[shermansmom1]

Hi all,

My husband and I adore our dog Sherman. He is sweet, friendly, listens well, doesn't chew, not a barker, was easily housebroken, etc. Delightful little guy. There is one issue that has come up recently that really has me dumbfounded. We avoid having him in our bedroom, which opens up to a patio space overlooking our backyard. He, of course, loves the porch and wants to go out there whenever possible. Lately, if his efforts to go on the patio are thwarted (by us closing the door so he can't go out or coming back inside with him), he will respond by immediately peeing on the floor, either in front of us or behind our backs. Now this is absolutely not a housetraining issue. He has been housetrained since the age of three months and honestly never goes to the bathroom inside. I applaud him for trying to display his disagreement with me, but I have no idea how to help him out of this stage.

Can someone please weigh in with their advice? I'm looking forward to hearing what you guys have to say.

Thanks, Monique

 

[mandymmr]

sounds like he is trying to tell you he needs to go out! unless I read that wrong

 

[Elana55]

Since you have seen a pattern, take him out, make sure he pees and then come in and close the door. See if he does it again at that point.

Clean the pee'd on area with an Enzyme cleaner such as Nature's Miracle b4 doing any of this (so it is not attractive to him to pee there again).

One other thing.. a dog that pees in the house regularly is not housebroken, REGARDLESS of the reason for the pee'ing (marking etc.).

Along those lines, when you take him out, b4 closing the door, and he pee's outside, have a doggy party. Tell him what a great dog he is and give him a food reward. Be WITH HIM outside when yuy take him out. This reinforces him wanting to pee outside.

If the problem persists, take him out, make sure he pees outside, have the doggy party as a reward, bring him in, crate him and THEN shut the door. One half hour later, take him BACK out and then have another puppy party when he pee's again.

 

[shermansmom1]

I think that's the right idea - it's only happened twice so far, so I guess it's not time for panic mode, but I wanted to make sure I could put a stop to it before it became a real problem. I'm taking some time right now to do as you suggested, by practicing going on and off the porch with lots of praise and happy time. He seems to be responding well, so hopefully these instances of him going in the house will be well behind us soon

 

[hulkamaniac]

As others have said, it is a housebreaking issue. Dogs don't see peeing on the floor as a bad thing and they don't do it as an act of defiance.