2 indoor accidents in a couple of days

hi everybody, my Nicki is almost 13 months and for some months now there haven't been accidents in the house, but yesterday around noon and today a while ago, he peed in the house, on the same spot....let's say right a few minutes before he is usually taken out for his things and i noticed that each time he barked for some time at the dogs in the neighbourhood and then peeeeeeeee and when i realized it , it was late
Nothing really has changed in the family habits, i have taken him out at the same times , no new addition in the house and also there aren't females in heat in the neighbourhood, so i do wonder what is going on...
I have been gradually introducing a new kind of dry food, can it be a reason ? and most of all, what should i do with Nicki now, as he already has the run of the house...

Lots of cavalier kisses

The food could have something to do with it, but maybe his schedule is changing a bit. If you remember what time he did it the first time, maybe just plan to let him out a half hour before you normally do to see if you can fix the problem. In his excitement with barking, maybe he lost his head for a minute. If it makes you feel any better, Ollie peed in the house this week too, after months of no accidents.

Our Abigail is 11 months and hasn't had an accident in house for months until 2 days ago I just think that we weren't quick enough in reacting that she went near the door. Usually she will bark but not that time. I scolded her and cleaned up pee with solution to take out smell.

I really think she was surprised at my reaction since I have really never had to scold her before.

Somewhere on this site I read that until a year and a half you can't consider them housebroken and maybe not even by that time.

Good luck!

Heather R

Thank you for all your good advices, yesterday it went better, i had put a gate around the area where he peed the days before and cleaned with an enzymatic solution, still today, after i took him out and he did his things regularly, i praised him with , when we were back he peed on the same spot-i had taken the gate away.. . i had stopped to change gradually his food as i thought it was maybe due to that...

Really i need to understand where i am mistaken

Hi Chiara, I don't think you can really trust Nicki yet with regard to toilet training as he is still quite young. I know my little one was still having the odd accident at that age. I always tried to remember to blame myself rather than her because perhaps I had not been vigilant enough or not picked up on her signals, but I think there were times when she just did it because she wanted to and she thought she could get away with it!
I absolutely didn't give her the run of the house. If she left the kitchen area, she was almost always with some one who could keep an eye on her. I also invested in another stairgate so that she was confined within particular areas until she was completely reliable. She's almost two now, but she is still not allowed to roam around upstairs on her own because she steals things! it has been ages since we had any toilet accidents though.
Just try to make sure that you give them as little opportunity as possible to make a mistake. Please post and let us know how things are going.

Mounie; I really think that your dog and ours are going through a similar change.

Our Abigail hasn't gone in house but her eating habits are changing. I usually feed her morning and late afternoon. Now she sometimes turns her nose up at afternoon meal. 2 nights ago she ate the whole afternoon meal; need both businesses before bedtime; the woke us up at 4:30 AM to do both again.

I'm not giving her much in afternoon for now since we like to sleep until 6AM.

Heather R

Hi

Heather, about Abigail changing eating habits, it may be just a passing phase, here on the forum they had suggested to pick up the bowl with food after 15 minutes, if he doesn't eat it, and put down it again at the next meal time ...

Phoebe, about my Nicki, i am going on with "trials and errors "method, i confined the table where he peed on in another room and cleaned it and the floor with an enzymatic solution, then i replaced it in the same place, yesterday a constant control on him and no accident at all, this morning, after our early walk, with regular business, i didn't put nicki immediately in his crate, just to see what might happen, and let's say after half a hour he peed again, on the table, i saw him and immediately said "no", hope he can learn thru this

thank you again for your concern, i will keep you posted

Wow, he's peeing on a table? I thought he was peeing on the floor. That changes things a bit. I would put the table in the attic or garage for now until you can figure that out.

Or buy a strip of that clear carpet protector with the small spikes on it- and put it upside-down on the table so the spikes stick up. That's how I keep my cat off the sofa (he LOVES to pee on my sofa! ) You can buy it by the foot at most home improvement stores. Here is what I'm talking about:

http://www.amazon.com/Superior-American-5300069-27x6-Protector/dp/B001MJX9D8/ref=pd_sim_k_1

It's very cheap and NO animals like to walk on it when the spikes are turned up! This is also a good way to keep animals off the furniture while you're not home (if that's something you care about).

chloe92us said:

Wow, he's peeing on a table? I thought he was peeing on the floor. That changes things a bit. I would put the table in the attic or garage for now until you can figure that out.

Or buy a strip of that clear carpet protector with the small spikes on it- and put it upside-down on the table so the spikes stick up. That's how I keep my cat off the sofa (he LOVES to pee on my sofa! ) You can buy it by the foot at most home improvement stores. Here is what I'm talking about:

http://www.amazon.com/Superior-American-5300069-27x6-Protector/dp/B001MJX9D8/ref=pd_sim_k_1

It's very cheap and NO animals like to walk on it when the spikes are turned up! This is also a good way to keep animals off the furniture while you're not home (if that's something you care about).

Click to expand...

I love that IDEA! I have been looking for something to keep Anna from going up the stairs, but because we don't have a railing that it can be attached to a gate doesn't work. Also the only thing i have found are those shock pads and I don't want one of those!!!

Carpet protector upside down is a good idea as a management tool -- its not really painful, just no fun to walk on. Must keep that in mind for the cats...

On odd peeing -- the best approach when this comes out of the blue is always to go to the vet to make sure there's no underlying medical problem as this is so often the cause. If that is eliminated then a combination of training and management is the next step -- remove access to the place being sought out; & keep the dog under a very watchful eye and revert to basic housetraining approaches as needed.

A table may have an interesting smell which makes a dog want to mark it -- I find two of my dogs will mark anything that smells of cooking oil when on walks (eg empty crisp/chip/fries bags) so maybe it is something like this that has soaked into the table. I'd clean the table with an enzymatic cleaner.