Does your adult dog pee in your home? Well, one should expect a mature dog to have learned to behave and to signal they need to go out in order to do their thing. If the dog is soiling the floor (or any other part of the house) but he didn’t use to before, this might be a sign that something’s wrong. What should we do in these cases?
Why does your dog pee at home?
There are many reasons for an adult dog to start peeing at home, sometimes out of the blue. Let’s have a look.
1) POOR EDUCATION
No need for drama, but your dog may simply not have learned what you’ve taught him. When you shout at your dog when you catch him in the act, he may think you don’t want him to pee in your presence, instead of understanding that he needs to go out to pee. This means he’ll no longer pee during your walks: he’ll wait until there’s nobody watching him.
2) DISEASE
Before you think of a behaviour problem, it’s necessary to rule out pathologies such as cystitis, kidney failure, diabetes, genital infections, intestinal parasites, food allergies and others. If you’re not sure, talk to the vet, who can give you a more accurate diagnosis.
3) SEPARATION ANXIETY
Does your adult dog pee at home whenever you’re not with her? The cause is probably loneliness and separation anxiety. To find out whether this is the reason, try testing it: if every time you leave your dog alone, even for a very short time, she leaves funny little “gifts” on the floor, then your dog suffers from “abandonment syndrome”. Don’t punish her. Try to educate her a little at a time.
4) EXCESSIVE HAPPINESS
Some dogs pee on the floor when they’re very happy – this is just the way they express themselves, although it’s obviously not appreciated by everyone! If this is the case, you’ll notice that your dog pees at home when he’s super excited, is cheerful and agitated. The only thing you can do is to try to teach him to calm down.
5) FEAR
Dogs can be afraid of people, of other dogs, of certain objects or noises, and they may go through entire lives with these fears, although they normally appear after some sort of trauma or unpleasant experience. A dog with a turbulent past, who has been a victim of violence, may be afraid of brooms because they were beaten with it in the past, and they may react by peeing. Fear is a very complicated behaviour to deal with, but the crucial thing is to never treat your dog badly.
If your dog pees in your home, don’t get angry at him: try to find out the cause and find a solution accordingly. For instance, you may leave a box such as Ferplast’s Dog Inn in the living room: it’s a safe place for your dog as well as a tool to re-teach him to understand where he’s allowed to do his things and therefore get him used to doing it only when he’s taken outside. How does it work? Install the separator and create a space suitable for your dog’s size, an area where he can sleep and relax, which he would never soil with pee. Leave him inside for a bit and let him out only when he begins to sniff the floor, i.e. when he needs to pee. With this strategy and with plenty of patience and love, you’ll once again teach your dog not to pee at home.
