New rescue dog - randomly peeing in the house

[weegi21]

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Hi all,

We adopted an adult dog 4 weeks ago from dogs trust who was a stray but has some basic house training.

He does know to toilet outside and from the start he was doing well with using the garden or when out walking.

Recently he has been peeing in the house and we can not figure out why?

I will explain a few recent scenarios:

1. His bed is in the kitchen and the door in closed through the night. We went to bed early one night so he had been walked earlier than normal. I checked on him twice through the night and opened the back door to give him a chance to use the garden. At 4am when I checked, he did not go out, I went back upstairs then decided to go back down and get a glass of water. In the space of about 2mins he had peed in the kitchen.
2. Sunday afternoon, been for a walk earlier in the day, had loads of attention and fun. Started to get a bit mischievous in the lounge so put him in the kitchen to have a 'time-out'. Again only in the kitchen max 5 mins and when we went to let him out, he had already peed.
3. 1 hour walk in the morning, then breakfast. Went upstairs to get ready for work and he had freedom to move around the kitchen and lounge (normally close kitchen door while he has breakfast). In the 30mins I was upstairs he has peed on the lounge floor.

Unsure if this is separation anxiety as we have left him alone in the house for over an hour, twice now and had no issues. Also when I normally leave for work in the morning, my partner is still in bed till about 10am and there has not been any issues. Not sure it is medical as not every day, there can be 3-4 days in between incidents. When out walking he toilets fine.

It is only happening when we are in the house but out of sight?

Any advice would be great?

Thanks

Gillian

 

[JoanneF]

He may have been punished in the past for toileting. That could make him fearful of toileting when you are present, so he waits until you go away.

Dogs also get stress relief from toileting so the changes may have unsettled him and this is why the behaviour is surfacing.

I suggest going back to basics with rewarding outdoor toileting with huge praise and a high value reward. You want him to learn that the reward of waiting and holding his bladder is well worth it ot get the reward. At night set your alarm to take him out; be boring and quiet so he knows this isnt playtime but still reward the toileting. If he does have an accident it is imperative you dont react at all as he might pick up on your displeasure and avoid you all the more.

Another possibility is scent marking. I expect the dogs' trust will have neutered him but if that was recent perhaps this is another possible cause.

Gypsysmum knows a lot about this and usually checks into the site in the mornings. She will perhaps be able to advise more.

 

[gypsysmum2]

Yes, I agree with JoanneF. I would go back to basics with the toilet training and take him out rather than letting him out so that you can give him a high value reward for toileting in the right place. Timing is everything - he must associate the reward with the wee and not for coming to you.

Try to see if he takes steps to avoid you. This could give you a clue about whether he associates urine with punishment. If so you will have to be very patient with him while he learns that you actually like urine as long as it is outside. Any mishaps in the house are just that - mishaps that get no response from you at all.

He may have been trained on paper or puppy pads and so thinks that weeing indoors is fine.

Clean any urine up with a 10% solution of biological detergent. Rinse, Dry and then agitate some sort of spirit into the area to get rid of the last of any fat deposits present in urine.

 

[weegi21]

Thanks both for your comments.

We have taken more time to actually 'take him out' to toilet rather than just leave the back door open.

The last week has been promising and no further mishaps.

Thanks

Gillian

 

[gypsysmum2]

Well done!