My Puppy Pees Outside Then Pees Inside!?!? Please, Stop The Madness!
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What do you do when your puppy pees outside then pees inside the house? Why does he have to pee twice…sometimes thrice in a matter of minutes!?
I already raised 2 puppies before I witnessed this phenomenon…or maybe I was somewhat oblivious raising and training Linus and Stetson (chalked it up as a regular potty accident)…or maybe I was more aware of what was going on (catching the potty accident before it happened).
Anyhow Derby was the puppy that introduced me to the wonderful world of “My puppy pees outside then immediately pees inside! What the heck!?!?“
QUICK TIP: If your puppy has an accident in the house it’s important to clean it up with an enzymatic cleaner so your puppy won’t be able to smell the potty spot and be tempted to pee there a second or third time. We recommend Rocco & Roxie Stain and Odor Eliminator for cleaning up potty accidents.
Shouldn’t I feel safe from potty accidents if my puppy already went potty?
Apparently, the answer to that question is a resounding “NO!!!”
If you recently brought home an 8-week-old puppy then you probably know what I’m talking about. The good news is you’re not alone.
This is a common puppy potty training problem, but the question now is why does my puppy do this and what can I do to prevent it from happening.
Look no further true believer (my inner Stan Lee coming out) as we present the solution to one of puppy’s little mysteries.
QUICK ACCESS: If you’re having puppy training problems then you should join our Puppy Training Tips email list and get instant access to our New Puppy Owner Checklist PDF. To get started CLICK HERE.
Why Does My Puppy Pee Outside Then Immediately Pee Inside The House?
If you go back to my posts on how to crate train a puppy and how to potty train a puppy (you should go through both of these articles if you haven’t already mastered potty training your puppy) and sift through the hundreds of comments you’ll find the answer to this question on several occasions.
Today, you get the blog post version of that answer with awesome pictures illustrating the madness.
Actually, I don’t think I have any good pics illustrating the madness, but maybe a cute puppy pic or two 🙂
The answer to this one is simple: Your puppy lacks bladder control.
Your puppy has only been in this world for 8 weeks.
What were you doing 8 weeks ago?
You are maybe hanging out with your friends, eating dinner, or having a drink.
This puppy was still in his mother’s womb 8 weeks ago and unfortunately, his bladder is not yet fully developed.
So what’s going on here:
- Your puppy finishes eating breakfast (we feed our puppies Wellness Core Puppy Formula) and you think this is probably a good time to give him a chance to potty.
- You take him outside to his potty spot and voila! He pees, you praise. Everyone is happy. Until…
- You step back into the house and immediately your puppy squats and another piddle underneath him. What the heck!?!
- Is this normal? Why did this happen? What can you do to correct this problem?
Let’s first start with:
Is This Normal For My Puppy To Pee After Going Outside?
Yes, this is totally normal. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. This happens all the time as witnessed by ME with dozens of puppies to my resume and as written all over this blog by you: the READERS.
Why Did This Happen?
At 8 weeks of age your puppy does not have full control of his bladder. This means when you take him outside and he goes pee he does not always “get it all out” Almost as soon as you get him back in the house: squat, piddle, UGGHHH!!!!
A puppy not having full control of his bladder explains many of the puppy potty training mysteries.
Just think back to other accidents your puppy has had around the house.
Sometimes it’s difficult to predict potty accidents because your puppy doesn’t exactly know when he’s going to have to potty until that very moment.
QUICK RECOMMENDATION: If you’re having problems training your puppy we recommend Puppies for Dummies. This book will give you a solid foundation on how to raise and train your puppy. By the way, did I mention this was the first book we purchased before bringing home our first puppy, Linus?
What Can You Do To Correct This Problem?
The answer to correcting this infamous (if you’ve seen The Three Amigos then you know what this means) behavior:
After your puppy does his business outside you praise him and then give him another few minutes to make sure he “got it all out”. There’s a good chance he’ll piddle a second time. If so, rinse, wash, and repeat till he “gets it all out”.
Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy!
While the answer to why a puppy pees outside then pees inside is not all that much of a mystery I think what we were all wondering is Is This Normal Behavior For A Puppy?
Yes, your puppy is normal.
The good news is as your puppy gets older he will have better control of his bladder which equals fewer accidents in the house and eventually “getting it all out” in one squatting.
This coupled with teaching him the proper place to potty will have your puppy house trained in no time!
QUICK RECOMMENDATION: We recently started training our puppies to alert us when they have to go potty by using a potty training doorbell called the Smart Bell. It requires a little bit of training, but it’s a good alternative to your dog scratching up the backdoor.
One last thing to mention. We have on occasion come across puppies with bladder infections.
If you think this might be a possibility you should take your puppy to your veterinarian for a checkup.
That’s it folks! What do you think? Did we nip this one in the bud?
Do you have any other puppy potty training questions?
Do you have any puppy potty training answers?
Tell us about your experiences in the comment section below.
Before ending this article let me give you two quick tips to help keep your puppy from peeing outside and then again inside:
- As mentioned earlier, always thoroughly clean up when your pup has an accident with an enzymatic cleaner like Rocco & Roxie’s Stain and Odor Eliminator. Your puppy’s nose is thousands of times more powerful than yours and if he can smell urine he’ll want to pee in that spot again.
- Manage your puppy’s behavior 100% of the time and you will probably catch that second potty accident before it happens although it can be tough because I usually let my guard down after my pup pees outside. If you can’t watch your pup when you get back in the house let him get some alone time in his crate (we recommend the Midwest Life Stages Crates).
That’s all folks! Let me know if you have any questions.
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I have a 5 month old puppy and she peed inside after I took her out. Yes I gave her plenty of time to go outside. Yes I clean inside with enzymatic cleaner and she still goes in the same area. Isn’t she getting too old for this? How do I stop this from happening? She seems perfectly comfortable going outside. There is no reason for her to go inside.
Most of the answers on this site seem well suited for the generic puppy but don’t seem to address the issues of the commenters here and on other articles concerning puppies that pee within a short time of coming back inside. Out West Highland terrier, male, is 14 weeks old and the issue is getting worse especially the last 2 days. We have followed every suggestion in several books about positive reinforcement when outside, keeping a constant eye on the puppy when inside, etc. We take him out, he has no problem peeing. We have stayed out for an additional 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes and each time he has peed within a short time of coming back inside. No warning. Playing with his toys with one of us sitting within 3 to 4 feet. He will stand up and go to the gate and let go. Hold it in at night from 10 to 4am with no problem. It has been a rare occasion when he has actually peed twice outside in the same session. This seems to me to be a behavioral issue of some sort but I can’t figure it out. I don’t think reading Puppies for Dummies another time will be a big help. Has anyone else commenting on this site have an answer as to something that helped them.
We have the same issue!!! I have no clue how to fix it 😕
Hi There,
Great info on the article. My puppy is 4 1/2 mns old. Kennel training and still potty training. Though sometimes I get off track because of my job. She still piddles in the house even after spending time with her outside. It is frustrating, I’m not sure how else to fix it. Even after spending quite a bit of time with her outside, still piddles by the front or back door and does not communicate when she needs to go out. :/
How can I train her better with communicating the need to go outside and how do I get her to stop piddling after we come inside?
TIA
Recently got a 5 month GSD. Seems to be house trained except for peeing and poop. People I got him from said he was potty trained but he never notifies he has to go. Take him out right after his meals and try about every 1-2 hours but he will still do business in the house. Had him checked by vet but voiding issue wasn’t discussed.
You’ll want to start potty training him from the beginning. Here’s an article you might find helpful: https://puppyintraining.com/how-to-potty-train-a-puppy/
Hi, we have now 15 weeks old puppy. We have been potty training her outside yard and so far that’s working out great but we are still having problem potty training inside (She mainly stays in the living room). And especially when she enters bedrooms, she pees so we are afraid to take her to our bedrooms.
How can we train her inside the house and also in other rooms like bedrooms?
Here’s our post on how to potty train a puppy. Hopefully that helps. Good luck with your training.