How to Handle Messes
No matter how careful you are, occasionally inappropriate elimination happens. If your dog has an accident:
Never correct the dog after the fact. Do scold yourself by saying, “How could I have let that happen?”
Startle him by tossing something at him or picking him up in midstream and carrying him outside to stop him in the act.
Clean up messes immediately. Remove debris and blot up any moisture, then use a cleaning solution, and finally treat the soiled area with an odor neutralizer.
Keep a diary. Write down the amounts and times you feed your dog, and any unusual consistency of his stool. If you later encounter a training or health problem, your notes may make the solution apparent. Also, make note of when you are taking your dog out and what he is doing. Document any accidents so you are alert to the potentially problematic times and can make needed adjustments. Take inventory of when your dog isn't going, because at least 90 percent of the time he should go potty when you take him out.
A truly housebroken dog is repulsed by the notion of going in the house. Every consecutive hour your dog spends wandering the house, sniffing and exploring without an accident, brings you closer to this ideal, but anytime he uses the house as a toilet, previous good behavior is usually canceled out. Consider the experiences of these owners:
Jay's Bullmastiff, Rollie, had been housebroken for two years when he began lifting his leg on the corner of the bed. The neutered male's marking made Jay furious. Each time he found it, he would yell and go looking for Rollie, who was invariably parked in the kitchen awaiting Jay's entrance. Jay would grab his collar and try to drag the 130-pound canine watering pot to the bedroom; Rollie would brace himself and stare at Jay, daring him to repeat the familiar scolding, until finally he bit his owner.
Penny considered her Maltese, Angel, to be an ideal companion. Imagine her surprise, then, when a visitor hesitantly inquired about the strange odor in the living room. Embarrassed, Penny thought about those occasions once or twice a month when she would discover a pile, attributing it to having left Angel too long. Penny, offended by the visitor's comment, said, “The house doesn't smell. You probably just don't like dogs.”
Months later, Penny replaced the carpeting throughout the house. Upon removing the old carpet, the installers discovered urine stains — the result of many years of accidents. Because small dogs have small accidents, the urine usually dried without being detected. Penny never realized her Angel was not fully housebroken.
As Jay discovered, after-the-fact corrections didn't stop Rollie's marking, but they certainly made him defensive and untrusting. Penny, on the other hand, was unaware of habitual little accidents; she needed to face the fact that her ignorance had allowed a bad habit to take hold.
Housetraining problems are frustrating, but can be solved by treating the dog as totally untrustworthy, just as you would an eight-week-old pup, and doing daily vigorous obedience training so the dog is accustomed to taking direction from you. If your dog has been in your house less than six months, it's likely he's been insufficiently supervised and confined, and you need to follow the plan outlined in this chapter.
When is housebreaking over?
Although your dog may be flawless for days, weeks, or months, any dog can backslide under certain conditions. Plan on it taking a year or more to complete the housetraining process. Seemingly benign events can cause housetraining regression.
Dogs can become upset by all sorts of things, and may regress in their housetraining because of them. If your dog is making mistakes, consider the following possible causes:
Changes in diet can disrupt normal elimination patterns.
Weather changes (too hot, cold, or wet, or noisy thunderstorms) can make outings unproductive potty times.
New environments (vacation homes, new house, or friend's house) may be treated as an extension of his potty area rather than his living quarters.
Some medications (like allergy medications) and certain conditions (like hormone changes associated with estrus) can cause more frequent elimination.
