How To Stop A Dog From Peeing In The House? 8 Proven Ways

by Ditte Young

When something comes in, something must come out again. Dogs pee, but how to stop a dog from peeing in the house? The problem has different solutions depending on whether you have a puppy or an old dog. I will take you through both scenarios. The most important thing is training the young puppy. It is very simple.

Remember that your puppy needs to go out every single time it has:

How To Stop A Dog From Peeing In The House?

Here are the 8 proven ways how to stop a dog from peeing in the house which I hope all pet parents will find useful.

Potty Training

I recommend you start the potty training as soon as you get your puppy home with you. Your puppy needs to see the pattern in what it is you would like it to do. Remember that every signal and pattern you give your puppy will create your pet’s behavior for the rest of its life.

Young puppies have to pee immediately after they have:

Slept (and just woke up)
Shortly after they have eaten their food or been drinking water
Has played or moved for a while
When guests are coming over because they get excited
Excitement in general

Don’t wait for your puppy to show you signals that it’s time to pee. The signals are to seek away from the living room, where your puppy is usually located, or start sniffing the floor.

The puppy will seek out from its cave and find another place for its necessity. The puppies need your help to seek OUT instead of having dogs pee indoors in the future.

Additional reading: Why is my dog whining and why is my dog shaking?

Potty Breaks

During playtime, your puppy can get so excited that it needs a potty break.

I recommend you train the potty breaks every 1-2 hours. You must take your puppy to where it peed the last time. It can smell the urine odors, immediately connect the training with the smell, and know what it must do.

When it pees outside, you give your puppy acknowledgment, and it will connect that peeing in that area is a good thing which will create repeated actions.

Clean Up Properly

I recommend you not use cleaning products with salmiac or ammonium chloride.

To a dog’s nose, it smells like urine, and we don’t want the puppy to connect the smell of urine with the possibility of peeing indoors again. Use water and soap instead.

Eliminate Anxiety Triggers

If your dog gets afraid or experiences anxiety – like seperation anxiety – it can accidentally urinate.

Make sure to let your puppy see what you are holding in your hand before it can create a loud noise that your puppy will hear even louder than human beings because of their heightened sense of hearing.

The following things can trigger anxiety in a dog:

Your dog understands what you are saying and the emotion you are sending out. Your dog needs the explanation and sense that it is harmless to prevent shocks and traumas and the dog’s anxiety.

Calm Communication

Many years ago, some dog owners thought you should yell at the dog to make it understand what it wasn’t allowed to do. Over the years, dog owners have learned that dogs don’t understand the word: NO!

Dogs comprehend and change marking behavior when they know what we, as pet parents, want them to do instead of what not do. I recommend you practice positive reinforcement and keep your tone of voice down since your dog has excellent hearing senses.

Introduce New Things Carefully

Your puppy thinks the world is big and there is a lot to process every day. When you get your new pet home introduce new things to it carefully and one object or thing at a time.

Remember that your dog understands what you are saying, combined with the emotion you are putting in the situation. That calls for even more focus on the responsibility we have as dog owners in our way of surrounding us with living animals who are 100 % dependent on us.

Consult a Veterinarian

If you have trained your dog and it is thoroughly house trained, and you still have dog pee on the floor or the new carpets, I recommend seeing a veterinarian. They can check what is causing the inappropriate urinary behavior. They can check your dog for the most common reasons for this behavior.

Frequent Urination & Territorial Marking

If you suspect your dog’s inappropriate urination is caused by dominance or territorial marking, you could talk with your veterinarian to figure out whether neutering could be a solution to eliminating urine odor behavior.

Why Do Dogs Pee Indoors?

If you have your dog in the house trained repeatedly and you no longer have a puppy but an adult dog now, and the inappropriate urination is still a problem, you might have to investigate if your dog has any health issues.

Health Issues

The most common diseases or diagnosis causing urinary behavior are:

Bladder stones
Cystitis
Kidney failure
Uterine inflammations
Enlarged prostate
Urinary incontinence
Urinary tract infection

Anxiety

Some dogs suffer from separation anxiety or anxiety in general, and when their nervous system is overloaded, they empty themselves. It is nature’s way for an animal to flee faster on an empty bladder. I recommend you talk to your dog and calm it down, and if your dog reacts to loud noise, I recommend you turn down the volume if possible or, as written before, tell your dog what the noise is and where it is coming from.

Excitement

Most dogs can pee by accident when they get excited about things. If you experience that, I recommend you create play outdoors as a dog owner and prevent and stop peeing situations that are frustrating for you and your dog in a fun moment.

Some dogs also get excited with canine companions, and it can be difficult for them to say stop because it seems like a lot of fun. That’s why it is a big help for your dog if you control the timeline for play and calm down your dog again afterward.

Territorial Marking

Adult dogs use urination as a territorial marking to tell other dogs they’ve been here. Dogs can communicate using pheromones. These are chemical messages that members of the same species recognize. Dogs learn much about each other through these pheromones, especially those in the urine. When you go for a walk with your dog, you can also see that your dog is very interested in sniffing the scents from other dogs on the way. After the investigational nose work, your dog often deposits a urine mark. Many neutered males and spayed females also do dog marking with their territories.

Poor Crate Training

Some people like to use a crate for their dogs, and that requires crate training to make the dog feel comfortable with being in there.

All dogs should have a blanket in there and be able to lie down safely and with a soothing and familiar scent. Please keep the doggy door open until you feel your dog is calm and safe.

It is a big problem that many dogs are being put into a crate that is too small for them. Dogs should be able to comfortably stand up and move around in the crate if the dog owners must use them. Not allowing the dogs to move freely in a box can cause physical and emotional distress in the future.

You might also be interested in: Why is my dog whining?

How To Stop An Older Dog From Peeing In The House?

Dog incontinence is a typical sign of aging. Temporarily give your dog less freedom and space in the house. Dogs are less likely to eliminate and pee in areas in which they spend time, so keep your dog in one or two rooms for a while. It would be best if you also ruled out medical conditions, so I recommend seeing the veterinarian.

Health Check

Common causes of incontinence in senior dogs often include urinary tract infections.

But it can also be explained with:

Trigger Identification

You can make trigger identifications by writing down when and where your dog is peeing in the house. Hopefully, you will find a pattern eventually. Once a trigger can be identified, a treatment plan can be created. In all cases, some management and increased supervision will be needed.

Retraining

Most adult dogs should be able to hold their pee for up to 6-8 hours. If they start to pee indoors, and you have visited the veterinarian, and nothing was found there, you might have to start retraining your dog in potty training again. Senior dogs can’t hold their pee for 6 hours any longer.

Get Professional Help

If your dog is potty trained and you still experience potty training accidents, you can get professional help. Sometimes four eyes see better than two, and you might be tired and wired up by now after months of hard work and training.

Many behavioral therapists can help prevent the dog peeing behavior and come to your dog’s environment to observe what you might not see as a trigger yet.

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Ditte Young

Ditte Young has worked as a spiritual coach, therapist and clairvoyant for 23 years. She is an author of 3 books about animal communication and is known as Denmark's most recognized animal communicator.