Managing House Soiling by Dogs

   When adopting an adult dog, we hope you will remember that many formerly well-trained dogs are temporarily weakened in their housetraining habits by being housed in kennels for days, weeks, or even months. Though volunteer’s exercise and play with the dogs at the Society, they are probably not taken out often enough to meet their elimination needs, so a period of retraining is in order. Please read the puppy training section of this sheet and treat your new dog just like a puppy for at least the first few days: watch him closely, take him outside frequently (especially upon awakening and after eating), and praise him for proper behavior. Since his body is already mature enough to wait for substantial intervals between eliminating, he should quickly fall into his former good habits once he is used to his new home. Just as with puppies, a regular feeding schedule will make retraining easier.
   What about an "outdoor dog," one that has never been housetrained because he has always lived in an outside run or kennel? Adopters of these dogs tell us that they have had great success in housetraining them quickly, sometimes within a matter of days. But you do need to start from the beginning and follow the same procedure as for a puppy: observe closely, praise for success and confine to his bed during the night or when you are gone.
   Your biggest challenge of all will be the housedog who had the misfortune to be owned by someone who neglected his responsibility to thoroughly housetrain his pet. You will have to resign yourself to a longer training process and be more vigilant and patient. It's possible that you may make a lot of progress but never achieve 100% reliability with some of these dogs. YOU may have to decide whether or not you think au occasional cleanup is a reasonable price to pay for giving a nice dog a second chance at life. We hope you'll decide that it is!

Housetraining Problems

If you have consistently followed a good training program and are still having house-soiling problems with your dog, you should consider investigating whether there are underlying causes that need to be addressed before your pet can become reliably housetrained. Suzanne Hetts, Ph.D., an animal behaviorist, suggests the following possible causes for house-soiling problems:

Medical problems—A urinary tract infection or an irritated bowel could be your pet's problem. Check with your veterinarian.
Submissive or nervous urination—Some dogs, especially when young, urinate (often accompanied by rolling on their back or side) to show submission or when excited, especially when greeting a returning owner. Various common sense tactics may help this problem: keeping greetings low key, allowing the dog out to empty his bladder before greeting, or even spreading a washable throw rug in the hall.
Fears—Frightened animals may lose control of their bowel or bladder. This is sometimes a problem with animals afraid of thunderstorms or other loud noises. A treatment program involving desensitization and counter conditioning is described in the free Gaines pamphlet "Fear of Thunder and Other Loud Noises" available at most veterinarians' offices and the Animal Humane Society. Or, you may wish to consult a qualified animal behaviorist.
Scent marking- Some dogs (primarily males, but occasionally females) deposit small amounts of urine to mark their territory. Neutering/spaying can eliminate or greatly reduce this behavior. Another Gaines pamphlet "Elimination Behavior Problems in Dogs" may be useful in difficult cases.
Separation anxiety- If the house soiling is done only and consistently when your dog is left alone, this may be the cause. It often occurs with other symptoms like destructive chewing or barking and can be treated by reducing the dog's anxiety. Another Gaines pamphlet "The Dog That Cannot Be Left Alone" may help, or you may want to consult a qualified animal behaviorist.

Once the underlying causes have been eliminated in these problem cases, the dog can be successfully housetrained like any other. Please be aware that punishment in these cases will very likely make the problem worse, rather than better (with the possible exception of some persistent scent markers where mild punishment combined with counter conditioning may be needed).



		2007