Wits end - peeing in the house!

[DogPeeHelp]

I’m at my wits end with my two male Boston Terriers. It’s the final straw today because the door to outside has been open all day but because it is raining a little bit outside, they have weed on the door mat instead of going outside. Then Ive just picked up the waste paper basket in my office to go through the shredding and a lot of the letters at the bottom had obviously been weed on and then they’d dried out. I feel sick at the thought, it’s so disgusting and I just didn’t know about it as my shredding piles up fairly slowly.

I love them to absolute bits but they just pee where and when they want.

They’re toilet trained and I feel like they can hold it, they just won’t. They know what to do. I hardly ever leave them on their own, a few hours max if that. I’m self employed and work from home, always have. The door is open all day every day while I’m in. I don’t know when they do it because they’re asleep in their bed next to me for the whole day. I physically go downstairs and make them go out three times during my working day. They get plenty of walks, are loved and cared for. I've tried going back to basics and letting them out ALL the time and heavy reward and praise when they go, like you would a tiny puppy.

Our downstairs floor is all tile because of it. I can’t have anything nice at all. I don’t know why they keep doing it? I thoroughly clean up after each incident but I’m getting really paranoid that my house smells like dog pee, that it will get in all the nooks and crannies I can’t get it out of. I bought a new armchair and they weed on the corner of it about six times now I feel like I’m going to have to get rid of it, I’ve had to put carpet protector on it so to try and stop it going IN the chair. The chair is also close to their door. I’ve had to throw away so many dog toys and dog beds.

It’s not all the time and I can’t identify a pattern but I don’t know what I can do going forward to get them to stop.

I’ve had other dog breeds and not had this problem, and I’ve had other Boston Terriers and they’ve been the same. I would not recommend them as a breed at all.

Has anyone had a similar problem or knows what I could try to get them properly toilet trained please? I feel like I've tried everything

Are they castrated?

@Chunkymenrock one is castrated, the other isn't. The one who is, he's the worst one. He's two and the other one is five.

Could having the door open all the time be causing confusion as it's not obvious enough that inside is different to outside?.

We are toilet training a puppy at the moment and it's been slower than expected because we got her in the really hot weather where the doors were open all the time. Now the weather has turned and doors are more often closed she seems to realise inside and outside are different.

Do you have any way for them to ask to go out? Bells on the door etc? My two will now ring the bells on the handle to get outside.

You might need to start from scratch and have them on a long lead and take them out every 30 mins, and after a sleep or food.

Will be full on but worth it.

MissShapes
I hope you don't mind me asking, but how do you train your dogs to ring the bell?

@millypeggyandpandora
They kind of just worked it out. They are both poodles so clever. We ring the bells when we let the puppy out. The bells hang down from the handle to almost the floor. So basically if the puppy is sniffing round the door, or when we open it, the bells ring. They associate the bells with the door opening. Then they work out how to ring them on purpose.

My 3 year old poodle still rings them very deliberately - especially when there is a pigeon in the garden!

What are you using to clean? Is it proper cleaner designed for animal mess?

Have they ever remained truly clean or have they had issues all this time?

Big slice of and big glass of .

You are right you do need to go right back to the beginning. Shut as many doors as you can so that you can train each room in turn.

Do shut the external door - this helps the dogs to have a clearer boundary to inside and outside.

Get some enyzmatic cleaner to clean indoor areas.

I would be taking them outside when they wake and every change of behaviour eg playing stops take them out, you come into the room take them out, you feed them take them out etc.

As they are weeing give a verbal command - reward when they have stepped away.

This too will pass

Bells can be hung on the door that your dog uses to go outside, so they jangle when the door opens. If the dog goes to the door the idea is that they will jangle the bells. (personally I hate them for many reasons but some people love using them)

@MissShapesMissStakes

Could having the door open all the time be causing confusion as it's not obvious enough that inside is different to outside?.

We are toilet training a puppy at the moment and it's been slower than expected because we got her in the really hot weather where the doors were open all the time. Now the weather has turned and doors are more often closed she seems to realise inside and outside are different.

Do you have any way for them to ask to go out? Bells on the door etc? My two will now ring the bells on the handle to get outside.

You might need to start from scratch and have them on a long lead and take them out every 30 mins, and after a sleep or food.

Will be full on but worth it.

Agree with this.

Ours has never had a problem with peeing in the house. He had to have a cone on recently after surgery and so he couldn't sleep in his crate for a few nights and we've been leaving the door open all night as it's warmer (and it's totally secure to do so). So he's been able to wander around & in and out all night.

As it got a bit colder this week, we shut the door overnight and he peed inside during the night. He's never done it before. I think he was confused with the door being open 24/7 for a week or so and stopped learning to hold it / see the distinction between inside and outside.

Try keeping the door shut for a bit & just taking them out when they need to pee. Hopefully that'll get them used to holding their pee & remembering where they should go!

As you know, if they're toileting inside, they're not properly toilet trained.

Having the door open won't be helping as it means they can't differentiate between inside and outside. You need a door (or gate if you want the fresh air) to act as a barrier for them so they understand the difference.

You need to go back to basics. So outside after food, drink, naps, walks and play. Go out with them and then tons of praise and treats whenever they go outside. Ignore accidents and clean them up with a proper pet enzyme cleaner (Simple Solution is really good for this - you need to absolutely soak the area).

Doggy doorbells are really good for training too - every time you take them out, ring the bells and they'll associate the noise with being taken out to the toilet.