5 Common House Training Issues & How to Fix Them
I’ve written about how to potty train your puppy before, but I haven’t spent much time addressing the common issues many of us face during the process. I’ve gotten a lot of questions regarding house training issues, many asking how to handle certain setbacks, so today I’ll address the most common questions and concerns. Here’s 5 common house training issues & how to fix them.
Your Dog Is Repeatedly Soiling the Same Area
One of the most frequent house training issue is when dogs keep going to the bathroom on the same spot. It’s frustrating, but chances are they’re doing it out of habit, and since they’ve already “marked” the area before they know it’s a good place to go.
Chances are your dog is picking up on those leftover urine smells, even if you think you’ve cleaned the area well. It’s estimated that a dog’s sense of smell is at least 10,000 times better than ours, and they can pick up on leftover smells that we don’t even notice.
Dogs have a tendency to prefer going to the bathroom in the same spot, and if there’s any urine scent left in your home they’re going to be attracted to that spot. So if you’re in the middle of house training those leftover smells indoors can override your dog’s desire to go to the bathroom outside.
If your dog smells urine in any particular spot inside they might not think twice before using that spot again. For dogs it’s completely normal to keep going in the same area over & over again. To avoid that setback you need to clean up any accidents your dog thoroughly. It’s imperative that you get rid of any smells in that area that your dog may be picking up on.
To get rid of urine smell in your carpet use an enzymatic cleaner made for cleaning up pet stains. The enzymes in those cleaners bond to specific molecules and break them down, making it easier to clean up messes and remove stains. The enzymes in pet specific cleaners break up chains of molecules that create the unpleasant odors found in pet urine. You can find enzymatic cleaners from amazon and most pet supply stores.
For even tougher cases you will want to consider keeping your dog separated from the areas they’re known to soil while they can’t be supervised. As mentioned above it’s also part habit, so if your dog has a certain rug they like to pee on chances it’s their favorite spot and won’t think twice about using it again.
The best way to prevent that is by either tethering your dog to you until they’re 100% potty trained, or by blocking off any rooms or areas when you’re not able to supervise them.
Your Dog Has Accidents While You’re At Work
Another one of the house training issues many of us face is our dog having accidents when you’re at work or out of the house for awhile. Generally speaking a pup can only hold their bladder for about one hour per every month of age. Your 3 month old puppy might only be able to hold their bladder for 3 hours, and that’s an issue for those of us who work full time. It’s not realistic to expect a 3 or 4 month old puppy to hold it for 8+ hours while you go to work.
A few dog owners are lucky enough to work for a company that allows them to bring their dogs to work with them, but that’s not an option for the majority of us. So how do you keep your dog from having an accident when you go to work? If you don’t have someone else at home to take your pup out during the day you have a few options:
- Have a friend, family member or neighbor take your dog out during the day.
- Come home during your lunch break to take your dog out (if you work close to home).
- Hire a dog sitter or dog walker to take your dog out while you’re at work.
- You can take your dog to doggie daycare (can be cost prohibitive).
Crate training is often brought up as a way to prevent your dog from having an accident while you’re at work. While I do think crate training has many benefits such as keeping your dog safe while you’re away I do want to emphasize that it’s not a fool proof method in terms of preventing accidents. It’s true that most dogs don’t want to soil in their crate if given the choice — but remember that most puppies can’t hold it for 8 hours straight, regardless of whether they’re in a crate or not.
I’m not suggesting that crate training is bad, I’m just emphasizing that it’s not the miracle tool for house training that some make it out to be. Dogs may be less likely to soil in their crate than they would if they have free roam of the house, but that only works for as long as they’re physically able to hold it in.
Your Dog Won’t Go to the Bathroom When You’re Outside
How many times has this happened to you? You take your dog out to go potty, only to see that they’re interested in everything but going to the bathroom. You’re certainly not alone, this happens to all of us. One of the most common house training issues is dealing with a dog that won’t go to the bathroom when they’re outside. It’s the reason why the meme below is so popular — it’s something we can all relate to.
If you take your dog out and they’re not going potty it could be for a number of reasons. Some dogs ask to go out because they want to play, some dogs want to go out and explore, and sometimes it’s because we simply take them out when they don’t have to go.
As dogs get older their bladders grow and they can hold it longer, so as you progress along in your house training you’ll notice that your dog doesn’t have to go potty every hour or two like they used to. If you take your dog out every two hours and notice that they aren’t going potty each time chances are they don’t need to go out that often anymore. Instead of taking them out every 2 hours try 3.
If your dog asks to go out and they don’t go potty within 5 minutes or so chances are they wanted to go out for something other than a bathroom break. Perhaps they want to play, or maybe they want to go out and track that interesting smell they noticed earlier. I’m not usually one for denying play and exploration, but if you’re still in the middle of house training I’d suggest taking them back inside if they’re not going to go potty, rather than indulging them.
The reason being is that when you’re potty training you’re ultimately waiting for the time when your dog can reliably ask to go outside when they need to go potty. If they ask to go outside for other reasons and you encourage them by playing along they’re more likely to ask to go outside to play again. Again, it’s a personal choice as to whether or not you want to indulge them in some outdoor play. For me I like to try to keep potty training simple and avoid the confusion of “is she asking to go out to go potty, or does she just want to play?”
I’m not a complete grinch, and I’m not encouraging you to be one either. If your dog is asking to go outside and they only seem interested in play what I suggest is taking them back inside and playing indoors. As they get older and get closer to being completely house broken that rule can change. But for the first month or so of potty training I suggest trying to make the outdoors all about potty breaks as much as possible.
Try to avoid turning “do you gotta go outside” into more than just potty time. If you do want to play with your pup outdoors do so when you choose to go out with them, rather than when they ask to go out.
Your Dog Doesn’t Let You Know When He Has to Go Out
One of the biggest house training issues is teaching your dog to let you know they have to go out. There’s a misconception that dogs will quickly figure out how to let you know when they have to go, unfortunately most dogs don’t pick up a cue like scratching on the door right away when they need to go out. One of the most common house training issues is finding a reliable way for your dog to let you know that they’ve got to go out.
If you feel like your puppy isn’t letting you know when they have to go out you’re not alone. A lot of dogs circle and sniff around when they need to go out, but those subtle cues aren’t always picked up on by us. To avoid missing those signs your dog uses when they need to go out you can work on teaching them to use a specific cue.
Teaching your dog to use a specific cue when they need to go out such as barking at the door or using a bell will ensure that your dog has a way to reliably get your attention when they need to go outside.
Choose which method you’d like your dog to use when letting you know that they have to go out and stick with it. Stand by your dog and encourage them to use that signal before you go outside with them, and praise them like crazy when they use it. With enough repetition your dog will start to associate that signal with going outside, and after enough practice they’ll start using it on their own to let you know when they’ve got to go.
If Your Older Dog is Urinating Inside The House
If your older dog has suddenly started going to the bathroom inside your house it may be urine marking, or it may be the sign of an underlying medical issue. Same goes for younger dogs; certain medical issues like UTI’s can cause dogs to urinate frequently.
Urine marking, sometimes called marking their territory, occurs when your dog purposely marks certain areas with his urine. Our dogs commonly mark things while we’re out on walks (peeing in certain areas), but this behavior can also happen at home. Some dogs may mark new items in the house (a new piece of furniture), and some dogs may start marking when a new animal is introduced into the home.
Has there been a big change in the house lately? Is there a new animal or baby at home? Is your dog on a new schedule? Did you move to a new house? Is your dog being left alone for longer than usual? All of these changes can cause stress, leading to indoor urination.
The good news is older dogs usually respond well to a quick refresher course on potty training. Don’t punish your dog for accidents. Clean up any area that they’ve soiled well, and get back into the habit of praising them for going potty outdoors for a little while.
If your dog is repeatedly urinating on a certain piece of furniture you can block that area off with a baby gate. Does your dog seem anxious when you leave for work and have they started peeing inside the house? If so start working on steps to decrease separation anxiety.
If you haven’t had any big changes at home that you can attribute to your dog’s indoor urination it’s time to take a trip to the vet. For older dogs who’ve already been potty trained urinating or defecating inside the home may indicate a medical issue. Some of the most common medical issues that can lead to your dog urinating in the house include:
- Urinary tract infections
- Bladder stones
- Kidney disease
- Diabetes
- Liver disease
- Cushing’s syndrome
If your house broken dog has suddenly started going to the bathroom inside your home consult your veterinarian.
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Great tips! We’re out of the potty training stage now (I hope!), but when we were training our puppy, it was rough (or should I say ruff;)). She just kept going in the same spot in the corner, and no matter how much we cleaned it she always came back. It was actually our friend who taught us that dogs can smell way better than us and like to go in the same place, and recommended a carpet cleaner to take care of the problem. That definitely helped! The other biggest thing was making sure one of us was always home with her to let her out the first couple of months. I work from home so it was’t too hard, but it did make me think twice about how long I take while shopping, etc. Luckily now she’s fully potty trained and can hold it for several hours so it’s not a big deal. I still feel guilty leaving her cute face alone for too long though!
Thanks for these tips! We currently have no problems with our dogs urinating inside the house, but with a big change coming soon (human baby), we’ll have to keep vigilant to ensure the pups don’t get any jealousy issues!
Your post answered my question how to take care my older dog when he urinates inside the house.
Thanks a lot.
We’ve just bought a 12 week old puppy. It’s early days – day 4 in fact – but she’s still very unreliable when it comes to peeing indoors. We’re doing what we should; taking her out and praising her etc, but sometimes we take her outvfor a loo break and she’ll simply come in to per. Very inconsistent. Is it just a matter of perseverance?
Mike
She’s not peeing in the same spot indoors is she? (if so I’d use an enzymatic cleaner on that spot) Generally speaking it takes about a week or two before most people start to see real consistency; some dogs take a little less and some take a little longer. If possible I’d try taking her to the same spot outdoors each time to help reinforce the idea that “hey, this is exactly where I’m supposed to go.”
Great tips but I’m really struggling to house train my puppy. He’s 13 weeks old and we have had him since he was 8 weeks. He’s started to go outside more now and we thought we were getting there but the last week or so he’s been going inside and not in the same place either. He likes to go outside and then come into to do his business, sometimes on carpet and other times on the laminate flooring. Does anyone have any tips?
We ar having the same issues with our puppy. Last week she was doing good and using the same spot outside but this week we have had a huge setback and she would o her business only inside and all over the place. Have you gotten any answers yet? It is becoming a little stressful. Thanks!
I’m having the same problem! My pup is good about going outside all day until about 6-9 pm and then he’ll have accidents even if I took him out 20 minutes before! He’s 13 weeks now, but I’ve had him since 7. I’ve stayed consistent in taking him out but it doesn’t seem to help!
I have a 3 1/2 months poms girl. Sometimes she uses pad anx sometimes she she uses floor by pad or furniture. What can I do?
These are good tips, however I am feeling a little hopeless with my puppy at the moment. She is a 5 month old Havapoo. We got her almost 2 months ago and we are still having problems! I thought for sure she would be easy to train because she could learn not only from from us, but also from our 2 year old Lhasa Apso.
We take her out regularly, usually once per hour or hour and a half. We take her out on a leash, she gets praise and a training treat when she potties outside, and she seems to get the concept. These days, she will go potty much sooner outside but just when I think she’s got it, she has accidents. She had not had any accidents for about 3 weeks and now in the last 12 hours, she has pooped on the floor twice. Not in the same spot, just wherever she happens to be. She does not understand to let us know when she needs out; she just goes. I will say that both times she had the accidents, she and our other dog were in the middle of running and playing, so I don’t know if she gets too excited and just goes? She rarely has peeing accidents.
Any advice you could give would be appreciated; I’m feeling a little lost!
If it’s happening in the middle of play I think you’re onto something with the excitement thing. When I’m playing frisbee or anything physically intense with my dog she’ll often stop immediately and poop. There’s no real warning to it, and she doesn’t do her usual sniff around first routine. If it happens inside she’ll start whining loudly, though I will admit it took me a while to catch onto the “this is my whining because I have to go right now” alert.
Exercise speeds up digestion, and when your heart and breathing rate increases so do the contractions in your intestines. The “need to go right now” urge is hard enough to resist in adults (such as runners), I imagine it’s probably near impossible for puppies to hold it.
Does she usually give some sort of signal when she has to go out? I’d probably work on teaching her to either cry or ring a bell when she has to go out. A lot of dogs do subtle things (pacing or sniffing around) that are easy to miss if you’re not watching or if they’re in another room, so I prefer noise. Before you go outside with her I’d stop for a second at the door and encourage her to either make a noise or ring a bell when you ask “do you have to go outside?” After enough repetition she’ll associate that action with you letting her out, and she’ll know exactly how to get your attention the moment she feels the urge to go. Here’s an article that goes into the subject a bit more: https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/teaching-dog-ask-go-out#1
I’m having a problem with my 3 month old boxer pooping in his crate when we leave the house and getting it everywhere. Even if we leave for a short time. Could he have separation anxiety?
My daughter’s boxer had problems w that too. Vet said keep the tv on and leave for very short periods of time working your way up and giving treats when you come back. They also did anxiety chews from the vet but chewy.com has several too. It took a little while but he did stop. Severe anxiety as he was dumped by his previous owner.
We adopted a Aussie mix. She is approximately 8 months old. She is very unreliable in the potty training area. When we think we have it mastered, she goes in the house. Last night I sat outside with her for about 20 minutes trying to get her to go potty. She will not go when leashed! So I have to let her be free. About 2 am, after being woke up by our older dog scratching on the door to go and her coming back in, Mandy (the puppy) pood and peed in the house! She tends to get derailed when it is wet outside and we have had many rainy days in the last week. We have a doggie door that she knows how to use and does go outside (I see her on the cameras), but come home to a dog bed being peed on. My other two dogs, while princesses when it rains, will go outside eventually. Beyond frustrated right now.
This!!! My 14wk old puppy is exactly the same…Has been using pee pads (we have no dog door ) and reliably going outside. In the past week (since the heavy rain) he has started peeing & popping inside wherever he wants. He totally ignores pee pad & has started to do little ‘fear wee’s’ when we catch him mid pee and go to put him outside etc. He’s always done little ‘excitement wee’s’ when people get home or greet him & was successfully controlling that when we stopped making a deal and greeting him. Kept if low key and he was ceasing the behaviour…now…that has also regressed.
Mopping the whole floor at least twice daily because he often steps in it too. He’s also started peeing on the couch! All since the rain when he stopped peeing outside. Doing my head in!
I just read the article and thread of comments. Friends I know what all of you are talking about. I’m having an issue with one of the 2- 4 month old puppies I have. My husband isn’t real involved with the dogs at this point but guess what? He’s going to have to help with this one. My plan is to to have him take care of the house broke dog while I work on the hard headed one. I’m going to take the dog who’s not understanding to do its buisness outside. I plan to take the dog outside every single hour or two consistently to the exact same spot where they potty outside and give an Irritable treat everytime it goes potty outside. I read to do this dedicatingly for 2 solid weeks. If then the dog still doesn’t learn, its going to end up being an outside dog living in the garage at night. But I really believe that after consistently for 2 solid weeks using a timer if I need to go outside every hour or two should fix the problem. **
I read an article saying to do this even if you have to take time off work for 2 weeks but that it really works. I believe it will work. Thankfully my husband and I are retired and don’t need to work. But honestly this method does make sense. I also know that some breeds are extremely hard to housebreak, maybe even impossible. I’ve tried crate training long ago on Laso Apso and that dog sadly went to a different home.
There’s nothing more frustrating than a dog using our carpets and homes as toilets. Its not healthy for anyone. I wish all Luck with Potty Training.
We need help. Our 14 week sheltie puppy poops ONLY in the house–no particular spot, but ALWAYS in the house. “”Accidents” don’t happen inside; they happen outside. For example, we fed out puppy lunch at 1 pm today. We took her out for THREE HOURS. We took he on a long walk, we let her wander around the front yard, we put her in an outside pen (hoping to designate a “spot.”) She took a long nap in the pen. Finally we gave up. She was not ONE MINUTE in the house before she pooped on the floor.
She readily enters her crate to sleep at night, and NEVER soils her crate–neither urine nor feces–even after an 8-hour sleep in our bedroom in the crate.
When a miracle happens and she does go while outside, we praise and treat her; but (you can tell by the look on her face) she does not associate “potty outside” with reward. (And she is hugely treat driven.) She is very smart and has learned to obey half a dozen commands–even though she has only been with us 2 weeks.
It seems to me that somehow (perhaps before she came to us) she “learned” that the house floor was the bathroom and outside was not.
How can we make her unlearn this?
I’ve been trying to train my puppy for 9 months now and it’s awful. She will have to go and refuse. We just went outside, because she asked to. I thought maybe she was just asking to go out and play but she started sniffing around so I took her out. She immediately got distracted by a piece of garbage in the road. I was able to refocus her and she started to poop. Just as she was squatting she pulled it back in because she got distracted by something else. I’m constantly saying “leave it” for all of the distractions and it does nothing. I’ve done the back in the crate tactic if she doesn’t go. That doesn’t work. I’ve tried letting her out on a lead while I stay in the house. She still won’t go. I can’t bring her to anyone’s house or stores because she will just go. She peed in my car. I have so much stress from this dog I can’t take it anymore.
I am also in the same situation.
At wits end. Don’t want to give her up but at this point seems so wild, doesn’t listen and just goes potty right then and there with no warning. Help!!
We have a new Sheltie Puppy 14 weeks old. I am trying to potty train, but she will not go outside 99.9%. I come in and she almost immediately goes all around the house. She appears to be proud of going in the house and makes a little dance after the fact. She has gone outside the house 4 times by accident and you can tell she is upset that she did not hold it to go inside the house. Two of the four times she went outside, she came in and immediately finished going. Help, we have had her three days and I need to correct this in a sensible manor.
Hi Tim, sorry no one answered you but i am in the exact same position with an about 6 month old coon hound. can you let us know what the solution was?
We hv same exact issue. 13 week old puppy, she was initially pooping & peeing on pads about 90% of time. 10%, perfect hit pea on pad, but complete miss on poo.? Or vise versa. THEN we started putting her outside & praising when she’d go outside.
NOW, she will hv bn outside for hours & then as soon as she gets in, she runs in & goes pee, many times rt next to the pad??? We’re at about 50% now. Very frustrated. I use spray & carpet stain remover, so she doesn’t return to same spot.
I think training on pads is basically telling the dog its ok to poop and pee on the floor and in the house. I dont understand why people dont just start right off by getting their dogs to associate their bathroom habits with outdoors. I will bet that the majority who train on puppy pads are the people who are going to have the hardest time with potty training outside. It doesn’t make sense to me, so I dont see how could for a dog?
I sincerely say Good luck with that and hope you report back later with success.
I am a dog lover, but I do not know how to train dogs like? Thanks for the very helpful article
I’ve unfortunately have been in lockdown most of the year .We brought our pup home 3 weeks before we had to shut down . It was 2 weeks before we could get him started , jabs etc. So we have simply just not got him trained .
He will not go when out in the garden . He can stay outside for hours then comes in and heads for the utility room. We are able to walk him but this seems to give the same result. He has been outside to a great deal of praise but will not stick to it . We are really not coping anymore as you can imagine this is so wearing .
I was a career navy paramedic, but what’s with this dog “going to the bathroom, go potty” etc. Dogs don’t use bathrooms… or potties! Young animals are not human babies. Why not use adult language? Are bodily functions, human or animal, so horrifically corrupting that Americans must use silly euphemisms with each other?
I’ve just taken on an ex-farm collie who lived in a stable and hasn’t learnt house training at 9 months. As a Brit, we use the terms urinate and defecate. I thought these were also used in the US. Am I wrong? I’d be sad to think you’re still stuck in bodily shame and ignorance. Do you know how that kicks on to issues like humiliation over male frequency due to prostatic enlargement and stress/urge incontinence in women? If you call chicken breast “the white meat” women will continue to be embarrassed to go for a lifesaving mammogram. Can’t we adults leave this childish lingo behind? We have appropriate terminology for soiling by dogs, and our dogs’ bodies are not disgusting. My dog may have a UTI; he keeps licking his… now, what shall I call it? His wiener, his johnson, his ding-a-ling, his winkie? Uh, it’s a penis, a word coined in Roman times, Latin for a tail. There, that didn’t hurt, did it?
Goodness I bet your loads of fun at a party aren’t you 🤣🤣🤣. Get over yourself mate it’s really not that bloody serious
Thanks for the very helpful post. I’m a dog lover, but I don’t know how to train dogs scientifically.
I have an 11 month old Maltese mix that I thought was house trained so we took down our barricades and now we are finding where she goes into the living and dining room to do her business! HELP
We have the bells on our door for her to tell us when she needs out
I can apply this at home, this tip is very helpful.