# Could really use some potty training advice!



## Versace (Jan 21, 2008)

Hi all! I've pretty much only lurked here, but now I'm stumped and could use some of your wisdom. Sache is 15 months old now. We've never been 100% accident free, but usually they occur when either 1) he's asked to go out and we've missed hearing the bell or 2) when the weather changes (i.e. first few days of snow, first few days of spring rain). In the past few weeks, he is having "accidents" like crazy and I just can't figure it out. We have stopped letting him go in the backyard on his own and reinstated us taking him out on a leash, to be certain he has finished his business. My daughter just yelled down that he's peed next to her bed and earlier my husband found a spot in our bedroom. All that is on top of several spots we've found down in the basement over the last few weeks and we're at wits end! 

I work from home so I'm pretty much here with him all day. He usually sticks pretty close to me, which makes this all the more frustrating. He is great about being in his crate at night (can go from 10:30 at night until as late as 9 in the a.m.) and when we're gone (5-6 hours is max we've ever left him) and never has an accident in it. 

We saturate all spots with Nature's Miracle (though I suppose we could have missed some) so I'm hoping it's not a smell issue making him think it's ok to use the house as his bathroom. He's walked regularly and engaged in play. We haven't had any recent schedule changes or brought any new people/pets into the house. He does have access to most of the house, and I'm going to make his world a little smaller again starting tomorrow. The only thing I can think of is that he's been quite naughty/mischevious since we had to shave him down due to never-ending matts, but somehow I can't imagine they're related, lol! What in the world is going on and where do I start to fix this? 

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Jenni & Sache


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## Paige (Sep 12, 2006)

If it has come on all of sudden, you might want to take him to the vet and make sure he doesn't have a medical condition that may be causing his behavior.


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## MopTop Havanese (Sep 25, 2006)

Yes I would take him into the and rule out a bladder infection~
Also, is he neutered? If not, it was around 17 months old that my intact boy started marking....no fun!!


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## Versace (Jan 21, 2008)

Yes, he was neutered at 5.5 months of age, so I don't think it's that. Will take him to vet to rule out infections, thank you  If anybody has tips in addition, I'm open!

Jenni (who now has an adorable ?lhapsa? stray in her yard, trying to find the owners)


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Everyone else already beat me to the punch!  Either he has a health issue, ie. infection or he's marking. Get him in to see the vet and you may have to tether him to you so you can keep a close eye on him for now. Good luck!


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## SaydeeMomma (Sep 9, 2008)

Hi Jenni
As a mom of a previous diabetic dog, the first thing I suggest is getting your pup checked by the vet. My Maltese Millie suddenly started peeing in the house when she was 8 years old, and we were mystified. She had been completely house trained for years and all of a sudden... Sure enough, she had diabetes. There are other conditions previously mentioned of course, but you definately want to rule out health issues first.

Thanks to diabetes, we are now "professionals" at pee/carpet clean-up. We tried all the typical cleaners & deodorizers including Nature's Miracle, but prefer a product called *Urine-Off* that can be found online. We used a *black light* to crawl around in the dark and detect pee spots we hadn't caught yet. That helped a great deal. If you use the Urine-Off, let dry, and then repeat if necessary, it has strong enzymes in it that worked much better for us than any other product we tried.

If you can treat the spot when it's still wet, that's of course your best bet. Use tons of paper towels to soak up the pee before putting any cleaner or water on it. Also, a good Bissell or similar carpet cleaning machine is nice - you can use the suction to get every drop of pee out of the carpet before treating.

Good Luck!


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## Laurasch (Jul 1, 2008)

I agree with all the above and hope you find the problem. Will just add one more thing about the cleaning. If you get a small black light (about $15) and scan over your entire house with it, you might be surprised and how much NM you use!


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