Dog has started pissing in the house at night. Any suggestions?

[Pagwatch]

We were away for three weeks. He was here with ds1.
He was probably anxious and ds1 probably was not as scrupulous as us about letting him out at night before bed. But he is now doing it as habit.
How do I stop him wanting to use his favoured spot and how do I break the habit when we are now back to pre-holiday routine but the peeing in the night persists?

Any ideas/suggestions

[Cheria]

Mine did that when I got pregnant- would wander into the batheroom at night and pee on the bath mat. Even when he'd just been before bedtime. We got round it by putting a baby gate on the bathroom door. My vet suggested crating. I found getting a babygate cheaper :)

Is there any way you can block access to the place until he is out of the habit?

[clam]

Where is he doing it? Do you confine him at night to, say, the kitchen? Not that it makes much difference to the fact that he was OK and now he isn't and you don't want a mature dog peeing indoors at all. Just wondering if confining him to a place where it's relatively easy to clean up will help until someone more knowledgeable comes along.

[Pagwatch]

He is allowed to move around the house, top floor, ground floor or basement but not in the bedrooms iyswim.
He likes to check on us including ds1 who has his rooms on the basement.

He is doing it mostly at one spot at the top of the stairs but also peed in the tv room on the ground floor a couple of times which makes me think he would just change location now I think about it.

It is just frustrating. Part of me thinks he will stop when he feels less anxious. Part of me thinks he is establishing a new pissing dog routine.

Bugger.

[cece]

Get a kennel and get him to sleep outdoors?

[clam]

Well, I'm new to this dog-owning malarkey but I do seem to have had a disproportionate amount of experience with peeing indoors, what with having a 5 month old puppy who seems a bit slow in "getting" where he should/shoudn'tl go. But I have read that they will revisit a favoured spot unless you can totally eradicate the smell. "They" suggest biological products to help.

[coccyx]

No please don't get a kennel and put him outside, thats cruel

[cece]

Actualy for me it is normal to put them in a kennel, I find it weird that people leave their dogs in their houses overnight. My dog used to love her kennel and definitely not cruel imo. She used to wag her tail as she went in and if she was tired would wait by the door to be put to bed.

[silentcatastrophe]

You need to make sure any smell of wee has gone forever!! Some people use biological soap powder to kill the enzymes, although it's a bugger to rinse. Pets at Home do a thing called Simple Solution which you can get in huge bottles. It seems to do the job. Dogs tend to pee in the same place because the smell reminds them that it is ok to do it there.

[Waswildatheart]

Our border went through a stage of weeing at night when we have stayed at friends overnight - so embarrassing! She is shut in the kitchen at home and manages fine. We now crate her when away and she it stopped.

As a teen we adopted a red setter at 8 months, supposedly house trained.... Wasn't and peed and pooped every night. Horrid. Crated him and he was immediately clean and we were soon able to get rid of crate.

So my theory is that they don't mess in their own confined space and through this you can break bad habits - perhaps worth a try?

[coccyx]

I don't put other family members in a cold kennel so would never put my dog in one.

[MotherJack]

Pag, having had an awful lot of experience with my rescue dog weeing in the house since getting her nearly a year ago, my feeling is that, as you suggest, your dog may be anxious. Mine certainly was... very anxious (although I also suspect she hadn't been toilet trained, either).

I would suggest you clean up without a word, using biological wash powder and reinforce the "good" behaviour of the dog going outside for a wee with instant praise the second he does it. I would guess he's get over it when he feels more secure (like my dog did. Well, mostly ) but if you can provide the reinforcement of praise for outside wees all the better.

Good luck.

[Pagwatch]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

I have been cleaning without comment/reaction but will look at the special product to completely eradicate the smell.
I will also remember to praise when he pees outside.

He does still seem a bit stressed and I am hoping that as he relaxes again he will return to better habits. He is getting lots of love and attention.

We may be getting a puppy soon though so that may complicate things. We are considering it for a number of reasons including company for him when we are on family holidays.

He is such a bloody softie