Dog troubles!

Disrupter

So, I have a dog. He is awesome. He is pretty much a badass and I love him.

But, he has a problem where he constantly wants to pee upstairs on the carpet in front of our office. We are in the middle of trying to solve the issue. We bought a gate which we put on the stairs to stop him from going up there. However, at night hes always shared a bed with us, and we dont want to lock him downstairs all night. So we let him upstairs and lock him in our room.

So far so good.

But, the thing is, he REALLY wants to pee there.

Cut to this morning, Im leaving for work and he hides under the bed and wont come downstairs. I try to get him to go outside with promises of treats and other tatics that normally work. So I try to go grab his leash with a promise of a walk. I make the mistake of leaving the door open. When I come back up I see him run back into our room and under the bed.

Crap.

So I check the office door and sure enough, he pissed there.

Is there a chemical or something we can put there to deter him? Whats the best course of action? He is my first dog and Ive only lived with him for about 9 months so I am no expert. He his a chihuahua and I hear small dogs have issues with sneaking off to do their business inside.

I admit we could be better at letting him outside/ walks (which we are working on) But with the shananigans he pulled this morning Im not sure that would help. He seems like his only desire in life is to pee on that carpet.

From now on we have a plan where the first person up will immediately bring him downstairs/outside and then not let him back up, so he doesnt have time to hide. But then again, he may catch on and start hiding earlier...

Then we will have to lock him downstairs all night which would make me sad. So, any help would be wonderful.

MushroomStick

You need to really deep clean the carpet. It might even come down to tearing it up. If he can smell even the slightest trace of piss, he's going to think that's the place for it.

Dr. Frenchenstein

there are enzyme cleaners that (allegedly) clear up the scent. but he probably knows the spot regardless now. Just be diligent on keeping him out of there, one slip up doesn't mean all your work so far was for nothing.

Noxy

We were having this problem a few weeks ago. Our dog trainer told us to try putting a food bowl, with food in it, near the area. We did and now he has not drained upstairs since. It was getting really frustrating.

Since then we have deeply cleaned the carpets in a few spots and resorted to having a total of three dog bowls in the house. His training is going much more smoothly now.

Canada_jezus

When my dog messes on the carpet i go to town on that puddle with water and vinegar. Vinegar is pretty much fantastic against animal smells.

Pel

You need to catch him in the act. For whatever reason, he probably believes that this is the best place to piddle, and cleaning the smell will probably not deter him: he has established a pattern of behavior already. Make absolutely sure he does not have unsupervised access to the trouble area at any time. Make absolutely sure that if he attempts to pee there again, you catch him and scold him. If this means that you have to more tightly control the times of day when he eats and drinks, do it. If it means you have to keep him crated until hes ready to go outside, do it. He will become accustomed to a new routine in a few days, and that's when the smell thing might become an issue, but getting rid of the smell alone will not work, unless his previous accidents were just that: accidents, rather than what it sounds like, which is him choosing that particular spot to pee.

HK5

There are indeed chemical deterrents that keep dogs out of certain areas.

http://www.odordestroyer.com/category/DogRepellents.html

There are also auditory repellents that might be more effective if the spray doesn't work.

illig

You need to clean the carpet thoroughly with an enzymatic cleaner. I suggest Natures Miracle. Do not use an ammonia based cleaner BC that just smells like more pee to the dog.

If you don't clean it properly, the dog will be able to smell his earlier accidents, and will think that that continues to be a valid bathroom area.

Disrupter

Thanks for the advice. He is really being a snot about this. He whines to go outside and refuses to go out back to do his business, he is whining at the gate to go upstairs. He used to respond to us saying "outside?" by running to the door, but since we limited his access to his pee spot upstairs he runs to the gate.

We have circumvented this by taking him on walks instead of just letting him out back on his leash. He enjoys walks more then peeing in his spot it seems.

We will break the habbit while we deal with the smell issue. I will look into the cleaners suggested here. It shouldnt be too hard to keep him from that spot not that we know he is a dick and will do whatever he can to get there.