It’s never a pleasant experience when your dog steps in its own pee, especially if it happens frequently with a puppy. But why do dogs do this, and how can you prevent it?
The answer is simple: dogs, especially puppies, often step in their own pee due to a lack of awareness or house training. To address this issue, you can pick up your puppy immediately after they pee, provide better house training, and use positive reinforcement. If your dog does step in their own pee, wash their paws with shampoo and dry them thoroughly.
In this article, we’ll explore the possible reasons behind this behavior and how to address it. By identifying the root cause and implementing effective training techniques, you can help your furry friend avoid this unpleasant experience.
Why does your dog step in his pee?
Potty training is the most important piece of training in order to keep a dog inside the house. If not, how are you gonna keep your house stink-free from your dog?
Of course, potty training is not just something that trains a dog to pee at the right place at the right time. It also trains a dog to avoid urinating on himself or keeping the dog from stepping in its own pee.
If a dog steps in its own urine or walks through its urine after urinating, this dude is gonna stink the whole house as he walks around the house. That’s terrible!
First, let’s find out the reasons for this matter.
1. Lack of consciousness.
In general, most puppies do this due to the lack of consciousness about stepping in their own pee. Precisely, they’re too young to be conscious about such a thing, just like human babies do.
Of course, this is part of being a puppy.
2. Lack of potty training.
If your dog is not well potty trained, he wouldn’t mind walking through its pee puddle or pee pad.
Sometimes this can happen even your dog is an adult one.
As you can see, there are not many reasons for this issue. It’s all about training them not to do that,
How to stop dog from stepping in pee?
1. Pick the puppy up.
As I mentioned earlier, it’s almost impossible to keep a puppy from stepping in its pee, just like human babies do.
All you gotta do is wait until he finishes his business, pick him up immediately so he won’t have any chance to step in the puddle or the pee pad.
I know this is temporary. But, it’s something sensible to do till the puppy gets trained. In the meantime, consider working on the training process.
In fact, picking the puppy up and keeping him away from the puddle/pee pad is better than your puppy stepping in the pee and tracking the whole house, resulting from stinking the house.
2. A better house training.
As I discussed earlier, you don’t need to mind about this behavior if he is still a puppy.
With regards to an adult dog, it’s quite tough to house train them, especially if the dog is recently rescued.
So, there is not much to do about it when it comes to a puppy; proceeding with the potty training, taking him outside at the right time, and following up with some good practices are the best way to address this.
Being consistent with this can give faster results,
3. Positive reinforcement.
It doesn’t matter whether your pet is a puppy or an adult dog; if he steps in the pee, just say
“Come here buddy”
Remember not to price or cuddle for this behavior. Use a little bit of puppy/dog shampoo and wash its paws; dry the paws. After that, let him do whatever thing he wants.
If the dog doesn’t step in the puddle/pee-pad, say
“Good boyyyyy, you didn’t step in the puddle/pee-pad, come here my babyyyy…..”
Then, give him a lot of treats, cuddles, and belly rubs.
I know this won’t give faster results. But, it does reinforce positive behavior. At first, they will be confused. But I’m pretty sure that being consistent with this for at least two weeks will pay off.
So, this method can be used as a positive reinforcement method. But, it takes a little bit longer time. We know that some dogs don’t like to get their paws wet, so we can see faster results from such dogs.
What should you do if your dog stepped in its pee?
As I mentioned earlier, it’s a pretty common thing for puppies to step in their pee.
The first thing to do is clean its paws, just like explained under positive reinforcement in the above section.
Alternatively, you can use some doggy sanitary napkins and wipe their paws. Remember that these wipes are doggy-specific wipes. If you can buy a considerable amount of them, it will be useful.
Because these doggy wipes are really handy when you take your dog out for potty. Because you can clean their legs before entering the house.
If your puppy intentionally tries to step in the pee pad, consider keeping the puppy away from the pee pad as soon as possible.
Say, for instance, your dog stepped in pee and track the whole house, now you gotta clean the floor wherever he left his pawprints.
But, ensure to clean the floor with enzyme cleaners. Because you cannot remove the urine odor without enzyme cleaners.
If not, what happens? Dogs tend to pee again and again in the same place where they were eliminated the previous time. They find that place from the odor. Because that odor influences them to pee, especially puppies with small bladders tend to eliminate pretty often.
Things to be aware of.
Here are some useful things to be aware of.
Crate training: Crate training is a must to train puppies to control their bladder. But, make sure the puppy is not less than 8 weeks old.
Vaccinations: Think twice before taking your unvaccinated puppy outside. Because it’s pretty dangerous for them to be exposed to the outside world due to deadly viruses like Parvo and other Bacteria. Also, Parvo can live on concrete for 9-12 months.
Don’t yell: If your dog steps in the pee, yelling is not an option. Instead, be patient and consistent with the training.
Bathing: Don’t even think about bathing your dog every time he steps in a pee puddle or pee pad.
Conclusion.
Stepping in pee is one of the annoying things puppies do. Sometimes even adult dogs do this. In this article, we’ve discussed why they do that and what to do about that. Hope you found this helpful.
