I have a six year-old Cocker Spaniel who has recently started peeing in the house. We moved into a basement apartment in a friends house - she has installed laminate wood flooring in our unit. I have a job that requires that I work varying shifts, but never longer than 8 hours between my leaving and returning to home, where I spend most of my time with the dog.

We have been living here for 3 months and I had no problems with his behaviour, but suddenly in the last couple of weeks my dog has been peeing and pooing in the house, despite having been walked and let out in the yard to do his business. This happens primarily at night when I am sleeping. He has even asked to be let out in the night, yet when he comes back in I find he has messed in the house when I wake in the morning.

I have steam cleaned the entire area with Bissell cleaning solution that's for pet stains and odours and I have even sprayed the enzyme neutralizer that is supposed to keep them from going to that spot again. He is not sick either.

Quick back-ground on him - rescued - wasn't house-trained but learned very quickly and was not the typical cocker spaniel in many of his behaviours. He had heart-worm and erlychiosis when rescued, but we got all of that under control and for the past 2 years this dog has been a joy - UNTIL NOW!

I have tried taking his water away at night and walking him before we retire for the night.

I am at my wits end - what can I do to stop this?? I am looking for constructive suggestions or solutions to this problem. HELP!!

Smart breed, may be upset with the new accommodations. I could say put pads down for him so he will get the idea to go only in one area for now, but that may be the wrong direction to go. You are to be commended for taking on a rescue like that, it isn't easy re-acclimating a dog to new procedures especially when older.

You mus tbe patient with him, walk him out and get in a new routine of in and out at specific times.

Tick

Sounds like it's time to start housebreaking all over again. Pup could be upset for any of several reasons, and cockers periodically want to buck the system just for the fun of it, or at least ours does. Whatever worked last time, do it again.

Thanks! I have been talking it through with a friend and we both came to the same conclusion. Routine, routine, routine. You're right.

I was thinking you are also right - the breed can be very bloody minded when they want to be.

That happened to my boyfriends parents dog. They adopted her, and two years later they moved to a different home. She started to pee and poo downstairs any chance she got. She had free access to the doggy door and the backyard, but chose to go potty downstairs. I wouldn't consider my boyfriends parents to be good dog owners, the one time the dog did venture outside, she got hit by a car and they put her down due to a broken leg. So their issue was never resolved.

You might want to try kenneling him at night in your room. He's stressed and upset. It may calm him down that your right there, and it might also alert you when he needs to go out. And like you've said... start a new routine and stick to it.

I agree Kenneling has ALWAYS worked for me. Although my rescue has started pooping in the kennel when I am at work, but I think that is a whole other topic lol.
Good luck!

Yes, absolutely and you can't be too tired to make an effort if you notice that there are signs that he has to go pottie. I always stayed tuned in and even if it was 3 am I always put her out to go do whatever she had to do. Everything I did worked and never a mess in the house. Taffy was a rescue at five weeks, I mean a real rescue, we had to get her out of that house immediately and bring her home. She is now l2 and just the best old dog ever.

Tick