How to Stop Your Dog From Peeing in the House

by mylifewithpets | Last updated on October 26, 2021

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Pee stinks. In every possible way.

It smells bad, it leaves disgusting stains and, no matter how you try to clean it, your dog will just go back and do it all over again.

It just isn’t possible to have a clean, fresh-smelling home while your dog is peeing away for whatever reason.

Stopping your dog from peeing in the house isn’t just a matter of convenience, it’s about maintaining one’s sanity!

We Had Our Own Little Peeing Dog Creating Havoc

When you think of dogs who pee inside, you usually think of an untrained dog or a puppy.

For us, our biggest peeing debacle actually happened with Tommy, after he reached adulthood.

Tommy had been with us since he was a puppy and was potty trained from early age, so everything was going great.

Up until the day where he decided that some spots in our home were just as adequate to pee on than any other place.

And, after the first time, he just kept at it...

All of a sudden, our whole routine changed.

We needed to make sure we kept an eye on Tommy the entire time to stop him from peeing inside.

Each and every time we left him alone, we knew we’d return home to clean pee.

We took him to the vet to see if there was something wrong with him, but he was perfectly healthy.

We had no idea how to solve this.

Tommy Was Ruining Our Home!!

At one point we gave up on counting the stains or the rugs we threw out.

He walked three times a day and still found a bit extra for a nice pee stain in the middle of the living room.

Our home looked and smelled disgusting.

We figured he’d never stop!

5 Easy Tricks to Stop Your Dog From Peeing in the House

We weren’t ready to give up and allow our dog to ruin our lives.

We needed to claim our home back from the chaos and the only way to do it was to search for things we could try that changed his behavior.

Ultimately, after several tries and misses, we found the 5 things that helped us stop this peeing problem.

Better yet, with these simple 5 hacks, we made sure that Tommy never reverted back to his old ways and our home was, once again, our very own pee-free haven.

#1 – Get Some Grass For Your Dog to Pee In

Technically, your dog is still peeing inside, but now you chose the where.

Let’s face it, sometimes dogs get left home alone and, if it’s for more than just a couple of hours, they’ll need to pee.

So, instead of having them do it where they chose, you present them with an irresistible alternative.

The Grass Pee Pad is made of real grass so your dog with naturally want to pee there instead of anywhere else.

Grass is for dogs what litter is for cats so forget about newspapers and pee pads, a grass pee pad is the way to go.

Using a grass pee pad requires little to no training, since your dog is already used to peeing in the grass.

Maintenance-wise, all you need to do is pick up any solid waste he leaves and exchange the grass mat from time to time, depending on the size of your dog or how many dogs use it.

Even after having all our dogs perfectly potty trained, we still like to keep a grass pee pad available to them when we’re out to make sure they use it when they need it instead of having to wait for us to return.

#2 – Walk Your Dog as Many Times and for As Long as He Needs

This is particularly important if you’re still in the potty training stage.

Making sure your dog walks enough to pee all he needs is what prevents him from doing it indoors.

Even if you provide the grass pad for your dog, it’s still important to make sure he uses it only when he’s home alone and not as his number one peeing option.

Dog walks are also what keeps your dog stimulated and prevents him from being bored (yes, dogs also love to pee indoors to show they’re unhappy or bored).

The formula is simple enough: walk your dog enough times so he can pee whenever he needs to and reward him each time he does.

If you’re not home most of the day, we recommend a trusted dog walker or even a doggy daycare to make sure your dog has all of his needs met while you’re out.

The number of times a dog needs to go out depends on the size of your dog and the amount of water he’s had,

Tommy and Coco require 3 walks a day, but Dobby being larger, only requires two except for Summer, when he drinks more water and requires an extra one.

Related: 3 Little-Known Ways to Stop Your Dog From Pulling

#4 – Get Rid of All Pee Stains and Markers FOREVER

When your dog pees, he marks the spot with his scent and, no matter how clean you think it is and how little you can smell it, your dog can.

If your dog pees in your home and you don’t remove the marker completely, he’ll never stop peeing in that exact spot.

We know we tried dozens of cleaning products, from the strongest ones to the ones with the most perfume and nothing worked.

Then, we learned about enzyme-based cleaning products and how they’re the ONLY products that can actually eliminate the markers.

This is the product we love, it completely changed our lives.

Because let’s face it, if you do all of the above tricks and don’t erase the marker, there’s no point because your dog will still identify the spots he peed on and peeing ground and nothing will change.

Since we’ve started using this product, our home is finally clean and smelling fresh and we can proudly claim that we haven’t had any pee episodes.

Related: 5 Ways to Get Rid of Dog Smell in Your House

#5 – Create a Peeing Routine for Your Dog

Dogs and their bladders like routines.

If you walk your dog every day on a particular schedule, he’ll get used to peeing only at that time.

Much like humans, dogs have an internal clock that let’s them know when it’s time to do things and the only way to get that clock to work properly is to set it through routine.

Our dogs are very punctual, if we get distracted and miss their times, they’ll be sure to let us know.