forgot to let your dog out one last time before you left to run errands and returned home to a puddle on the floor. Or maybe the weather was bad and your pooch just couldn’t be persuaded to venture out to do his business. 

However, when peeing in the house becomes a habit, it can leave you feeling confused, frustrated, and even desperate. Tragically, housebreaking issues have led some dog parents to feel that surrendering their pets was their only option. There are other solutions!

If your dog is peeing in the house more than occasionally, here’s what you can do to help him break the habit. It starts with understand why your dog isn’t doing his business outside. 

10 Reasons Why Your Dog Is Peeing in the House

It’s important to first establish why your dog is peeing in the house. Is it because of a medical reason? Or is it a behavioral issue? 

If you don’t understand the reason for your dog’s behavior, simply put, you can’t help him. And your dog will continue to pee in the house – something neither your or your dog want!

Briefly, here are some of the reasons your dog might be peeing in the house.

• A medical issue, such as diabetes, arthritis, or kidney problems
• He’s not spayed/neutered
• He wasn’t properly trained
• He’s not let outside often enough
• He is suffering from anxiety
• Prior messes were not properly cleaned
• Bad Weather
• Changes in the Home
• Overexcitement
• Submissive Urination

This is by no means an exhaustive list, so if you want to dig into the full range of possibilities, please download my free “pee-book” below!

10 Things You Can Do About Your Dog Peeing in the House

1. Visit Your Veterinarian

The first thing you should do if your dog is peeing in the house is to talk to your veterinarian. There are a variety of medical conditions that can lead to dogs urinating in the house, and treating them is vital for your dog’s health and for solving the peeing problem.

Some issues may be relatively minor, and some are more serious. Either way, your veterinarian is the best person to diagnose any medical issues causing your dog to pee in the house.

Medical issues that can lead to urinating in the house include:

• Diabetes
• Pain when squatting or lifting the leg to urinate (a possible sign of Canine Osteoarthritis)
• An infected bladder or urinary tract
• Bladder stones
• Kidney or liver disease
• Tumors
• Cushing’s or Addison’s disease
• Adrenal gland issues
• Intestinal parasites
• Cognitive problems caused by brain disease or dementia
• Age-related illnesses and conditions
• Prostate problems

In addition to ruling out medical issues, your veterinarian may also be able to help you determine other reasons for your dog’s urinating. If it’s due to dominance issues or anxiety, a Certified Veterinary Behaviorist can give you tips to help solve the problem.

2. Clean Up Accidents Properly

This is listed just below “take your dog to the vet” for a very good reason. Not cleaning up accidents properly is perhaps the number one reason why dogs continue to pee indoors outside of a medical issue.

Do you “spray and wipe away?” This could be the reason your dog is continuing to pee indoors!

Even if you don’t notice a smell, your dog may detect lingering odors that invite him to return to the scene of the crime.

A good enzymatic cleaner is the most important thing you’ll need. These cleaners work differently from typical household cleaners and they must be used properly for them to be effective. 

Enzymatic cleaners actually break down the odor so that even your dog’s sensitive nose won’t be able to smell anything. The natural enzymes eat the odor-causing bacteria until they literally disappear. This means the product needs to have sustained contact with the surface. 

My dog Tulip and I love our Kinderbean No Stress Mess Eraser. It’s an enzyme cleaner that has a subtle natural scent and is safe to use around your pets. Here’s how to use it.

If your dog pees on a hard floor, wipe up the liquid with a paper towel. Then use an enzyme cleaner to clean the affected area by spraying or saturating the area, leaving the product wet on the floor. Do not wipe until dry! The cleaner needs to have contact with the surface in order to eat the odor-causing bacteria. 

Carpets and upholstery are a little trickier. Here, an enzymatic cleaner like this one is even more important, since the squirt top allows the product to saturate the area.

The first thing you want to do is to soak up as much of the urine as possible with a cloth, towel, or paper towels. Then saturate, but don’t flood, the area with your enzyme product. Use the bottom of the bottle or a scrub brush to agitate the cleaner into the stain.

Next, set a wet white cotton cloth or towel on top of the area and let it sit for several hours or overnight. It’s important to use a white cloth so that no color seeps into your carpet. The next day, remove the cloth and let it air dry.

You may have to repeat this process more than once, depending on how deep the urine penetrated.

If you suspect that your dog may have peed in areas that you haven’t located, a black light can help you to find any hidden spots and treat them before your dog develops the habit of going there to do his business.

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3. Spay or Neuter Your Dog

Intact dogs are much more likely to engage in urine marking behaviors. Spaying or neutering frequently reduces or greatly eliminates the behavior.

If your dog is older, it’s more likely that the urine marking has become a habit and you’ll have to use other techniques as well to bring the behavior completely under control. 

4. Train (or Retrain) Your Dog

In puppies, peeing in the house frequently means that they just need more training. If your older dog is peeing in the house, revisiting the training process sometimes solves the issue.

Training a puppy takes time, patience, and consistency. Constant supervision helps to ensure that you can avoid accidents.

If you can’t supervise, keep your puppy confined to a crate, or a space small enough to prevent him from peeing there. You may want to block off a section of a bathroom or laundry room. Always make sure it’s large enough that your puppy has space to stand, turn around, and lie down. And of course, never leave your puppy unattended for hours on end.

Take your puppy outside frequently – at least every two hours as well as immediately after waking up, before going to bed, and right after eating. When you take your puppy outside, use a leash, and go to the same spot each time. It’s a good idea to use a specific word or phrase while he relieves himself so that eventually he will learn to go on command. Make sure to praise him and offer a treat immediately after he does his business.

Avoid using puppy pads, since they can sometimes lead to confusion and teach him that he is allowed to pee in the house. Don’t yell at him when he has an accident, but if you catch him in the act, you can use a loud noise like clapping to let him know that it’s not OK.

Housebreaking an adult dog is a similar process. Many experts recommend a method known as the umbilical cord method. This involves keeping your dog tied to you on a leash so that you can supervise him at all times. After a number of days you can gradually give him more freedom.

Dogs are creatures of habit and thrive on routine, and this is especially important if you are housebreaking. Keeping his feeding on a predictable schedule will also help to establish a predictable schedule for potty time.

A few tweaks in your dog’s routine can set him up for success if you are trying to break him of the habit of peeing in the house. If your dog consistently has accidents in the same place, you may be able to change the meaning of that location by placing his food and water there. Most dogs will not pee where they eat. In addition, make sure he’s getting enough physical exercise and mental stimulation.

5. Give Lots of Potty Breaks

Depending on age, breed, size, and other factors, some dogs just can’t hold it as long as others. It’s important to make sure that your dog is getting the chance to relieve himself as often as he needs.

No matter how well trained, dogs’ bladders have their limits, and going beyond those limits leads to accidents. As a general rule, puppies should start by going out every hour. Then you can add one additional hour for every month of age. Adult dogs should have the chance to go between 3 and 5 times per day. Most can hold it for 6-8 hours if needed once they’ve been properly trained. Senior dogs may need to go slightly more often – possibly every 4-6 hours.

6. Identify and Eliminate Anxiety Triggers 

If you pay close attention to when and where your dog pees, you may notice a pattern. It may be possible to identify the cause of the peeing and make minor changes in your dog’s routine or environment that make accidents much less likely to happen.

If certain noises or events trigger peeing caused by anxiety, you may be able to lessen the anxiety by playing music or white noise to mask those sounds. A pheromone collar or diffuser may also help to keep him calm if he has noise phobia, separation anxiety, or other anxiety issues.

Adaptil products are drug free and mimic the natural hormones that mother dogs emit to make their puppies feel safe and calm. The diffuser covers up to 700 square feet and can be used in the area of the house where your dog tends to tinkle. It’s odorless, so you won’t smell anything, but you may notice a difference in your dog’s anxiety.

The calming collar can be worn all the time except for during bathing or grooming, and it’s great for use when he’s outside or you’re away from home with your dog.

These solutions can be particularly helpful when there have been changes in your dog’s environment, such as introducing a new person, when a member of the household moves out, or when moving to a new home.

Some dogs with anxiety also respond well to calming CBD oil or treats.

These tips may also help with a dog who has submissive peeing issues. Dogs that are rescued or come from an abusive background may be more likely to pee out of submission, but this behavior is rooted in anxiety. Keep your dog in a state of calm and consistently reward them for good behavior. 

Certain dogs may need to get help from a veterinary behaviorist. 

7. Calm the Excitement

In some cases, you might be your dog’s trigger! If your dog gets overly excited to see you or someone they love, excited peeing may happen. This is especially common in small dogs with small bladders.  

When you arrive home, speak to your dog in a very calm manner without a high pitch in your voice. Take your dog outside right away. 

If you’re having guests, take your dog outside just prior to them arriving and advise them to greet your dog with a calm voice. 

8. Introduce New Things Carefully

If your dog tends to “mark” new items that come into the house, avoid leaving thing in areas that make them accessible. Introduce new people and objects slowly and with careful supervision. Here’s a blog post that has more information on urine marking.

9. Determine Why Your Dog Won’t Go Outside in Bad Weather

We don’t want to be outside any more than our dogs do! Ideally, we would always watch the forecast and take our dogs out before any bad weather hits. Unfortunately, that’s not always realistic.

For some dogs, peeing outside is simply too scary when the weather is bad. If this is the case, calming collars and pheromones mentioned above may help.

Other dogs simply don’t like getting wet. If this is the case, a jacket like this one may help. 

10. Get Professional Help

There may be many factors that are contributing to your dog peeing in the house. In addition to consulting with your veterinarian, you may want to arrange a consultation or a few sessions with a Veterinary Behaviorist who will take the entire situation into consideration and prescribe specific behavior modification techniques, with or without medication.

FAQs About Dogs Peeing in the House

1. Will a dog belly band work? 

I never recommend belly bands unless your dog has a medical condition. Even then, it’s best to check with your vet. Belly bands can be very uncomfortable for your dog and if they’re too tight, they can hurt your dog. 

If your dog’s indoor peeing is rooted in behavior, such as anxiety, or territorial marking, it’s much better to address the root cause. 

2. Do pee pads help train your dog? 

Pee pads mean your dog is still peeing in the house. I only recommend pee pads if you’re living in a high rise or other location where it may not be physically possible to get your dog out in time after he signals he needs to pee. 

Even then, a balcony with Doggie Lawn or other artificial turf is best, since they have a designated “outside spot” in which to do their business.

3. My dog used to be well trained, but now he’s suddenly peeing in the house. What happened?

This behavior can sometimes be rooted in anxiety. Have you recently moved? Has a family member recently moved out or moved in? Your dog may be signaling to you that he’s uncomfortable with his new surroundings. 

Or, he may be facing a medical issue. Anytime your dog’s normal pattern of behavior has changed, it’s important to rule out medical issues. 

4. What’s the quickest way to train a dog to pee outside? 

We all want a fast track solution to this problem! Unfortunately, what it requires most is patience and consistency. 

That said, I have seen certain methods work very quickly, in just days or weeks. I used the umbilical cord method with my Tulip because I found that during long work periods, I couldn’t watch her as carefully. Keeping her leashed to my desk area helped me to observe her signs better and understand the cues she was giving me when she needed to go out. 

I’ve also seen great success with pet parents using the “eat where you peed” method. One new dog mom was at her wit’s end when her rescue corgi wouldn’t stop peeing everywhere. Once she placed her dog’s food dish next to where she peed, her dog got the hint and within days was trained to only go outside. This may take repetition and consistently placing the food by every pee spot. 

The Tail End

If your dog is peeing in the house, it’s not hopeless! With patience, consistency, and possibly a little trial and error, you can treat the issue and enjoy a happy dog and a pee-free home.