Why did my dog pee on the sofa?

What one needs to remember is, like humans, dogs too, get bored of things they have. So by flooding them with a zillion toys you have made them get bored of all of them. Toys should be given to them only when you are either playing with them or when you are leaving them home alone or as a treat for good desired behavior. Leaving them at the reach of your dogs 24x7 will make them get bored of it easily.... so take away the toys and break them out only when they are to play with you or to be left alone or for good behavior. Biting and any kind of destruction is a classic sign of boredom. They are just telling you that and if you can't see it then maybe you should not have them. All dogs need mental stimulation, hence walks, even if it's for 10 mins. Imagine you being locked up in a room with out any television, music, phones, magazines, etc... you will be completely frustrated stuck in four walls so do dogs also. Always remember, before leaving a dog home alone it's always a good thing to take them out for an exercise or just lay with them. Your goal is to tire them out so they can spend the alone time either resting or chewing their bones. One of the most common reasons why dogs Pee or poo while you are away and chew also is because they have "separation anxiety". They are unhappy that they are being left home alone while you are out. You would need to determine the level of this anxiety. In this case you need to spend time working with them to over come this problem. Most dogs have this and it can be easily over come with every day help. The best way would be to lock them up and exit the main door but stand some where close by, wait for about 2 mins and walk in and immediately treat and praise them. Do this for 20 mins every hour and half during the day and gradually increase the away time. This is a great way to counter condition them into staying home alone happily. Depending on the level of anxiety, it could take you a day, or a week or over 3 months for them to feel safe and comfortable being left home alone. Another way is Crate training.... it's a must for all dogs to identity a crate with their den. When we leave our 3 dogs home alone, we also leave their crates open, when we come home, they all are happily sleeping or just chilling in their safe dens. You can also use play pens (as you have small dogs). Basically, it's always good to leave a dog in a large restricted area away from the reach of any wires, furniture etc etc. It is safer for your dog. It could also be that you have not house trained them. By saying this, it actually means that your dogs have not identified the outside with doing their business. This is very important in the beginning puppy life of any dog living at home. To train them, use only high value treats (not dry food) such as boiled chicken (shredded of small pieces) or chicken / beef sausage. Carry them on you while you are home. It is always good if you have them already wearing the harness. Observe them constantly and when you see them sniffing, immediately clip them and take them outside.You may have to stand 5 mins or an hour also but once they get the job done, treat and praise enthusiastically. In the house, you must not let the dogs out of your sight. If an accident happens indoors, NEVER shout, yell, get angry on the dog. They do not speak our language so do not know why you are yelling at them. Dogs understand our body language and tone. When you yell at a dog for anything they will only continue doing that thing again and again as in their minds they take that thing as the reason why they got yelling. When an accident happens home, do not make any eye contact, nor verbal contact with them. You could give them a time-out if you catch them doing it in-front of you, but again no words at all. If an accident happens when you are not watching, no time out as they will not understand why. They will soon associate the outdoors with treats whenever they poop and indoors with no treats. Remember, using high value treats only helps achieve good and desired behavior. Never just give treats to dogs, they all have to really work for their treats, only then will they understand what is expected from them. I use the clicker as it's easier for them to understand. it's quite simple, good behavior = click and treat. You need to understand that your dogs are small so smaller bladder. If they constantly drink a lot of water, they need to flush it from their system constantly so you need to work with them and understand them. Dogs are not accessories, they love training, exercise, play time and a constant routine. If you still do not understand how then please use the various training facilities such as "Positive Paws" or "Paws Pet Planet" who use only positive reinforcement methods to help achieve good behavior. If you cannot or don't have the time, then I would suggest you give them to a family who will do the needful. With a little training, all dogs can be awesome. All the best :) and remember you need to SET YOUR DOG UP FOR SUCCESS hence you have to stay positive, happy and enthusiastic while interacting and training them.

my dogs would never in a million years pee in the house when Im home, but the minute I go out they will do it ( no matter how many times they've been walked). They just dont like being alone. They now get shut in a small room with their stuff when I go out, atleast then I dont have to go search for the pee. Our dog is the same:he hates being left alone and pees if we all go out even if he's had his morning walk and been out just before we go out.

Sorry but saying they're bored isn't an excuse is ridiculous! Dogs can't talk, so they choose to express their feelings to us in other ways. The destruction, peeing etc are CLASSIC signs of dogs that are bored and fed up! Saying they have a million toys to play with, a garden to go out in, sounds like you're not that bothered with them. Dogs require interaction, exercise, company. They don't like to be left on their own. It's like you being left with things to occupy you, but that soon gets old and boring if you have no one else to interact with. They're not trying to pee you off intentionally, they trying to make you realise that they require more attention, walks etc than what you're giving them. Tired and mentally stimulated dogs are less destructive and bored dogs. My dog has garden access and toys, but as soon as I walk in that door, we go out for a walk as it's what he wants. He wants company, someone to play with and to get out of the house. <em>edited by Chocs01 on 24/06/2012</em>

[i'>[b'>Why did my dog pee on the sofa?[/b'>[/i'> Possibly for the same reason my dog peed on DD's rug this morning. I'm upset because she has a dog flap to the garden that she can, and does, use. :(

I used to have similar problem with my rescued one....there were couple of things which were addressed: he got fixed; then behavioural training; then walked twice: once in the morning and then in the evening too.... all this made a difference to him. till date if we have to leave 3 of them alone I make sure I leave the music or radio on....

my mum had a yorkie for years and he never peed indoors....maybe it's down to training or just sheer luck....

my dogs would never in a million years pee in the house when Im home, but the minute I go out they will do it ( no matter how many times they've been walked). They just dont like being alone. They now get shut in a small room with their stuff when I go out, atleast then I dont have to go search for the pee.

Could it be some kind of territorial marking? My DD has a Jack Russell and almost everytime she visits with him, he attempts to pee in the house. We have a kitten so we thought that this was him trying to mark "his" territory but we realised that he was doing it long before we got the kitten. Unfortunately this has caused a bit of ill feeling as we recently revamped our main lounge and the little sod squirted on our beautiful (expensive) Indian silk rug. My DH grabbed him by the scruff in mid pee and threw him outside much to my DD's anger. She now leaves him at home when she visits. At 3 years old he still pees all over her house. He gets 2 very long walks every day and my DD often takes him to work with her.

well I guess they don't know that they are supposed to go play outside if they are bored ... how long do you walk them per day, especially the day the dog peed on your sofa? was there a change in routine? was it too short?

how often do you take them out for walks ?

you could ask the dog why he pees on the sofa? but, you might not like the answer lol...ok. sounds like the dog might not have been properly toilet trained if he was peeing all over the house. His marking are now also all over the house. Are they alone alot, have they had a dental checkup, do they get at least 2 walks a day, does someone pay attention and play with them throughout the day...even tossing a ball for 10 min now and then will help. Are they trained to behave ie, sit, stay, come and walk well on the lead. If not they might need to have work to do. Dogs like to have a purpose and they do understand not getting on furniture, they understand no if they learned what it means etc. Anyway, those could be some answers to your question 'why did my dog pee on the sofa' :) if it is lonliness then you might consider putting them in doggy daycare a couple of times a week. <em>edited by SueB on 24/06/2012</em>

no help really, other than i'd say they're bored but if you want some light relief just put why did into google... :D

what breed of dog are they. yorkies are supposed to be notorious for toilet training. they have small bladders too and can hold themselves for so long. its a pain and ours do it if we dont put them out every half hour or hour. when we go out we shut ours in kitchen with their blankets - it seems to have done the trick. we havent replaced sofas yet, but ours too chew things even tho they have lots of toys and attention.

do you walk them enough? not for the wee but for excersice ? I reccon that my dog destroys the sofa and other things if she is not worked out and especially in summer she is really bored because we walk lesser. maybe the wee is your dogs way of prtesting? also go check with the vet if there is a bladder infection if it happens the next days again.

I am not a dog doctor but I would say boredom and attention seeking..just like kids