Hello...

I need some urgent advice. I have a 2 1/2 year old beautiful Sheltie male who has a problem going to the bathroom in the house. We moved to a new larger house 6 months ago when the problem started. Let me explain our situation. I leave for work at 5 am and come home around 3:30 pm daily. I used to leave him loose in the house when I left for work until the daily poop and pee on the new carpet got to be too much and I started to put him in his crate again. We have a fenced backyard and I leave him out numerous times after I get home. He has all the love and attention me and my husband can give him. He is like our child. I am just getting sick of him deficating in our house!! He goes pee and poop in our living room a couple of times a week. This morning in fact!! My husband stepped in it and called me on my cell to rant. I don't know why he is doing this?? He didn't do it at our other house which was half the size of our new one. I really do not want to get rid of him, but I am really getting sick of his ruining our carpet!! I love him dearly and any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have thought of closing him in the bedroom with me at night, but since I crate him all day I would like him to be able to run around the house at night plus he is a good guard dog.

Thanks again for your help!!
Noelle

Hi Noelle

I'm wondering if the previous owner's dog had used the same spot for a toilet. It could possibly be though, after his first mistake he smells it there and keeps going back. You'll have to get a really good urine erase/cleaner, non ammonia and try to get all traces of his mistakes out of the carpet.

As far as crating/locking him in your bedroom, tethering him to your bedpost, I certainly would until I could trust him completely. I'd rehouse train him right from the start again, and make sure when he is outside that he actually goes.

All the best.

Janet <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I had a similar problem with my dogs when I moved into a new house. I finally lifted the carpet I kept cleaning, which was dry on top but found soaking wet patches underneath that stank and also had gone into the floorboards. I washed the bare floor over with 1/3part bleach, let it dry completely, and then laid wood stick on squares instead of another carpet (less expensive and easier to dry if the problem continued) However, the dogs stopped messing like magic. The people before had an infant who I'm told they used to leave without diapers on so I think that's what my dogs were smelling in the carpet.

Thank you for all the responses!! Let me explain further.. The previous owners of the house were an old couple who had older children and no animals. The house we live in has concrete slab under the carpet and we replaced all the carpet in the house in Aug. with new carpet and pad. He is only peeing in one room and I found this GREAT stuff to take pee out of the carpet at planeturine.com. I have used it and the odor remover as well. He only pees in little areas and not often. I am going to start taking up his water at 7 pm (we go to bed at 9 pm). I have also started using a "pee-wrap" which is an ace bandage wrapped around his mid-section which prevents him from peeing on the carpet. I just don't think he has learned. I know he goes outside as I clean up the evidence every couple of weeks. I just don't know why he still doesn't learn. I got him at 4 months from a breeder who kept him in a outside area. He didn't have this problem in our old house where we also had new carpet. I don't know if he is confused or what, but my husband is not going to put up with this much longer. Thanks again...

I would take him back through Basic Housebreak Training. Treat him like a puppy with no bladder control. If you can't watch him every second, then have him created or tethered.

Take him outside frequently to the spot you want him to use. Make going to pee an event, and praise lavishly when he goes.

If you can do it, physically blocking off his preferred carpet spot temporarily (baby gates, a big cardboard box, a circle of chairs) may help. Won't win you a home beautiful award, but it's only for a few weeks.

The initial problem may have been confusion or stress from the move, but after six months, he's developed new a new habit. You are containing the behavior at this point, but to really control it I would train.

Good Luck