Why is the dog peeing in my roommate's room?
September 23, 2007 5:55 PM   Subscribe

My 4 year old dog, who hasn't had a peeing-in-the-house problem for at least 3 years, has been peeing my roommate's room. We all moved into this apartment about a month and half ago. We have hardwood floors, which were cleaned with enzyme cleaner after each incident. He's picked different spots to wizz on, but always in her room. We plan to keep her door closed, which will help. But, any ideas to prevent this habit from spreading? Or why it might be happening?
posted by lalalana to Pets & Animals (5 answers total)
 
Is this a new roommate? Is this person comfortable with dogs? Has your dog been checked for UTI?
posted by winna at 6:11 PM on September 23, 2007


If a previous dog has peed in that room, your dog (especially since he's male) would pee over them. Dogs' noses can pick up really faint pee smells that you would never even notice. Keep it up with the enzyme-based cleaner and I bet eventually you'll get all the spots and the problem will solve itself.
posted by jtfowl0 at 6:34 PM on September 23, 2007


You might wanna try using Wee Wee Pads. My sister got a puppy a few months ago and was able to easily train him to exclusively relieve himself (when indoors) on them.
posted by Poolio at 6:45 PM on September 23, 2007


One possible explanation: when forced to go in the house (by illness, urgency, etc) an otherwise housetrained dog will often try to relieve themselves in the area furthest from the living areas. Is your roommate's room infrequently used, or furthest from the action in the common areas?

A dog's choice of where to relieve themselves is decided by a number of things. Surface preference is one -- did the dog ever pee on hardwood floors as a puppy? Territory marking is another. It's not uncommon for my otherwise perfectly housetrained dogs to pee/drop a dookie as soon as they enter a new location. Also, consider pecking order. Is the roomie new? Does the dog really know that the roomie outranks them in the social hierarchy?

Any one of these factors, or a combination of them could be to blame. Whatever the case, make sure your dog gets a regular checkup by a vet soon to rule out illness.
posted by edverb at 7:06 PM on September 23, 2007


1-Check for a UTI
2- Spend time with him in the room after he has relieved himself outside. Play with him there.
3- Feed him his dinner off the floor if it's kibble. There is a strong compulsion to not pee where he eats.
4- Praise and/or treat when he pees outside appropriately.

Don't let him go into the room without a guardian for a while. Use a gate or close the door.

Pee pads are generally scented to encourage dogs to pee on them. Using them when not necessary can confuse the "never pee inside" rule.
posted by hindmost at 7:16 PM on September 23, 2007


« Older Thoughts on Toronto's Liberty Village?   |   Flying to Jacksonville, Florida in March 2008 from... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.