If your dog pees in the house you'll have to weigh up why it is happening in order to take action. Your pet is a member of the family so to achieve a nice coexistence, you need to avoid any conduct that largely depends on you as an educator. Your dog is your responsibility, so take the necessary time to understand what the problem is and find a solution. In this OneHowTo.com, we explain how to prevent your dog from urinating in the house.
There are different reasons why your dog may urinate indoors. You may have a puppy who is still learning how to relieve themselves, your dog may not be taken for a walk often enough or they may have very unstable departure times that end up confusing them. Maybe your dog wants to get your attention, because they are bored or miss you. It is also possible that your pet is suffering from prostate problems and so has a continuous leakage of urine.
They may have experienced some type of trauma, fear or are even looking to calm their anxiety by spreading their scent throughout the house. You may have a relationship with your dog where they exhibit very territorial behaviour or may even suffer from a health problem that prevents them from controlling their needs.
You need to face this with calm and patience because there will be a solution. For starters, you must teach your pet from puppy age to get used to urinating on the street at regular times. Establishing a walking routine is your responsibility, and if you do, your dog will know when it's time for a walk and will learn to pee only when they're outside. Remember that a young dog up to 8 months old may sometimes suffer from mishaps because they still have no effective control of their bowels. You must take your dog for a walk at least 3 times per day for 15 minutes, and always at the same time.
If your dog urinates in the house because you do not pay them enough attention, try to spend some quality time together daily. Play with them, talk to them, walk them and give them affection. Your pet must feel they're an important part of your life. When you live with an animal you should be aware that in addition to their basic needs, they are your family and they need you. Find time each day to spend with them, such as letting them sit on the sofa next to you and see how your dog stops performing their needs in the house.
If the problem has nothing to do with a lack of attention, it may be due to a prostate condition, which is typical of older dogs. In that case, go to the vet to assess their health and obtain some treatment.
If you have adopted your dog, they may have emotional issues or lack education that influences their current behaviour. Maybe your pet urinates at home because they have simply not been educated, had no attention paid to them or spent many lonely hours by themselves and were given free rein to perform their needs in the house. No matter how old your dog is, dedicate some time to educating them and rehabilitating them, as anything is possible with love and patience.
If your dog is a puppy it's normal for them to lack control and you'll need to teach them to not pee in the house. If they are too young and unable to go out on the street, leave an established area for them to urinate. This could be a sandbox or even a pile of newspapers on the floor in an area where they'll always have access. When your pet associates the site with urine, you'll see how they do it without any problems. Reward them for good behaviour with affection, words of praise, or an edible reward.
But if your dog doesn't pee in a fixed place, you need to be serious and blunt, tell them they've done the wrong thing and bring them back to the right place. Usually, you need to repeat this procedure when your pet starts to go outside. When you go out onto the street, let your dog sniff the smell of other animals pee, so they clearly know the street is where they need to urinate.
When deciding whether or not to scold your pet for urinating in the house, if your dog is young, understand that it is natural for them to lack control. After 10 weeks, you'll need to start spending some time teaching them. When it comes to teaching them, this is a really important point because unexplained anger is useless. Your dog will not understand why you're angry. When your dog pees in an inappropriate site, you have to point out what they have done (or even take them to the pee) and vehemently say no.
This process can be repeated several times, each time they do it wrong. You're confirming that you don't like this behaviour so your dog will understand it's undesirable. Violence is never advisable. It also isn't appropriate to put their nose into the pee, hit them on the nose, or spend too much time making them feel bad. These are counterproductive methods. You'll frighten your dog, make them feel sad or even unsafe, which can encourage this behaviour again.
In very specific cases sterilisation can be a solution for your dog in order to stop them peeing inside the house. For example, if your dog displays very territorial behaviour, it's very common for them to urinate on the floor, sofa, doors, everything, to make it clear that this is their territory. Under these circumstances castration may stop this behaviour or at least minimize it.
For it to be most effective, sterilise your pet at a young age (less than a year or year and a half). A dog that is sterilised whilst very young before reaching sexual maturity will have no hormones so won't experience arousal and you won't see this territory marking behaviour. If your dog is an adult and marks their territory, sterilisation is not 100% effective, and you'll need to talk to your vet to see what you can do about it.
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