Dogs driving me mad! Advice

Yes its a risk they may 'fake it' but in order to build desire to involve the human, and break the habit of toileting on other surfaces, it is necessary.

If you can use something else to reinforce toileting outside, you can - but it needs to be sufficiently high value to build that 'alert the human, wait until they come' element.

The reward point is 'as they finish up' and if they do start to either fake it entirely (seen some crafty pug puppies do this!) or just do a few drops, you can reduce the reward quantity or value - come in, count to 10 and go back out again - usually I find that the combination of reinforcement for going plus super vigilant management means this is a phase that passes quickly, if it happens at all.

If a dog is using toilet trips to the garden to attention seek, then that suggests there is another issue - not enough interaction/attention/games/training, or what is being done is the wrong sort of attention.

This is all excellent advice (apart from rewarding peeing/pooing outside with food, if you have a greedy dog, the dog might not keep doing their business until they're really done, they break off after a few drops because they want the reward so badly, and then they finish inside).

If the trigger is you going upstairs I'd try and tackle that so sprinkle grated cheese around and pop out just for a moment whist distracted then gradually increase the time. Try to make you going upstairs link to a positive experience. Worth a go if you've not tried it.

It sounds like he doesn’t know how to ask to go out when he needs to. So either you need to take him out for a wee before you go upstairs or leave him so he doesn’t need to go. Or train him to ask with bells, barking or finding you.

Toilet trained means doesn’t go in the house. But it sounds like he doesn’t want to go inside, but is being left with no choice because he needs to go and can’t get out.

as others have said vet trip for the frequency issue

He isn't naughty. He's doing exactly what you've taught him to do when you aren't there. Pee inside, on a mat.

He's a dog, they won't differentiate between puppy pad and rug. You have to take them out at night until they can hold it. You can't let them pee inside sometimes but not other times, that's confusing for them.

A dog flap might help? But otherwise, back to basics and a crate when you pop upstairs.

If he isn't sleeping well he will need the toilet at night.

Toilet training is a matter of building solid conditioning to go on a specific surface, to wait until given access, to ask to be given access...

To achieve that you have to build motivation/desire to ask you and have you involved in the process.

In practice that means you taking him out and rewarding him for pee/poo in the appropriate place (on a surface significantly different from anything found indoors), within a second or two of that pee/poo happening - so not after he has trotted back to you at the door (that would be reinforcing him for coming back to you/the door, not for toileting where you wanted).

It's highly likely he is conditioned to toilet on soft absorbent stuff - pee pads, carpets, rugs, clothing left on floors etc, all feel much the same to him.

Relieving himself IS reinforcing in its own right, so without you adding extra reinforcement for going on the right surface AND managing him so he has no opportunity to make a mistake, he isn't going to learn what you want him to learn.

Keep him in the same room as you at all times - yes, that means at night too, t his is likely to mean he sleeps far better and is less likely to need the toilet at night.

Stop providing pads indoors, they're confusing. Similarly having the door open so there is no need to ask you, there is then no involvement, no reward from you... blurs the lines between in and out.

Take him out super frequently initially to work out when he is likely to need to go.

Reward with food and praise every single time he toilets in the right place.

Don't let up on this fairly intensive supervision and management for two or three weeks - you have a strong habit of toileting on indoors surfaces to break.

To transition out of your room at night - when you would trust him to have free access back from where he sleeps to your room, gradually start to move his bed further away from your room - if he comes back to sleep on your floor rather than his own comfy bed, you know you've taken this step too fast/moved too far, just take it back a step or two and try again in a few days/weeks.

The end goal should be that he will come and ask you to take him out, sleeps well at night so does not need to go out at night, and doesn't toilet indoors.

I would get him checked for a UTI, but i suspect the issue is he is not sleeping well and just hasn't actually been toilet trained.

I'm not going to train it. Not my dog.

Exactly what @MuffinsAreJustCakesAtBreakfast said. Your dog is not toilet trained and (assuming vet visit does not bring up medical issues) you need to go back to basics with house training. The Dog, Training, Advice and Support Facebook group has some excellent guides which can help you with this. This is definitely a solvable issue but will require some intense input from you for a few weeks.

If he's a rescue then he's probably neutered? There may be some issues because of that, he might have been neutered too early and has anxiety (which is why he's barking when you're not there, he's scared and trying to "summon" you) or there are some medical issues. The steroids probably make everything worse. He's not being "naughty" OP. There are many reasons a dog might be offering unwanted behaviours, but naughtiness is not one of them.

I'd have him thoroughly checked by a vet, to make sure that there are no medical reasons for his behaviour. Make sure to do a blood panel. And if it's not medical, then try and contact an experienced behaviourist. In the meantime, get rid of the puppy pads and start housetraining him, like you would with a puppy. Lots of praise, gentle voice, and don't leave him alone at night.

I think you need to change your perception OP. Assuming the vet gives him the all clear, Your dog is not toilet trained. Toilet trained dogs do not regularly pee in the house. You need to take your next steps with your new perception of "my dog isn't toilet trained and I need to (re)train him"

I would not let him be downstairs when you are upstairs. He has to stay with you. You break the cycle of him doing wees indoors and go back to puppy basics.

get rid of the pee pads. Help him out make it simple - no pees indoors ever. At the moment you're expecting him to know "this surface is ok but this one is not". Keep it simple and help him. No pees indoors on any surfaces.

You need to train him as if he is a little puppy who doesn't understand.

i wouldn't. I think you missed the point of my post.

My response was to Ablondiebutagoody who thinks it's fair and reasonable to just "rehome it" as though it's an inconvenient object rather than a beloved pet and seems to think there are millions of people queuing up for dogs that aren't toilet trained.

Ignoring your callous disregard for an animal, who the fuck do you think is going to want to rehome a dog that isn't toilet trained?

What you really mean is euthanized because you couldn't be bothered to train.

He needs to go to the vets again as that doesn't sound normal. Is he a full male and scent marking or actually doing a full wee? I would also remove all rugs and mats if he only does it on them, sometimes I think it can actually encourage them to wee inside, especially once they have got their scent on it.

The OP didn’t mention a rescue, most likely purchased from a Romanian puppy farm.

He's not toilet trained and he's not naughty either. He's not doing to deliberately to piss you off

1. get to the vets with a urine sample for a check up. What is he on the steroids for is there another option?
2. ditch the puppy pads - it's confusing that he can wee in the house there but not on the rug (they're both soft 🤷)
3. keep him with you at night. Get up and take him out for a wee.
4. go back to basics with toilet training as if he's a puppy

If he is peeing indoors he is not properly house trained , it’s nothing to do with him being naughty dogs brains do not work like that . Go back to basics and house trained him properly or rehome him to somebody who will , presumably the rescue you got him from will take him back . Poor dog .

What do you do when it does it?

Steroids have always made my dogs pee more frequently, when one of them was on them he’d pee in the night several times. Was awful but he couldn’t help it, just a side effect.

Definitely get him to the vets to be checked out. Hopefully he’s not on the steroids for much longer

Toilet trained ddog don't piss in the house...

Try simple solution from pets at home. It breaks down the enzymes and therefore smells which attract them back to the same spot for a repeat performance.

I'm a pet sitter and have been for may years and I've had just about a 100% success rate from it.

Also as others have said, vet visit and toilet train again, including setting your alarm and letting him out overnight.
There's zero need to cage dogs, this is a modern fad perpetuated by cage manufacturers and trainers but it's a load of nonsense as is the "they need their own or safe space" pure twaddle.

Good luck

As a pp has said, perhaps crate training is needed. A friend with frenchies has one who used to do this but with poo. She ended up stopping after make her crate just small enough for a water bowl and a bed. It's crap having them in the cage so much but the short term of it did help teach it to stop pooing all over the house and therefore was allowed out during the days more and more.