I would like to know if there is anyone out there who have advice on getting your dog to stop urinating on the carpet when the kids forget to take him out? I bought some pads that he lays on, but he never goes on it. My friend told me to buy some type of spray that attracts the dog to the pad and then he will urinate on it, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. I'm trying to keep the dog without having to spend a lot of money putting down new flooring, or spend most of my free time cleaning after him. My children begged me for the dog in the first place, but they get lazy and don't want to walk him. I wish I had more time to do it all myself, now that it's more my dog now then my children's except when they want to play or cuddle with him.
You'll need to house-train the dog. It will take quite some time before the dog learns not to urinate either on the carpet or inside the house. At first, if you have the time, you'll need to watch your dog and anticipate when it's about to urinate and drag it outside. Do that a number of times until the dog learns to "signal" when they want to urinate. Once you get to that stage, you can start rewarding the dog with treats each time it urinates outside. Now [using the treats] condition it to go out each time it wants to urinate. Once it's learned that, cut out that treats.
Suggesting this can be a bit cruel but if your children are not too keen on walking the dog and you're busy with more important things, then why don't you place the dog in a cage? If you have a garden or lawn, let them roam around there. Your plants will benefit when they dispose of their waste. There's no need for you to do the cleaning and the smell will evaporate over time too.
Dogs, and even cats, are sort of like little children. They want to go to the toilet after a meal and after a nap. So make a practice of taking your dog to where it can do its business properly at the right times. If you cannot take your dog out every time, then take it to the toilet. I really mean the same toilet you use. It's a whole lot easier to clean up when your dog does it in the toilet.
If it is a housebreaking issue with the dog: 1) Clean all carpets/floor with an enzyme cleaner, the good stuff from a pet store. 2) Crate or leash the dog to you, taking him or her out on a regular basis. Treat for potty results in the correct place. Interrupt any potty attempts in inappropriate places. Leashing the dog to you helps because you pay attention to the dog's body language. 3) Once the dog is starting to get that it needs to relieve itself outdoors, get a bell or buzzer for the door you use to take it outside. Take the dog to the bell, ring the bell, go outside. In later steps, urge the dog to nudge the bell or hit it with a paw to ring it. Then take it outside. Eventually, the dog will ring the bell and then wait expectantly for you to open the door. This helps you notice when the dog needs out. For potty pad training, it's not instinctive to a dog. You essentially have to housebreak them the same way as outside, just with the potty pad being the place you take them to go. If the problem is with a male dog marking, you can use something called a belly band to protect your floor/furniture. A full bladder would defeat the belly band but if it's urine marking, the volume is typically lower. If the problem is that the dog tries to wait but can't because of the length of time involved, teaching it to ring the bell might work. Or you can train yourself and/or your kids to set an alarm at regular intervals to take the dog out. Or if you have a fenced yard, perhaps a doggie door?
It sounds to me like the real problem here is the children's lack of responsibility in taking care of the dog, and not the dog's bad behavior. Instead of trying to train the dog not to have to do his chores on the carpet, train the children to be taking the dog out when he has to go. If they are forgetting about taking the dog out; eventually, the poor dog has noother choice except to go in the house. I think if he is taken out properly, that will eliminate most of the problem. As for the carpet, use a carpet cleaner, and unless it is dark colored carpet, add some chlorine bleach to the water and this will kill the bacteria that causes the odor, as you clean the stains out of the floor. Then, it will not have the smell of urine anymore, and if the dog is able to go outside as often as he should; the problem should be solved.
You can do it by conditioning. In that you'd condition him that every time he feels like urinating, he'd go to that bathroom or toilet or in anywhere you'd designate a place for him to urinate. To do it, you're going to bring him wherever it is and reward him. The only hard thing is that you couldn't know when he's going to pee. It's the owner's job of course to figure it out. But believe me, it's really possible.
The best way to stop a dog from urinating in the carpet is to remove the carpet for certain number of days. I think it is very important that one understands that if the dog loses the practice it won't urinate on the carpet. You can put back as soon as it forgets the practice.
OP , I've seen the spray to attract your dog to the pee pads sold in Walmart. They also have carpet spray foam that you rub into pet stains with a wet rag ,let it dry and then vacuum up. Check the pet section for the pee training spray, and the cleaning products section for the pet stain carpet spray.
Dogs are a real challenge. Establishing a routine with your dog is also a great idea (in conjunction with the ideas above). You really have to make a commitment to training the dog at the beginning of life to make sure the process gets into their head of what they need to do to let you know they want to go outside. When my dog first gets up in the morning - go outside - she goes - after she eats breakfast - wait about an hour - take her outside - she goes. Middle of the day after the wakes up for a nap - take her out she goes - after dinner - wait an hour - take her out she goes - before bed - take her out and she goes. The cycle just repeats each day. Crate training is a good idea if you are not home during the day - immediately take your dog outside when you return home to get them in the habit of doing their business outside.
There's no easy way to train your dog to go outside, you need to follow a routine where you take him out three times a day and you definitely need to be consistent, and don't just take him outside and leave in for a few minutes, he need to get comfortable and sniff around till he find an appropriate place to go, it's just the thing that dogs do, if you don't have the time to put into a pet, especially a dog's, it's not good idea to get one, dogs are like little babies, another thing if dog is too old It might go inside because it can't hold it, and if it's to young, It might not be disciplined enough to go outside. Follow a routine and be consistent and you'll have your dog trained in no time.
It's unfair to expect the dog to work around the people instead of the other way around. They can't be expected to hold it until someone can finally get around to them. in my opinion, he'll continue to go where he's not supposed to because he's upset. He wants you to know he has to go, so he'll do it where it gets attention. ANY attention. It's not the dog that needs to change, it's the owners. I say, all of you come together to stick to a routine for your pet, or find the dog a home that has time for him and get a cat instead. Not trying to be harsh, but this poor dog has feelings and expecting too much of it isn't fair on him. He deserves proper care as any other living thing does.
