You had left your dog out of your supervision for a while and before you knew it, patches of urine stains were found on your carpet and your whole house smelled like dog urine.
This is going to be an ongoing issue that you are going to face if your dog is not yet house-trained.
And you would likely see that your dog will keep going back to the same spot for his potty as his urine scent left in the carpet will lure him back again.
To stop your dog from peeing on the carpet, you would have to start him on potty training and ensure that any potty accidents are thoroughly cleaned up (urine scent removed). Ensure that you have planned a routine feeding and potty schedule for your dog so that he has the opportunity to clear his bladder.
Accidents Areas To Be Thoroughly Cleaned Up
You can opt for some commercial enzymatic cleaners that can get rid of the scent and stop attracting your dog back to the spot.
Alternative, you can also adopt some of my home remedies which work great as well in removing any urine smell that your dog had left on the carpet.
This is how I do it: (make use of some natural odor that dogs dislike)
1. Use of lemon juice. Take an empty spray bottle and half fill it with water. Squeeze some lemon juices into the bottle till you have a strong potent lemon odor solution.
Spray that mixture on the carpet where your dog last did his potty and the odor should keep him away.
2. You can also make use of apple cider vinegar or white vinegar if these are readily available in your kitchen.
The acetic acid present in the vinegar irritates your dog’s smell sensation and acts as a deterrent to keep him away.
The way to make the mixture will be similar to the lemon solution. Go for a one-to-one ratio of vinegar with water and put the solution in a spray bottle for use on the accident carpet area.
Of course, if you don’t like the smell of vinegar lingering in your home, go for a more natural refreshing lemon solution.
3. Spraying a mixture solution of isopropyl alcohol with water could also be another alternative.
4. To get rid of the stains that are discolored on the carpet, you can prepare a paste (which is the mixture of odor fighting baking soda and water) and use a small brush to clean the spot using the paste.
This remedy works amazingly well in lifting the stains on the carpet and removing the urine scent.
Set Up Your Dog’s Potty Expectation
If you are not managing your dog’s potty breaks, you can’t really blame him for peeing and pooping everywhere in your home.
Regular feeding and potty schedule should be the WAY to go.
It’s important that you manage your dog’s potty expectation by planning how much water he should take daily and how often you should bring him out for his potty.
This will reduce his likelihood of doing his potty indoors.
Depending on the age and size of your dog, typically an adult dog could possibly hold his bladder for up to 8 -10 hours. But that doesn’t mean that he would want to hold for that long.
For every one month of age, a dog can hold his pee and poo for an hour.
So if your dog is 6 months old, he would be able to hold his urine or feces for up to 6 hours (if he wants to).
This estimation will only hold true for young adult dogs and might differ (shorter period) for sick or old dogs as they might be suffering from some health related issue such as urinary tract infection or any sort of bladder stones complication.
You should plan for at least 3 to 5 times of potty breaks for him to avoid any accidents.
Keep in mind that you want to set up your dog for success so make sure that you have adequate potty breaks for your dog and not to “push” him to his bladder limit.
You should plan for his potty needs whenever he wakes up from a nap, finishes his meals, during and after his play and lastly before he goes for his night sleep.
Your dog will probably send you some signals that he needs to go potty before he actually does it on your carpet.
So keep a watch out for these signals (such as scratching at the door, sniffing around, turning in a circle or squatting) and bring him out for his potty immediately.
Make it a big deal when you bring him out for his pee and poo by giving him all your love, attention and praise. Of course, rewarding him with treats will be the best choice as all dogs like food.
The goal is to make him associate that going outside for his elimination is the right behavior that’s going to make you happy. And as you know, dogs like to please his master, so you are in fact reinforcing your dog to keep repeating this behavior.
Over time, he would learn that he should only do his potty outdoors and not on your carpet.
Get Your Dog Potty Trained
Your dog is certainly not house-trained when you first adopt him. To prevent accidents from happening in your house, you should start him on potty training as soon as possible.
The best way will be to place him on crate training. You see, dogs don’t like to pee and poo at the place where they are sleeping or eating. So he would avoid doing his potty in his crate.
By having him in the crate while you teach him to do his potty outdoors, he will learn to hold his bladder till you bring him out for elimination.
This will also prevent him from making any potty accidents on your carpet since he would be in his crate when you are not available to supervise him.
When he is fully house-trained, you can then let him roam freely in your house as he will know that he should to do his potty outside and NOT on your carpet.
Correct His Territorial Marking Behavior
Your dog could be purposely peeing on the couch or carpet to mark his territory. This could be the case when he finds unfamiliar scent, sight or sounds in the home, and he feels the need to claim his territory.
This often happens when you change a new carpet (where he finds unfamiliar scent), or you have added some new furniture to your house or you have adopted another puppy, and he wants to let her know who is the BOSS (to exhibit his dominance).
The other possible cause for his territorial marking behavior is his natural instinct to attract his female partner. What you can do is to neuter your dog to reduce the likelihood of this possibility.
(Avoid) Stress or Excited Induced Peeing
If your dog keeps peeing in the room which is laid with carpet, are there any things over there that makes him feel stressful or getting excited.
Emotional conditions can at times cause your dog to pee. So if you find that he tends to pee when he sees visitors coming to your house, he could be feeling excitement which triggers his peeing.
What you can do is to have him in his crate and only let him out when your visitors have entered the house and advise your guests not to give him any attention if your dog is showing his excitement.
Or it could be the case that he is over stressed and forgets that he needs to go for potty when you bring him outside. So when he is back home, his bladder reaches the maximum capacity, and he just pees on your carpet involuntarily. So make sure that your dog does his potty when you bring him out for that purpose.
The other potential trigger could be due to separation anxiety. He could be feeling a sense of anxiety when he finds himself alone in the house and that leads to a loss of control in his bladder.
Often, your dog will exhibit signs such as persistent barking or growling (if he is suffering from separation anxiety) when left alone and will cease when he sees you coming to him.
Never Yell Or Shout At Him For Accident
Is it inevitable that you would see accidents happening in your home till your dog is fully house-trained. And when accident happens, you dog is likely going to act strange and hide himself.
Keep calm and cool and avoid shouting or yelling at your dog when you find urine markings over the carpet.
Yelling at him will not improve the situation and will in fact traumatize him as he will certainly not know why you are reacting in this way.
He could be thinking that you are not allowing him to do his potty and that might lead him to secretly do his elimination at some hidden spots that you can never think of.
What you should do is:
1. If you find your dog about to pee on the carpet, say “No” in a calm and firm tone to attract his attention, pick him up and bring him outside for his potty immediately.
2. As he is doing his potty outside, praise him and give him some treats. This will help him to associate doing his potty outside with a positive rewarding experience.
3. In case he had already pees on the carpet, just clean up the mess immediately using the cleaning remedies listed above to deter him from doing his next potty again on the same spot.
In this post, you’ve learned some tips on how to stop your dog from peeing on the carpet. Have you ever wondered if your dog might be peeing in the house out of spite or something else?