How to Stop a Dog From Peeing in the House? Effective Tips!
If your dog keeps urinating indoors, chances are you’re looking for ways to stop this behavior of your dog peeing inside the house.
Many factors can cause a pup to urinate indoors including inadequate potty breaks, anxiety issues, territory marking, etc.
The important thing is to only use positive reinforcement for ways how to stop a dog from peeing in the house. After all; gone are the days when negative training methods like rubbing the dog’s nose in pee or hitting or punishing it worked.
In this guide, we tell you exactly what to do to stop your dog from voiding indoors without using harsh training methods.
How to Stop a Dog Peeing in the House?
Vets recommend that the best way to stop a dog from peeing inside the house is by taking it out to a designated potty area several times a day.
Most dogs pee at least 4-5 times, and puppies need to pee over 6-8 times. If you are potty training your pet, you can also use potty training pads on a balcony or bathroom and train your buddy to go on them. Every time your pup voids in the right place, reward it with a high-value training treat and praise.
On the other hand, if your dogs pee indoors, then you must ignore the behavior. Calmly clean up the mess using enzymatic cleaners. These will help break down the pee smell and prevent your pup from peeing over it again. Also, use the cues your pup gives before it pees. It might start sniffing the spot and circle around.
When you see this behavior during constant supervision, make a loud noise to distract your pet. Then take it outside immediately to the pee spot or doggy pee pads and reward it when it goes here.
Remember- accidents happen, and even a potty trained pet might lose control and pee indoors in rare cases. Never punish your pup, and do not use any harsh methods to try to stop your dog from showing this behavior.
It is worthwhile investing in pee pads so your pet can be trained to avoid accidents when the weather outside is bad, you’re busy for supervision and have to leave your puppy or adult dog alone for a few hours.
In some cases, medical issues or health problems may be responsible for dogs peeing indoors. In such a case, take a urine sample and get it checked by the vet. Medical causes for indoor urination could include bladder infections. The behavior will stop once the medical issue is addressed.
What Triggers a Dog to Pee in the House?
Dogs may show inappropriate urination due to the following reasons:
Urinary Tract Infection
If completely house-trained senior dogs or adult dogs start peeing indoors suddenly, then it could be due to a urinary tract infection, bladder stones, etc.
Urinary tract or bladder infections can cause dogs to pee frequently. Your pet might also produce 2-3 drops of urine each time. The urine may be brownish red or there may be blood in it. Your dog might also strain to urinate. (Check out the complete list of symptoms of canine UTI on the AKC website.)
If you suspect a UTI in your dog, please see your vet immediately.
Inadequate Potty Training
This is another factor that could cause inappropriate urination in dogs. If your puppy is not fully housetrained, it may need several more weeks of positive reinforcement training to learn where it should urinate.
Take your dog outside for frequent potty breaks and reward it each time it ‘goes’ in the right spot.
Check out our complete and comprehensive guide on how to potty train a puppy effectively.
Marking Behavior
Male dogs- tend to pee indoors to mark their territory. This is a method of canine communication that asks other dogs to stay away.
Fixing your dog (de-sexing or spaying/neutering it) can help you prevent unnecessary and excessive dog marking.
Not Crate Training
Many pet parents erroneously believe that crate training is not a humane practice and that it is a way of torturing dogs. That is not the case. When done properly and humanely, you can prevent many unwanted behaviors in your pet, such as urine marking, potty training accidents, and even destructive behaviors.
To crate train your dog:
- Introduce it gradually to the crate
- Make the crate a welcoming and cozy space by adding toys, blankets, and treats inside.
- Crate your pet for a few minutes and gradually crate it for up to 1 hour.
- Give your dog several urine breaks – if needed hire a dog walker to take your pet out for walks. You and a family member can also take turns to come walk your new puppy.
Not Eliminating Urine Odors
Dogs use urine odors to pee in the same spot again and again.
Therefore, every time your dog shows inappropriate urinary behavior and pees indoors during house training, you must immediately eliminate the urine odors using a good enzymatic cleaner or the best carpet cleaners.
This will break down the urine molecules and eliminate urine odors completely.
Separation Anxiety
Another thing to do to stop dog urinating indoors in your dog is to reduce its stress and anxiety. Dogs are creatures of habit. They get stressed if you make changes to their routine. So make sure to follow strict nap times, meal times, and walking times and reduce stress in the dog’s environment.
Furthermore, dogs are companion animals. They dislike being left alone. If you are leaving your dog alone for several hours a day, it may be peeing indoors (known as submissive urination) stemming from severe separation anxiety.
It may be worthwhile seeing a veterinary behaviorist if your dog’s anxiety is out of control.
Excitement Urination
This is another reason why a dog might urinate indoors. If you have a overly excited dog that gets happy when you have visitors or when it sees you in the evening, then it may pee due to excitement urination.
Please check with an animal behaviorist to see if you can curb such pet’s behavior.
What Scents Deter Dogs from Peeing? Sprays to Stop Your Dog Peeing Indoors
Here are some effective pee sprays to prevent your dog from urinating indoors.
- Citrus – Dogs hate the scent of citrus fruits like lemons, oranges, etc. You can use enzymatic cleaners with orange or lemon scents to prevent your canine companion from territorial marking.
- Vinegar – This is another way to stop a fully potty trained dog from suddenly urinating indoors. Spray some vinegar on the spot where it pees. This will curb the odor and also stop dogs from peeing in house over it again.
- Ammonia – if your dog keeps peeing in house due to a medical condition or bladder control issues due to infections like UTIs, then use ammonia-based cleaners to clean the odor. To stop dog from peeing in house, get it checked by the vet.
- Essential oils – certain essential oils with strong fragrance can also deter dogs from peeing inside the home. They can be a solution to how to stop dog from peeing in house.
FAQs – How to Stop Dog Peeing in House?
Why does my dog pee in the house after going outside?
If your new pet is still young and not fully potty trained, it may not understand that it should not urinate indoors. In the case of the fully housetrained older dog, the peeing could be a result of medical issues or behavioral issue.
Why does my dog keep peeing in the house?
From medical issues to inadequate potty training, your pet pees indoors due to many reasons above.
Why does my adult dog pee in the house when I’m not around?
Behavioral causes due to anxiety might trigger indoor urination in your anxious dog. Positively reinforce that this behavior is unacceptable. Reward good behavior and avoid negative reinforcement.
How to clean dog pees?
A dog owner can use enzymatic cleaners or vinegar and baking soda to clean canine pee. Also, use above tricks to get your dog to stop peeing in the house.
Why is my dog suddenly peeing in the house?
An old dog peeing in house can be due to incontience.
How to stop dogs from peeing in the house?
The best way how to get my dog to stop peeing in the house is with good training, health checks, regular walks, and obedience training it.
How to stop submissive urination?
If dog started urinating indoors due to submissive reasons, please see you vet or animal behaviorist. As always, the best way how to stop my dog from peeing in the house is through positive reinforcement only.
Why do dogs pee in the house?
A dog suddenly peeing in house or an old dog peeing in the house can be due to medical reasons.
Why is my female dog suddenly peeing in the house?
Female dog pees in house after spaying surgery due to spay incontinence. Territory marking in unspayed dogs can be another factor why is my dog peeing in the house. It can also be due to urinary incontinence why my dog keeps peeing in the house.
Why is my male dog peeing in the house all of a sudden?
The answer to why does my dog pee so much could be a medical underlying problem, so have a vet examine your male dog peeing in house suddenly.
A dog peeing in house suddenly can also be due to an underlying behavior issue.
If these answers to why is my dog peeing in the house all of a sudden do not help, seep your vet.
Puppy keeps peeing in house – what to do?
Take your puppy out every hour on the hour to the potty spot or pee pad. Reward when it goes in the right place. Use enzyme cleaner when it has an indoor accident.
How to stop grown dogs from peeing in the house?
Give your dog frequent opportunities to pee outside by taking it out to the yard or for a walk around the block.
Conclusion – How to Get a Dog to Stop Peeing In The House?
To address the issue of dog started peeing in house, it’s important to identify the underlying cause and take appropriate steps.
Reinforcing house-training, providing consistent and regular bathroom breaks, addressing any medical conditions, managing anxiety or stress, and consulting a professional dog trainer or behaviorist can all be helpful in resolving the problem.
