# Confusing Carpet for Grass?



## Captain's Mama (Sep 16, 2013)

We only have Carpeting in the bedrooms in our house and until recently we had not allowed our pup Captain to have 'free roam' of those rooms. He is 4 months old now and is getting much better with his behavior so we have let him have access (while we are home) to our one empty bedroom. He loves to play with his toys in there and use it as the start and end to his "racetrack" that he creates throughout the house while he plays. 

We have never had an issue with accidents with him, we brought him home at 10 weeks and he has not once ever peed in the house. All of a sudden he has started to pee in this bedroom. We are thinking since it is the first room he has been in that is not hard wood/tile maybe he is confusing it with the feeling of the soft grass outside and thinking it is fair game?

Any suggestions on how we get him to stop doing this? My assumption is we will just have to let him have supervised time in the carpeted rooms and go back to basic potty training methods if he starts to go pick him up and bring him outside right away. (we have made sure to clean the spots and use a oder neutralizer, he hasn't gone in the same spot twice)

Just wondering if anyone has run into something like this and has any other suggestions!


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## My5dogs (Aug 30, 2013)

Whenever I l let my dogs into the bedrooms without fail the males will pee even if its a few drops. They are 2and 3 years old. No clue why they do this. Our shepherd would do it at 8 years old!! I don't get it


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## My5dogs (Aug 30, 2013)

Yes only in carpeted rooms too. Different scents I think so they mark their spot.


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

Maybe he gets over excited either from playing with his toys or he still isn't able to control his bladder fully in the middle of his zoomies.

For some reason, I couldn't let Paisley play with any sort of ball in the house until she was just over 5 months because she would pee. She was otherwise potty trained, but I think it was an excitement thing. She would also occasionally pee in the middle of zoomies around that age (4 months). Usually, I had to stop her mid-zoomie and take her outside.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

You just have to catch him in the act and correct it by startling and then take him outside to finish and then praise him. This means don't let him in those rooms if he isn't under direct supervision.


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## Captain's Mama (Sep 16, 2013)

That's true it could be excitement, although he hasn't done that in any of the hard wood floor, he does tend to stop outside when he's getting his crazies out and pees. It shouldn't be a bladder holding issue as typically we take him out right before we let him have the free run of the house and are pretty consistent with letting him out. When we go to work and hes alone for 4-5 hours there are never accidents. 

We will just have to keep an eye on it and see if we can nip it in the bud!


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## Captain's Mama (Sep 16, 2013)

Yea that's what I figured! Thanks!


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## glinny (Sep 14, 2011)

The only carpet in our house is on the 2nd floor in rooms we rarely use. When we taught Effie to go up and down steps she loved to go up and explore. She used one room to pee or poop a couple of times. I went up with her and spent some time there reading a book while she investigated. After a couple of times with me there she seemed to realize that that was also a part of the house and should not be used as a restroom. She never did it again.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

Sounds like you are almost done with the potty training thing anyway he just needs a little more clarification about what constitutes outside and he will be all set.


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## MadLab (Jan 7, 2013)

> Whenever I l let my dogs into the bedrooms without fail the males will  pee even if its a few drops. They are 2and 3 years old. No clue why they do this. Our shepherd would do it at 8 years old!! I don't get it


That's marking territory. Let the dogs know that is your territory not theirs. In this case you could startle them or give them a jab or simply a verbal correction, what ever you use for a correction. You could leash them and when they go to try give them a leash pop and a no. Practice stopping the dogs doing it on lap posts etc. They pee when you let them rather than where ever they feel like.


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## MadLab (Jan 7, 2013)

Baillif


> You just have to catch him in the act and correct it by startling and then take him outside to finish and then praise him. This means don't let him in those rooms if he isn't under direct supervision.


I would not startle a pup like this. They have to go so they go. You start correcting a pup for peeing and you can develop submissive peeing. Not what you want. Better to leave the pup out of these rooms until they are better at holding it.

I think correcting a pup for peeing is confusing and damaging for your relationship.

If it is marking territory them you can use a correction. This is a totally different scenario.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

Only sure thing in this world aside from death is that if you put a bunch of dog trainers in a room they will disagree about something if not everything.


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## MadLab (Jan 7, 2013)

Hey I'm a hobbyist trainer lol. I wish i could train properly.

I just cringe when someone interrupts a pup peeing... lol 

They just naturally learn given a chance. You can't supervise them 24/7


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

Every dog is different and there are probably some dogs that are too soft to startle and not suffer side effects, but with pups I have had a good solid No with a little stomp on the floor is enough to get em to pinch it off and look at you like Oh? Not here? 

To prevent the kind of stuff you are talking about the first week I have them I just ignore it if they go to the bathroom inside, and praise like crazy if they do it outside. Then I start the corrections for inside and when they pinch it off and I get em outside I praise like crazy again. The main reason isn't to avoid submissive urination, though it is to keep them from wanting to avoid me when they go to the bathroom. I want them to want me to see it, which sounds a little weird when I say it to myself, but there it is.


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