I’m currently on a housesit and the dog keeps going to the toilet on the floor.
I’ve taken the dog out every day morning, afternoon and evening as instructed so there’s definitely adequate toilet breaks and I haven’t been spending much time outside the home either…
The sit was listed as dog being house trained so I’m not sure if the dog is nervous around me or if I’ve done something wrong…
Any dog behavioural experts have any ideas? I’ve housesat quite a few dogs in the past and never had this issue before.
When I house trained my puppies, they spent a lot of time in the crate because dogs won’t mess in such tight quarters. I took them out in the morning upon waking, right after eating and at specific intervals throughout the day. When I took them out of the crate, they went right outside where they relieved themselves as I reinforced with the command and then praised them. They were then allowed out of the crate for a while. I also took them out right after eating.
Does this dog have a crate? Have you asked the owners about it? Maybe they are aware he is not really house trained or maybe they have some other insight into why this is occurring. Maybe he has a UTI?
The dog has some pads because it sometimes pees indoors.
But it also keeps pooping indoors, so not a UTI. And it does it sometimes even though I’ve taken it out not long before to go to the bathroom… So it seems more behavioural.
It’s not a puppy, it’s an adult dog so I wouldn’t put it in a crate - Also the owner said it was house trained.
Please contact the owners and alert them to the problem and ask what to do. Sometimes there is a specific word that they use, or give a treat or bring them to a specific place and they forgot to give you these instructions. My last dog would not eliminate in our backyard from the first day that we got her until the day she passed away. She apparently was an apartment dog previously and had to be walked on a leash away from her house. Of course, I relayed that to my sitters, but maybe there are key instructions that are missing. Good luck!
We had a sit like this. The dog first was so scared and skittish at first than that was the reason for peeing. He would pee when getting let out in the morning from his crate, pee when putting the leash on, pee when we got back from working out because he was so happy to see us. Pee, pee, pee.
We had a sit like this. Unfortunately the owner admitted the dog had this issue but it was not disclosed in the listing. We were very upset as we would never have accepted the sit if we had known the dog was not house trained.
I doubt you are doing anything wrong. The owner knows that disclosing this information on the listing will turn off potential sitters. Please report them to THS. They may not do anything about it, but if enough sitters report the same owners, hopefully THS will eventually act.
We reported our issue to THS during the sit. Initially they were keen to be involved when they thought we might leave the sit before the owners returned. Once we made it clear to them that we would finish out the sit despite this undisclosed problem, they did nothing further to assist. I requested that they contact the owners after the fact and give them a choice of clearly disclosing this in their listing or taking their listing down. I just checked and the listing is the same - no added disclosure for potential sitters. I’m very disappointed THS has not addressed the situation.
You can leave an honest review after the sit but beware of a retaliatory review, especially if you are a relatively new sitter.
Hi RR12345,
I had this on one sit. The dog was about ten years old and had been a rescue but they had now had it for about four years. I was simply told that she had the occasional accident. Let’s just say I soon learnt that they were more deliberates/habit than anything. I should have guessed as a large bucket full of disinfectent and mop and clothes had been left. She was meant to stay in kitchen but could come in lounge with me in the eveings. First evening, I put a towle beside me on sofa and beckoned for her to sit beside me. She walked straight passed to patio doors and promptly did a wee, Felt I had to stay in kitchen with her after that. But first morning and I raced downstairs at 6am. All completley clean. Opened kitchen door wide so she could go outside and then went back up to wash and dress etc. Came back down and there was a poo and a wee on the kitchen floor in front of the wide open door. This happened the second morning also. The third i kicked her outside (not literally) and shut the door. Of course then I had her barking and scratching at the door to come back in. I eventually discovered it was better for me to dress first and come down about 7am and immediatekly take her for a walk on the lead, as the moment she felt I was awake she would then wee as well as frequently poo, in the kitchen. But if I went out without her whetehr one hour or up to five hours it would always be completely clean and no wees anywhere. However if I opened the door for her to go out immediately on returning and then went to the bathroom myself, I would then find she had done a wee on the floor. One day she did her wee right in front of door from the hallway to the kitchen and yes you guessed I put my foot straight in it. It was as if she felt oh goody she’s back I can now do a wee for her to clean up. It just seemed like she used the kitchen as her toilet, as if a deliberate act. And she would always wait until after I had returned. I was there for three weeks and it became obvious that she simply thought of indoors, as the place for her to do everything.
I very much doubt it is anything you have done but just a habit that the dog you are with has become accustomed to,
Thanks, In the end I just got used to using the bucket and mop as the owner obviously did. I also had a flight booked home for end of the sit and felt could not just abandon it etc. And the owner had been super nice and brouht me lots of food, stocking the fridge up. I guess she juist did not have the discipline to train her dog and just let her get away with it. She had definitely been spoilt rotten, as had never seen a dog leap around a table on two hind legs for so long, continually begging for food. One to put down to experience. : -)