My husband and I adopted a neutered male lab mix 2 years ago. He is now 6 years old. I can't seem to get him to stop peeing in the house. I tell him "no" when I catch him doing it and I immediately make him go outside to go potty. It seems he purposely does it sneakily. Tonight I brought him outside to go potty and he was outside for 15 minutes and he would lift his leg to potty but nothing would come out so I assumed he just must not need to go. It was less than two minutes later I caught him peeing all over our dresser! I'm losing my mind. Why does he do this? And what can I do to fix this problem?
Housebreaking help!
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Has he been peeing inside the entire time you've had him? If so a 2 year old habit is going to be hard to break. I would recommend treating him like a puppy.
-NEVER scold him for peeing in the house. If the pup pees in the house the blame is on you, not him. Also the dog's not being sneaky nor is he doing it on purpose. He has no reason to understand that going outside is what he's supposed to do, because you haven't taught him that going in the house is bad. You've taught him that going in front of you is bad.
- Thoroughly clean all the areas he's peed with an enzymatic cleaner.
- He should always be under strict supervision, you're watching him like a hawk or he's tethered to/near you. Or he's in a crate/puppy safe place/play pen.
- Get him on a schedule. I would aim for an end goal of taking him out 4 times a day but you might need to start with every 1-2 hours.
-When he pees outside give him a lot of praise and a couple really high value treats. This will get him to understand that peeing outside is good and gets you treats. Peeing inside gets you nothing.
-NEVER scold him for peeing in the house. If the pup pees in the house the blame is on you, not him. Also the dog's not being sneaky nor is he doing it on purpose. He has no reason to understand that going outside is what he's supposed to do, because you haven't taught him that going in the house is bad. You've taught him that going in front of you is bad.
- Thoroughly clean all the areas he's peed with an enzymatic cleaner.
- He should always be under strict supervision, you're watching him like a hawk or he's tethered to/near you. Or he's in a crate/puppy safe place/play pen.
- Get him on a schedule. I would aim for an end goal of taking him out 4 times a day but you might need to start with every 1-2 hours.
-When he pees outside give him a lot of praise and a couple really high value treats. This will get him to understand that peeing outside is good and gets you treats. Peeing inside gets you nothing.
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That sounds so frustrating!
I would try switching to a different cleaner because maybe the cleaner you're using isn't really getting rid of the scent of his pee. This may be making the problem worse, especially if he's been doing it for awhile. Try vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice. If you do this on carpet, test it first because sometimes it can bleach. Soak up what you can with paper towels. Then sprinkle a little baking soda over the top and let it sit for a minute. Then spray a little plain white vinegar that has a little lemon juice in it on the baking soda. It's going to fizz a little. After a minute, go back and dab it all up and maybe even vacuum over it. Hopefully this will help get rid of his pee smell better.
I also agree with treating him like a puppy. Try to not let him out of your sight. If you crate him, this might mean he's crated a little more than usual for the next few weeks. This might just be realistic as you can't watch a dog 24/7. If you don't crate him, but you can't watch him while you're making dinner or something else, maybe put a gate up and keep him in a room without carpet (but with his bed to lay on). Anyways, if you keep a closer watch, then you can take him outside immediately, without saying anything, when you catch him starting to go potty.
Stay outside with him whenever you put him outside to go potty so you can make a huge deal out of it when he goes potty outside- verbal praise, petting, an excellent treat like real chicken, cheese, beef, etc.- whatever you think he will love. Use more than one though to really make it seem like a big deal. Doing this is positive reinforcement- you are encouraging him to do the desired behavior (potty outside) by providing something positive when he does the desired behavior. This is the most important thing you can do to help him understand he should potty outside. Doing this consistently will get the behavior to change quickly. Again, be sure to provide him with lots of good things every single time he goes potty outside (whether #1 or #2). Take him outside every couple hours initially so you create more opportunities to reward him. The more he gets the positive reinforcement, the quicker his behavior will probably change. Just think about how much easier it is to do this every couple hours than it is to clean up yucky pee. Good luck! Hope this helped!
I would try switching to a different cleaner because maybe the cleaner you're using isn't really getting rid of the scent of his pee. This may be making the problem worse, especially if he's been doing it for awhile. Try vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice. If you do this on carpet, test it first because sometimes it can bleach. Soak up what you can with paper towels. Then sprinkle a little baking soda over the top and let it sit for a minute. Then spray a little plain white vinegar that has a little lemon juice in it on the baking soda. It's going to fizz a little. After a minute, go back and dab it all up and maybe even vacuum over it. Hopefully this will help get rid of his pee smell better.
I also agree with treating him like a puppy. Try to not let him out of your sight. If you crate him, this might mean he's crated a little more than usual for the next few weeks. This might just be realistic as you can't watch a dog 24/7. If you don't crate him, but you can't watch him while you're making dinner or something else, maybe put a gate up and keep him in a room without carpet (but with his bed to lay on). Anyways, if you keep a closer watch, then you can take him outside immediately, without saying anything, when you catch him starting to go potty.
Stay outside with him whenever you put him outside to go potty so you can make a huge deal out of it when he goes potty outside- verbal praise, petting, an excellent treat like real chicken, cheese, beef, etc.- whatever you think he will love. Use more than one though to really make it seem like a big deal. Doing this is positive reinforcement- you are encouraging him to do the desired behavior (potty outside) by providing something positive when he does the desired behavior. This is the most important thing you can do to help him understand he should potty outside. Doing this consistently will get the behavior to change quickly. Again, be sure to provide him with lots of good things every single time he goes potty outside (whether #1 or #2). Take him outside every couple hours initially so you create more opportunities to reward him. The more he gets the positive reinforcement, the quicker his behavior will probably change. Just think about how much easier it is to do this every couple hours than it is to clean up yucky pee. Good luck! Hope this helped!
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