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My puppy pees outside then pees inside!? What Do I Do?
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 phenomena…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.
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?
Maybe hanging out with your friends, eating dinner, 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 in 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?
Lets first start with:
Is This Normal?
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 or 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 squezy!
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!
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 a two quick tips to help keep your puppy from peeing outside then again inside:
- As mentioned earlier, always thoroughly cleanup 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 then 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 the his crate (we recommend the Midwest Life Stages Crates).
That’s all folks! Let me know if you have any questions.
My puppy pees outside then as soon as we come back inside he pees again!? What do i do?
Rylee says
We got a border collie blue heeler mix about a week ago he is going to be 12 weeks on Saturday and it seems as if he goes pee every 5 minutes and it’s reallt getting us down. To the point of giving him up because we can’t take the stress. We didn’t realize it was going to be this hard. Any tips and tricks could help. I read all of the comments. It’s tiring going outside every five minutes and we are becoming extremely discouraged like we won’t get there. It’s making us both miserable. He’s even peeing in his crate.
Shelly says
My 13-week old puppy does the same. However, he won’t pee in his crate. I think that he gets distracted too easily and doesn’t get all of his pee out when he goes. I ordered some of the doggy diapers (he is a male, so it is the belt) to use when he is in the house and out of his crate. This is an experiment. I have no idea if it will work. My thought is that he won’t want to pee on himself, so he won’t go while the diaper is on. If he starts peeing in the diaper, I won’t use it again. I’m grasping at straws now. Something has to work.
Colby says
We’ve never tried the doggy diapers with our puppies. Let us know how it goes.
Shelly says
Colby,
No accidents today with the puppy diaper (and it remained dry). I was also able to let him roam free downstairs. I’ve always had to keep a close watch on him, so this was very refreshing. This is day one. It may be a fluke that he had no accidents. He’s going to the door and ringing his bell to go outside. I am hopeful that he has made a turn in training.
My plan is to use the diaper until I feel that he is consistently going to the door to be let out. Then I will stop using the diaper.
Fingers crossed. Hang in there. This has been so frustrating.
Colby says
That’s great to hear! Hopefully the doggy diaper continues to do the trick for you.
Colby says
Congratulations on your new puppy! Here’s a post that might help with the accidents in the crate: https://puppyintraining.com/how-can-i-get-my-dog-to-stop-peeing-in-her-crate/. If he’s peeing every 5 minutes then it’s probably a good idea to have your veterinarian check him out to make sure he doesn’t have a urinary tract infection or any other health issues. One thing I haven’t mentioned before is if you’re in extreme weather it’s possible that your puppy is not getting it all out when outside because he wants to come back in to the house. If this is the case then you should do your best to give him extra time to “get it all out” or have an alternate spot for him to potty. Hopefully that helps. Good luck with your puppy!
Ted says
Our puppy is 9 weeks old. He won’t pee outside, but as soon as he gets inside, he squats. Today, we either held him or took him outside for a total of about 4 hours. He never went outside, but after that period of time – it was late and cold outside. He came in and within 2 minutes he peed. Any suggestions?
Shelly says
If he will go potty on something that you can take outside – towel, pee pad – take that outside once he has peed on it. If he smells it, maybe he will know to go outside.
Someone else may have better advice. It is worth a try.