Your Dog Started Peeing In The House Again (Here’s Why)
You’ve spent weeks housetraining your dog, only to see it peeing in the corner of your home; it can be frustrating (we get it). No matter how much you love your animal, you don’t want it to soil the stuff inside your lovely house.
Besides, those extra clean-ups suck!
Getting frustrated and talking to your dog won’t work. You have to find out the reason behind this behavior and solve the root problem.
Here are the most common reasons your dog started peeing in the house again:
1. Your Dog Was Not Fully Potty Trained
Your puppy won’t show progress in every training session. It’s like taking two steps forward and one step back. Then four steps ahead and one step back.
In a perfect world, dogs are entirely housetrained by nine months to one year old. Before that, there are still chances of house-soiling.
Watch out for the below signs to know whether your puppy is now fully potty trained or not:
- Your puppy is more than 7-9 months old. Before this age, it’s still young to be fully potty trained.
- Your puppy tells you that it needs to go to the toilet by ringing a potty bell or by any means you have trained it to use.
- It goes potty without an accident for a good four weeks.
If you’ve stopped going out with your pup on potty breaks before housetraining is complete, your dog might end up peeing in your house again.
However, harsh behavior, shouting, and yelling at your canine will only add up the time it takes to complete potty training.
Other than incomplete procedures, the wrong way of training can also be the cause of accidents. Therefore, it’s always best to know what you are doing before you start housetraining your dog.
Read more: House Training Your Puppy (10 Actionable Tips to Get Started)
2. Medical Conditions
Your dog may be sick. Several medical conditions (physical or emotional) will cause your puppy to soil the house once again.
Urinary Tract Infection
UTI’s are ubiquitous in dogs and puppies. It’s an infection that happens in the urinary tract and may cause your pup to urinate in small amounts more frequently.
In this situation, your puppy won’t be able to hold its bladder.
If your dog is:
- Urinating small amounts
- Whining or crying during urination
- In pain or discomfort
- Licking around the urinary opening
Then it might be suffering from UTI. It would be best if you took your dog to the vet ASAP.
Other Physical Diseases
UTI is the most common cause, but other diseases might put your dog in an uncomfortable zone:
If you notice that your dog is in pain and lethargic, you must visit your veterinarian.
Stress & Anxiety
Stress and anxiety are not for humans only; animals also suffer from these issues. Several reasons might put your dog under stress or anxiety.
Below are some everyday stressors:
- Changes in surroundings (new home and neighborhood)
- Changes in schedule
- Fellow pet gone
- The primary caretaker being busy
- Loud noises
- Strangers are around
- Old age (old dogs tend to be more prone to anxiety)
If you see anything happening like this, you should comfort your dog by praising, giving some toys and treats, and spending a little bit more time with your pet.
Following up with the potty training is crucial.
Quick fact: Dog peeing out of emotions (like stress, anxiety, fear, or excitement) is called submissive urination.
Read more: What You Should Do if Your Dog Has Excitement Urination
Urine Marking
Urine marking is a natural behavior of dogs. They mark their territory or ownership by peeing on it. Just like a human would write his name on anything to let others know that “this is mine.”
How it’s related to your dog peeing in the house?
Your dog might be urine marking, not house soiling.
- See if there is any new animal in your house or anywhere around. Your pup might feel insecure and start marking in the house.
- There are strangers in your home.
- Suppose there is a dog of the opposite gender (male dogs often mark when they see a female around).
- Check that there is no conflict in your pets (if you have more than one at your home).
- Notice if the dog is urinating on new stuff.
- The dog lifts one leg while urinating. (it is often peeing on vertical surfaces).
If your dog is urine marking, you have to control it by keeping it away from strangers or other animals, resolving conflict in pets, or neutering your dog.
4. Potty Training Regression
When a potty trained dog seems to be reverting to its old habits of house soiling, then this is called potty training regression.
This regression is widespread in dogs between 4 months to 1 year old. But older dogs may also regress their training.
It’s a natural part of a dog’s brain development. Canines forget their habits and adapt to new things as they grow up. To prevent this regression, you can follow up with a potty training review every once in a while.
During the review, be with your dog and take it to the potty spot; treat your pupster for peeing and pooping in the right place, just like you did during the initial training.
Puppy potty training regression is reversible. You have to restart the house training but don’t worry; it won’t take much time or effort. Your dog will quickly understand and start following the routine once again.
Read more: Puppy Potty Training Regression (Everything You Need to Know)
How to stop a dog from peeing in the house?
To stop your dog from house-soiling, you should:
- Get back to the basics. Train it to go in the right place again. (This is the key).
- Clean up the soiled area with a suitable enzyme cleaner immediately—Dogs pee where they smell pee.
- If your dog is sick, take it to the vet as soon as possible.
Final Thoughts
Dogs do not pee out of spite or to annoy you. There is always a reason behind it. Therefore, if your dog started peeing in the house again, it might be sick, the potty training could be incomplete or improper, it might be insecure, or it’s just a part of your dogs’ brain development.
Find out what is disturbing your pet and solve its problem. Getting back to basic training and positive reinforcement will eventually solve this issue.
