You thought your dog was house trained. Your home was clean from puddles of pee, those dreaded middle-of-the-night bathroom breaks were behind you, and you loved every minute of dog ownership… until your four-legged best friend started using the bathroom inside again. What’s going on?
While potty training regression can be incredibly frustrating, it can also be fixed with the right approach. Take a deep breath and read on! Here’s how to handle your older puppy or fully grown adult dog peeing and pooping inside.
Simply put, potty training regression is when a dog who’s already been house trained—and who previously seemed successful at holding their bladder and bowels for consistent intervals—suddenly starts using the bathroom inside again. These accidents might be triggered by specific things (more on that in the next section) or seem to come out of nowhere.
While potty training regression is unpleasant, the behavior is actually a common issue. Many owners report their older puppies regressing to an earlier phase of their house training abilities between four months to one year of age. Elderly dogs often struggle with incontinence, too. There are a variety of reasons for the behavior.
Most pet parents have experienced at least some level of house training regression—and we’ve all made it through! You’ve got this.
You should treat potty training regression the same way you’d go about house training a newly adopted adult dog:
You’ll be able to rebuild healthier habits in no time!
We know it’s aggravating to have to clean up your dog’s messes, especially when you were so excited to think all that scrubbing was in the past. No matter how miserable your pet’s bathroom habits are making you, though, you owe it to them to try to understand what’s going on behind their behavior.
While potty training regression can be a normal part of your dog growing up without any clear cause—puppies have a lot going on and might simply be scatterbrained from time to time—it can also be the direct result of a physical problem or change in routine.
Here are some questions to help you figure out the reason behind your dog’s recent accidents. Was it a one-off incident? Or do you have a bigger problem on your hands?
A general rule of thumb is that puppies can hold their bladders one hour for every month of age. A four-month-old puppy can typically wait four hours while a six-month-old puppy can do six and so on, all the way up to the 8-10 hours we might expect from an adult dog.
That’s just a guideline, though:
It’s also possible that you’ve recently given your dog some mixed signals—or perhaps missed a few regular bathroom breaks—that have resulted in them feeling confused about their potty routine. Your pup might not know when and where they’re supposed to go.
Don’t worry: This doesn’t mean you’re doing a bad job. Owning a dog is a lot of work, and mistakes happen to the best of us!
Just take a few minutes to think about your house training routine. Is everyone in your family on the same page? Are you offering your pup frequent breaks? Is there a chance you haven’t noticed signals that your dog needs to go out? You might just need to clean up your communication.
Even if your dog has successfully practiced holding their bladder and bowels for months on end, a sudden illness might prevent them from waiting to go until they’re outside. This is especially likely if they’ve soiled their bed or favorite sleeping spot, since canines don’t like to use the bathroom where they rest (more on that later).
Common health conditions that can cause house training accidents include:
If you think your dog might be suffering from any of the above, get in touch with your vet right away! When potty training regression happens to an adult dog (older than a year) with no other obvious variables, there’s a good chance it’s driven at least in part by medical issues.
Stress can have a range of effects on our dogs’ bodies, making it more difficult for them to regulate their nervous systems, process new information, and—you guessed it—control their bladder and bowels.
Your dog might be feeling overwhelmed if you’ve recently:
In these instances, our dogs aren’t using the bathroom indoors to “get back at us." They’re just confused and a little uncertain.
You should be able to clear up their accidents in no time by:
Sometimes our dogs experience chronic mental health struggles. Separation anxiety, past trauma, and more can contribute to house training problems.
Has your dog recently had an intense bad experience? Maybe they were attacked on a walk or accidentally left alone for too long while you dealt with another emergency. Are there any new stimuli in their regular bathroom spots? Have they been startled by inclement weather while trying to go outside?
If you think long-term separation anxiety or another mental health problem could be the cause of your companion’s potty training regression, don’t worry—you’re not alone! Consider setting up an appointment with a certified vet behaviorist to evaluate what you should do next.
Dogs have a natural instinct to relieve themselves where they’ve used the bathroom before. This is the reason why many adult pets choose to pee and poop in the same corner of their yard or block of their walk each day—and it’s also why one or two accidents inside your home can quickly turn into dozens more if not properly cleaned up. Urine is one of the strongest pet odors.
It’s important to thoroughly scrub all potty messes with an enzymatic cleaner. These special enzymes will remove all traces of previous markings! Since urine can have a powerful, pervasive smell to our dogs’ noses, regular soap and water won’t cut it here.
If you’ve determined that your dog’s house training regression is not caused by underlying medical conditions or anxiety that you need to address with a certified professional, then your way forward is simple: Let go of your expectations and pretend your dog is a brand-new puppy!
We know it’s frustrating to feel like you’ve lost so much progress. With a little bit of consistency, though, potty training regression is usually easy to fix. It often takes less time than your initial housebreaking process did!
Here’s what to do. In short, getting your dog in a consistent daily routine will help improve their behavior.
If your dog eats on a regular schedule, it will be easier to predict when they need to use the bathroom.
While an adult dog’s bladder should physically be able to hold more than a puppy, it’s still important to start small during the retraining process.
Take your dog outside more frequently than you think you need to at first. Slowly increase the intervals between their potty breaks only when they’ve shown they can consistently handle the previous amount of time.
To start, it’s a good idea to take your dog outside every 2-3 hours as well as shortly after they:
Remember when we said that dogs are inclined to use the bathroom in the same spot they’ve gone before? You can use this to your advantage outside! Try walking your dog in a small circle in the same corner of your yard to encourage a healthy habit of eliminating there.
Don’t allow your dog to play or run around before they’ve gone potty—but as soon as they pee or poop outside, praise and reward them! You can use small training treats, physical affection, or a favorite toy to celebrate their job well done.
(Note: Wait until after your dog has finished eliminating so you don’t interrupt them in the act. You want to make sure they have time to fully empty their bladder, which can take more than 30 seconds in an adult, before offering a tasty treat or fun game.)
We previously mentioned that dogs don't like to use the bathroom where they sleep or eat. By confining your pet to a smaller space (like a comfortable, appropriately sized kennel or wire pen), you can take advantage of this natural instinct to reduce the odds of accidents while you’re away.
Is your dog uncomfortable with confinement in a crate, or have you just never used one before? You can read more about kennel training an adult dog in this article!
You can also consider setting up designated potty pads in your dog’s environment if you have to leave them alone longer than you think they can hold their bladder.
If you and your dog are still struggling even after going back to basics, it’s a good idea to reach out to a professional.
There is so much misinformation out there, we want to make sure we only provide the highest quality information to our community. We have all of our articles reviewed by qualified, positive-only trainers.
This is the trainer that reviewed this article:
Lindy Langum
Founder - K9 Fun Club Staff
Trainer - Summit Assistance Dogs
Certified in Canine Studies (CSS), NW School of Canine Studies
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