When Your Dog Comes Inside and Potties on the Carpet

My dog is normally pretty good about pottying, but sometimes he doesnt potty outside and as soon as we come inside, he will potty.  This is just weird.  What can I do to fix this and keep my carpet from being an over-glorified wee-wee pad?

This is a frequent question posed by many of our clients.  Their dog normally doesnt potty in the house, there are just some timing issues that need to be addressed.  If this is truly the case, we have some simple suggestions to help you out:

• When you take your dog outside to potty, actively engage him in high energy play.  Throw the ball for him.  Hide a few toys around the yard and encourage him to actively find them.  Play fetch.  Whatever you do, make sure it is high energy so that you are speeding up your dog’s metabolism.  This encourages “potty”.
• Stop your active play and simply stand back.  Let your dog calm down and begin to focus on the smells of the yard.  This encourages the potty process.  You will normally see him still romp around for a bit and then begin to intensely sniff an area.  This is a sign that he is ready to potty.
• Once he performs his #1 and #2, do not bring him in right away.  Let him “hang out” for a few more minutes.  Sometimes dogs need to potty more than once.  If we bring him in too soon, we have moved the bathroom inside.
• If your dog didn’t potty after fifteen or twenty minutes, take him inside but keep him on a leash and next to you.  Wait five minutes and take him out again.  If coming inside somehow stimulates his need to potty, as stated in our original issue, we have started the process.  The difference is that we will only be inside for a few minutes and we will constantly be with our dog.  Note:  Dogs normally don’t want to go to the bathroom right next to you.

Having your dog outside for potty and then bringing them in only to mess on your carpet is annoying and smelly.  We hope that these suggestions will help you eliminate that problem.  As always, please contact us if you have any questions at The Best Dog Trainers in South Florida.

Related Posts by Categories