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Dog peeing on floor

The Menagerie
#1

Hello all, I have a frustrating issue.

When my SO and myself merged he brought a boxer who’s normal a pretty good dog. He wasn’t good at dog training and her potty training was not consistent when he had her so she would pee on the floor if left alone.

It’s been 2 years and she still isn’t house broke. Dog is now 8. Once this week and once last week the cats woke her up early and she got up and peed on the floor. She knows it’s wrong. If she pees on the floor she will then hide (to the point of not wanting her breakfast) so you know what happened immediately.

I make sure that she goes out right before bed time and as soon as I wake up and I wake up at the same time every day, but when the cats want breakfast early and wake her up that’s when she just immediately pees on the carpet. My SO is out of town and so far she’s peed on the floor once a week while he’s been gone because he’s usually the one that makes her stay in bed.

Are there any solutions? My SO doesn’t want to crate her at night but I’m tired of cleaning up dog pee any time she gets up early. After an incident he will agree to crate her at night for a week but he likes her in bed and thinks she’s sad in her crate so he will then let her out and she’s good for a period. I’m WFH and she’s not crated when I’m home and sleeps all day, I make sure she goes out every 2 hours. When I’m off work she’s outside with me in the barn.

Once when he was home with her he came home from running an errand and didn’t let her out when he got back so she went into another room while he was there and she peed so she doesn’t come “ask” to be let out.

#2

  1. you can explain to him that her staying in the crate at night wouldn’t be permanent, but it would be until she understands that peeing in the house is not acceptable.

  2. how long has he had her and she has been peeing in the house- 8 years or two years?

  3. has EVER been housebroken?

  4. have you had her urine check for a urinary tract infection?

Once you have ruled out a urinary tract infection, she needs a house breaking boot camp. It may be 2 weeks, it may be
Months to explain to her peeing in the house is unacceptable.

That means- if she has 100% of your attention- she can be off leash in the house(but that means you are WATCHING the dog), if she has 25-95% of your attention, she needs to be on a leash in the house so if she starts to show body language or actually pee you can stop her and tell her no and get her outside. Hand her to another person if need be. And if you can’t give her attention, use a crate to make her learn how to hold properly. As soon as she comes out of the crate immediately go outside.

Praise wildly when pee is made outside.

After 2-4 weeks of consistency you can maybe start to take off the leash.

2 Likes
#3

She actually doesn’t strike me as not being housebroken. After being inside for 6-8 hours the minute she gets up, she needs to go. She doesn’t have a good vocabulary for alerting and hides after to the point of missing a meal, which would make me wonder if the human response is harsher than necessary.

I’d pick up a battery powered dog door bell and start shaping her to ring it every time she goes out with tons of praise and treats. This gives her a way to say she needs to go in the morning. It sounds like this is a consistent problem and your SO is providing a bandaid response by not letting her out of the bed. If she rings the doorbell at 5 am, then she needs to go out, and then everyone goes back to bed.

My dog can go about 6 hours comfortably. As a night owl, that’s easy during the week days. On the weekends i grit my teeth dragging myself out of bed but I wouldn’t tell me DH not to go to the bathroom if he needed to go so why should I ask a dog to hold theirs. Or at least that’s my approach.

8 Likes
#4

On occasion when she needs to go and hasn’t been let out she will leave for her preferred pee room and pee in there. If that room is closed she will pick another room. So if has not been out recently she is in the same room with us and I do not let her out of my sight.

If she sleeps through the night until you wake up she’s fine, but if she wakes up before you that’s when she immediately pees on the floor.

I do stand outside and make sure she pees outside and praise her, we had some issues this winter where she’d go outside and refuse to pee because it was cold then try to sneak away and pee in her pee room.

He has had her since she was a puppy and she has never been fully housebroken.

She is healthy.

#5

This reads like a human problem, not a dog problem.

If you (and your SO, but in your example he is not home) know that she needs to go out after getting up why not take her out after she gets up?
Just because you think she should still be holding it because you do not want to move does not make this OK. She needs to go outside to empty her bladder. Let her outside to empty her bladder.

I agree with the thought that she appears to be pretty darn house broken. A full bladder that the human ignores is not the dog making a mistake, it is the human making a mistake.

6 Likes
#6

I would start setting my alarm, and taking her outside during the night. I agree with those who believe you need to change your pattern. Our little dog’s bladder fills before mine does. I have gotten up through the night to let him out for 13 years. If I do not, our little dog will pee on the floor. Since I know this, if I choose to ignore his need, the mistake is mine to own.

6 Likes
#7

Who owns the house ?

Who owns the boxer ?

When are you planning on children ?

  • who loads and unloads the dishwasher ?

Good Luck

3 Likes
#8

I’m sorry, I just can’t get up whenever the cats want me to get up. If I do that they wake you up earlier and earlier and earlier. This is as much cat training as it is dog training. If the cats don’t get the dog up the dog remains fine until we make her go potty, otherwise she will “sleep in” and you have to physically drag her out of bed and outside.

Also, I’m not going to respond to the snip about beating my dog because she hides when she pees on the floor.

#9

Is there any option to add a dog run to make it easier to let the dog out to potty? I have also seen the turf like pee pads for dogs if there is an option for that.
I would imagine they could become nasty pretty quick inside but possibly having one on a porch or garage might make it easier to take the dog out especially at night. Your SO could then clean them at their convenience rather than having to keep cleaning up messes on the floor.
Good luck and I hope you can find a good solution soon.

1 Like
#10

You said hubby isn’t home, so use a crate when he isn’t home at night, when he is home, dog is his responsibility.

But dog needs to go out when she gets up, mine is the same.

I agree with teaching her to use a bell on the door to go out. She probably is telling ya’ll and being ignored.

2 Likes
#11

This seems like the best plan.

#12

I’m not sure. When the weather is bad we have to force her outside to go potty and I’ve had to take her to my indoor arena before. She’s a sissy.

#13

Two suggestions to add.

  1. Make sure she doesn’t have bladder stones taking up room in her bladder. A good veterinarian palpating her abdomen can tell, and/or urinalysis.

  2. Give her a VERY special treat every time you “catch” her peeing outside. It should be a treat she only gets for peeing outside (not any other time) and one that is so incredibly yummy she can’t wait to get one.

1 Like
#14

one does not need to beat a dog to get an extreme response.
My 2 dogs have never been beaten and just rolling my eyes can send then running.

1 Like
#15

I do agree that one does not have to beat their dog for it to react in an extreme way.

I also do not think it is fair to a dog to set up for failure, even more so in a situation where it is known to have such a strong fear reaction.

Taking the dog out at whatever time it needs to go out (because the cats got it up) does not mean you have to feed the cats and lead to a life of the cats thinking they can get fed whenever.

Simply quietly take the dog out when you hear it is up. Praise it for going outside, bring it back inside and tell it to go back to bed. Ignore the cats. You go back to bed. Everyone falls back to sleep for a bit longer.

All I can say to the ‘but some days it sleeps in so clearly it can hold it’ is that some nights I can go all night with out ever having to get up to pee. Other nights I have to get up three times.

8 Likes
#16

Some older dogs just can’t hold it in that long anymore. At 8 she is considered an older dog,

I would have her checked for urinary issues and maybe try picking up her water after 6pm.

Get up and let her out to go and then everybody go back to bed? I have had 2 females who had bladder leaks while sleeping, if left too long, so I just got up earlier to let them out since they couldn’t hold it all night. A pain but it worked.

If crating works and she won’t pee in there I guess it is an option. I don’t use them myself but if there is any chance she will pee while in there I would find that somewhat cruel.

3 Likes
#17

If I let her back into the house after doing chores when she’s been outside for an hour with me and she pees on the floor then as well because she’s alone and didn’t bother peeing outside, that tells me that it’s a housebreaking issue and not a I beat my dog issue. I came here for help and to add additional information but honestly I’m done with this thread.

It’s impossible to read any good advice when I can’t get past a poster telling me that the human response is “harsher than necessary” when she hides after peeing on the floor. So yes, I have been accused of beating my dog.

#18

@enjoytheride then I think you need to keep her tethered to you until she realizes how to alert you she needs to pee outside. She’s had 8 years of confusion. Most digs want to please. You have to treat her like a pup who has learned bad habits. It will be work. And it’s frustrating when it’s not your dog but she deserves the consideration.

3 Likes
#19

And honestly. Crate her at night. It’s not cruel. It gives her boundaries and an Avenue to success. Dogs don’t punish. They are simply misunderstood. Your boyfriend is sabotaging her and frustrating you.

3 Likes
#20

I am just saying that there isn’t an implication that you beat the dog.
Some dogs are just like that.

1 Like

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