Puppy housetrained in one room but pees in another
Puppies can be completely reliable in spaces where they spend most of their time, but treat less familiar rooms like a toilet. They will often pee in the new room the second you take your eyes off them, even right after being outside. This leaves owners at their wits' end, unsure whether to grant more supervised exposure or restrict access further.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1cleaning every accident thoroughly with enzymatic cleanerDid this help you?
- 2using baby gates to block off specific areasDid this help you?
- 3keeping access restricted or trying to provide more supervised exposureDid this help you?
- 4Mopping floors every single day with bleachDid this help you?
- 5Using candles and air fresheners to mask the smellDid this help you?
- 6Putting down puppy padsDid this help you?
- 7Trying home remedies and deterrent spraysDid this help you?
- 8Using belly bands or pet diapersDid this help you?
- 9Buying enzyme cleaners to break down the scentDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I'm literally at my wits end with my pets. One dog and one cat. I do not want my house to smell like pee.”source ↗
“But it's like the second I leave for work or I leave to go anywhere or take my eye off of them they're peeing in the house.”source ↗
“I can let my dog out and 5 minutes later he's peeing in the house”source ↗
“I had some for a chihuahua who pee’d everywhere.”source ↗
“The problem is the living room. I rarely take her there (mainly because I spend most of my time in working in the bedroom, but also because I didn't want her to have access to the entire flat when she was little). Almost every time I let her come with me, she pees somewhere in there (even when I only let her in immediately after she has recently been outside). She has even peed in her dog bed in the living room.”source ↗
“She does not behave like this in the bedroom at all, so I'm not really sure how to deal with that.”source ↗
“Would you give her more supervised exposure to the living room so she learns the rules there, or restrict access even more until she’s older/more reliably housetrained? Has anyone had a puppy who was completely reliable in one part of the house but treated another room like a toilet?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4Why does my puppy pee in their crate during the day?
- 10Why does my puppy pee indoors right when I come home?
- 21Puppy suddenly won't use indoor patches and pees in apartment hallways
- 42How to get a puppy to settle down indoors without barking
- 16How to handle puppy night potty breaks in a two story house
- 7House-trained dog won't go to the bathroom outside after moving