I am a new Husky mommy and it's not like being a mom to any other dog! Our Buddy around 8 months and he is smart! He obeys no word commands, he's a trooper in the car, takes a bath without any problems and knows where his leash is. He will even go to the dinning room and sit right below it and look up at and then go to the door and scratch on it....ONLY when he wishes to go frolic in the snow and run around. However, when he needs to go potty, that is an entirely different story. He will just trot off down the hall and pee. He knows he isn't suppose to, because when myself or his daddy find the mess, he runs and hides. We have tried so many tactics and nothing has stuck. Please fellow husky parents, any and all advice will be helpful!

Hmmm 8 months old he shouldn’t be doing that. How long have you had him? Is this something he has always done, or did it just start? Is he neutered? Has his schedule or home life changed recently?

When I was potty training, first I would watch for signs, after eating/drinking, playing and napping it would be right outside to potty. When he goes outside, I would give him lots of praise, sometimes treats. If he has an accident inside and I catch him, I give him a yell NO and take him right outside. If I find it later I do nothing but clean it with a good cleaner, like Nature’s Miracle. Normal cleaners will NOT take the urine smell out.

Huskies are pretty sensitive when it comes to change, so if his schedule is messed up it could cause him to revert. It’s also possible he is marking if he isn’t neutered.

We have had him since he was 11 weeks old. His breeders said he was definitely over stimulated, which explains his habit of being aggressive, but this peeing in the house is nonsense. His schedule and living situation hasn't changed. I am home all day and his daddy is at work. I take him to the dog park everyday for a few hours so he can run off and play. We have a crate for him as well. It seems if we do not react, he takes it as an invite to continue to pee wherever he wants, yet when we do react, he responds aggressively, so we don't scold him anymore. We just clean up the mess and take him outside. It's becoming extremely exhausting for the both of us, especially me since I am alone with him from 7 in the morning till 5 in the evening.

Wow, well I would continue to scold him when you catch him in the act. What I did was just yell NO real loud and say POTTY OUTSIDE! If he talks back or responds aggressive, give him a time out or something.

Does he pee a lot during the day? Has he done this ever since you had him?

You could also talk to a professional trainer. Other than what I used I am not sure why he would still pee in the house on a regular basis.

I would keep a leash on him and when he goes, tug it, sternly say no, and quickly lead him outside.

Is he fixed?

Yes he is fixed. We did that about 6 weeks ago. We have tried rubbing his nose in his mess, which from almost every dog owner I have spoken to, worked right away. We were hesitant on that tactic, but went ahead and tried it. That doesn't seem to faze him. Sure he doesn't like it, but then the next day or that evening, he pees. Also, he poops in the house. Ugh....He has been making accidents in the house since we got him. Sure it's let up since he was a little pup, but I don't think more than 3 or 4 days has gone by that he doesn't make a mess, or numerous messes in the house. For instance today, he has made 2.

HI There

IMO I don't think rubbing his nose in his mess is the cure, the problem is if he has urinated in a particular place he will be attracted to go there again regardless of cleaning products used. I have heard vinegar spray can eliminate the odor but not tried it myself.

is it in any particular room? if so as suggested above keep him on a lead and if you are in you are watching tv or what not, keep him on a very short lead ensuring he has been to the toilet before entering the room and when leaving the room after a lengthy period take him straight outside.

I would also suggest when he does mess in the house, assuming you catch him in the act give him a lengthy time out somewhere he cannot see any of you and of course not damage any of your property while he throws his tantrum and only leaving him out once he has settled down.

I agree with Colin, rubbing his nose in his accident isn't the answer - the dog isn't human, he doesn't see things as right and wrong. Just grab him, take him outside and encourage him to finish there. Even when he has emptied his blatter, take him outside, he needs to associate peeing and pooping with the outdoors.

How often are you taking him out?
Is he doing this after a nap or play?

Dogs really aren't spiteful, so I found no reason to punish mine for potty training, I just picked him up and took him outside and watching him better the next time. probably 8 times out of 10, It was my error, because I didn't take him out after every activity (sleep, drinking, playing) and it's so important with newly potty- trained dogs...not saying you aren't paying attention, just that I caught myself getting lazy.

Roo only goes inside when we don't see her at the backdoor (she doesn't scratch) or when we she's bored/ hasn't been exercised for the day. She knows she shouldn't be doing it and sometimes she does it right in front of us, then runs away. I think it's for attention, but she knows better.

To train Roo, we would bring her out often (when she wakes up in the morning, after all meals, and every 45-60 minutes) and just let her walk around. Every time she went we'd praise her. I'd try interval training. If she's outside more than she's in it's less likely she'll go inside!

We have him on a regular daily schedule. All the while I am keeping an eye on him throughout the day. He mostly stays in any room I am in. He likes to be wherever I am. He favors the two hallways and that is where he does his messes. We have had the carpets professionally cleaned twice, but to no avail the smell is there. It's so bad it's already soaked through the padding because he is constantly making messes in the house. We are resorting to taking out our carpeting within the next few months. He is so smart and I know he isn't doing this on purpose or out of spite. But for heavens sake! When he goes outside he is praised, and when he does this in the house he is immediately put on time out away from everyone else. Yet, here we are....I am not giving up on him. He is our pup and we love him to pieces.

We kept a little journal of what was going in and when it comes out. We know that if she drinks a bowl of water then she needs to go outside in an hour. At first when we went out in the yard for potty breaks, we actually went in the leash with lots of praise and high value treats for pees and poops. Now we have it down to a science.

If he tends to favor the hallways, do you think you could keep him away from there while you work on his housebreaking in other parts of the house? If there is a room he doesn't like to/never soils, try keeping him in there, walking him though the rest of the house outside to pee. Then expand the area he's allowed in, adjusting the physical barriers to open up the house as it gets better.
That's what I had to do with mine, she would run away and potty too but never soil my room. After a week and a half of 2-4 accidents a day (even taking her out after meals, food, water, and every 30min-hour), we came up with this method and we've been accident free since Christmas! But obviously I was working from scratch and not with a pup that has real potty issues. I don't want to sound like I think your problem is easy or that this is a good fix, just a suggestion based in what worked for me!
Also, having a leash on at all times helps with interrupting their business, as Heather said.
You said he goes directly into timeout, does that mean you don't take him out to finish first? If you can interrupt him and make him finish outside (sometimes this took me standing outside for a good 30 mins if she finished her business inside before I could stop her lol), that might help. Just don't let it become playtime. I kept her on a short leash in plain old dirt with no crinkly leaves or anything fun until she peed and then we played and treated.

If it makes you feel better, Embry constantly used puppy pads until he was 9 months old It just never clicked with him. It was really weird how we potty trained him though. When he hit 9 months we moved out of our house into a new one, he all of a sudden knew to go out and maybe had a handful of accidents in the last 3 years.

You could try steam cleaning your carpets, I'm sure his smell is still lingering in there which is why he's consistently going in the hallway.

Sheba took forever to catch on to potty training, likes months into training. I have NEVER had that kind of trouble, so I tried EVERYTHING! She was oh so smart about it, it was just my fault most of the time. She would sit by the door for maybe three seconds, and if I didn't see her, she peed by the door. She is a little over 8 months old and we still have occasional accidents, but nothing like you are describing.

Honestly I would take him to the vet if this is a new thing. If my girl started peeing all over the place, the first place I'd be going is the vets, just to make sure. I would consult a behaviorist. To me it sounds like something is off with his behavior, not training. And I'd get new carpet lol. Since his smell is like ingrained in the carpet you should keep him away from that area like someone stated above me.

Well, what makes things a little difficult for our gang, is we don't have a yard. So taking him outside means two flights of stairs and walking, which of course a husky loves. So, therefore when we take him outside it isn't just an opening of a door and standing there watching from a distance while he does his business. We knew this was going to be a challenge when we got him, but thankfully I am home full time and the dog park is a 5 minute drive away. We have had the carpets steam cleaned twice, but sadly he has made so many accidents over the months, the padding is soaked with his scent. We use a non toxic enzyme spray which works in the short run, but not for the long hall with accidents. I am going to start keeping a leash by my side at all times. His little signals are odd for a dog. He will come up to you and sit and just look at you, and then put his paw on your lap. Now, this means one of two things and I always assume it's to go potty. The other is he just wants to play. However sadly, I will take him out and after a nice 20-30 walk I bring him inside and within a half hour he pees or poops in the house. Another issue that has come to my attention, which is of another problem entirely is he LOVES TO BITE MY HANDS, ARMS, LEGS....Anything he can get a hold of he does it. I say NO sternly and this just instigates him to continue his biting and nipping. If I walk away and ignore him, he jumps on my back and scratches me with his paws....Yes, it seems we have a tough Husky on our hands.

I would recommend taking him to the vet and clearing him for possible urinary tract infection, bladder or kidney stuff before taking a complete behavioral approach. My vet tried telling me for awhile it was that mine was drinking too much and it was a training issue. I finally insisted on urinalysis and low and behold it was a UTI. Once the UTI was treated he never peed in the house again.

Totally agree with the UTI thing. If he's peeing and then acting ashamed when he does it's probably not on purpose. And speaking as someone who's had a UTI once or twice, you can go from not needing to urinate at all to 'wet yourself' levels of urgency in minutes.

Tesla went though a similar phase at about 9 months, but his was definitely a spurt of rebellion. He'd square up and mark doorways while we were looking at him, then stare right at us when he was done.

I will go ahead and tell my fiance about this and see about taking him to the vet. Oh wow, Dan! Your pup would look at you when he was done marking his territory? Well, our pup is definitely in a spurt of rebellion. Sort of like he is seeing what he can get away with. Pushing the envelope for sure.

Yeah, it was a pretty funny time period. Tesla is usually so laid back and is the most naturally beta animal I've ever met. But on the rare occasion that he decides he's in charge, he does so brazenly and with gusto!

My favorite occurrence (in hindsight, of course) was one time when he didn't want to leave the park yet. I called him over and he trotted towards me until he was just out of my reach. Then he took off in the opposite direction about 15 yards and started doing that classic "I'm better than you" trot that huskies do. I was in a hurry, so I had to chase him. He just led me around the park for 10 minutes doing that trot and making for damn sure everyone else saw him doing it.

That sounds exactly like my Husky! The only way I can get him to come back to the car when we are at the dog park is to catch him when he is playing with another dog and have my leash on hand to put back on him. He is great when we go on the trails off leash. He stays about 10 yards ahead of me and always turns back to make sure I am there and if he goes running off and I call him, he immediately returns without hesitation. Which I find odd because one of the main rules of Husky ownership from what I have read is never have them off a leash. Lol!

BuddyLoveHusky wrote:

That sounds exactly like my Husky! The only way I can get him to come back to the car when we are at the dog park is to catch him when he is playing with another dog and have my leash on hand to put back on him. He is great when we go on the trails off leash. He stays about 10 yards ahead of me and always turns back to make sure I am there and if he goes running off and I call him, he immediately returns without hesitation. Which I find odd because one of the main rules of Husky ownership from what I have read is never have them off a leash. Lol!

Well the reason they're a bad off leash dog isn't because 'they normally always come', its because of the one time they don't come, and then they're never seen again. Plus 8 months is a rebellious stage, I wouldn't trust him off a leash. Just my opinion.

I had a lot of problems housebreaking Balon, more so then any dog I have ever owned. To the point my vet thought he had a rare medical problem lol. He doesn't, unless being stubborn is a rare medical problem. This dog would just walk and pee! What I did, is I made a chart, anytime he went outside we wrote it down. If he had an accident we wrote that down too and what time. I started realizing that he just needed to go out more, who knows why. He is almost one year old now and 99% reliable. Which really means if someone doesn't catch his signal, he'll have an accident lol. During a UTI screen they did find some sort of bacteria, they put him on oral antibiotics for 3 weeks. Really not sure it helped, but taking him out a lot sure did lol.

I think what made it worse is that my lab (now 18 months) was completely trainined by 4 months, 0 accidents lol.