To give up housebreaking dog - flooring advice needed

[Whatsnewwithyou]

So our dog knows she's not meant to wee in the house and for the most part she's good about it. However about once a month or so she has an accident, always on a carpet or rug. This is mostly because she has been too scared to do her business outside, such as when there were workmen doing up the roof next door or when there are fireworks. She's a very nervous dog!

We have got rid of all our rugs and this just leaves the lounge carpet which she targets. It's now disgusting and needs to be replaced. AIBU to ask you what to replace it with? Prefer not laminate as we have original pine in the hall and I don't think they would look good next to each other (the pine is stained where she weed on the rug that used to sit on top of it :-( ). We also prefer not to spend too much money as we'll be moving in a couple of years.

Ideally there would be some magic type of carpet that wee stains come off of easily without staining. But i don't suppose this exists. Any other options?

Thank you!

Not usually a fan but vinyl tiles that look like wood are your best bet I think! They do look realistic and they are washable

Get the carpet washed?

Try bleachable carpet. I literally just spray my carpet with flash! It's made from polypropylene and you can now get lots of styles.

We've had the carpet professionally cleaned but it still looks awful. It's wool and I think therefore particularly susceptible to stains.

Does the bleachable carpet mean that you can remove urine stains completely? If so it sounds perfect. I'm afraid though that as urine contains ammonia it will stain the carpet regardless of bleaching.

Our new dog me kept weeing on the lounge carpet (which is a bleachable one). It hasn't stained but it still smells as it's gone through to the underlay. We've hired carpet cleaners but the next step is a steam clean. Dogs now have to sleep in the kitchen.

whatever carpet you buy, use an enzyme cleaner from a pet shop. Otherwise the rug/carpet will still smell (to your dog) and they’ll keep using the area to toilet.

Using bleach wouldn't work as it actually encourages them to soil the area again. It definitely needs to be an enzyme cleaner.

I would just get cheap ish vinyl. You can keep it super clean and many of the newer designs from carpetright etc look really nice.

How often do you take her out? Have you seen a trainer? I would be looking into those options before giving up - it is quite stressful for dogs to pee inside as they don't like peeing in their houses so I wouldn't just resign myself to it until I'd exhausted every option.

I have no advice about carpets, but what about leaving leaving a clean puppy pad out anytime there is a chance she might have an accident?

She goes out a lot, at least every 4 hours and usually more frequently than that. Last time she weed she was out and someone set off fireworks, she didn't go outside but 10 minutes after she came back in as soon as I was out of the room she weed on the carpet. We did try a trainer and have been using the technique she taught us which is to reward the dog when she does her business outside. It has mostly worked unless she's just too scared. We've tried puppy pads but she just wees next to them.

Does vinyl look good in a lounge? I've always thought of it as more suitable for kitchens and bathrooms.

What about carpet tiles? You could lift any the dog peed on to clean properly and if you bought a few extra you slot in a new one if one was unsalvageable.

I think you need to use a laminate one suitable for bathrooms and kitchens. It's blown with rubber so really washable and won't warp or damage. We have it in our sitting room as the kitchen floor flows into that room.
You can get different shades. Put a wooden strip or a thin width slate tile in the doorway to make a feature of the change in floor.
I find this type of flooring softer and slightly warmer than normal laminate too.

I'd keep working on it then. Build up her confidence when she's outside - I understand what it's like, I have a nervous dog too, though he's always been good about peeing outside, but if something scares him, he'll rip your arm off trying to escape it.

Sometimes it takes a long time.

Rhino flooring. I think it’s now known as Tarkett.
It looks like wood but it’s warm and a bit spongey so you don’t have dogs sliding all over it.
It’s a commercial grade lino.
We have it and people always comment positively on it.

My mum and dad's dog is like that they replaced the carpet and bought a proper carpet cleaner they wash it straight away if the dog wees and that seems to be working.

Sounds to me like it’s not a house training issue, more that it happens due to fear so if she is perfect every other time you are focusing in the wrong place with the training.

Firework desensitisation and general confidence building around unexpected noise would be my go to areas, lots of socialisation, a CD player with scary noises (fireworks, building works and so on) played at low, gradually increasing in volume as she is able to cope with the previous volume and lots of treats during the training so she comes to associate the noises with good things.

I recommend going for carpet tiles like a previous poster - you can stick the tiles in the machine if needed, also do use the enzyme cleaner - it’s available in most pet shops

That is a great idea for the training, thank you!

I went with carpet tiles for my dog- he’s long haired and during a moult you can break yourself trying to not have imprints of him round the house.

Are there any types of tiles where it isn't obvious they're tiles? I would like tiles but don't want to put potential buyers of the house off.

I guess you’d have to look to see what is acceptable to you. Clean tiles would be less off putting to a buyer than a stained smelly carpet though. To be honest most people wouldn’t be put off just because they didn’t like the flooring in one room, there are other higher priorities when buying a house.

I haven’t found any but I have 2 shades of blue and checkboard them.