[Namor]

I need some ideas. We moved to a new house that is on one level. Deuce is almost six and had the luxury of having a pee pad in the basement work room of our old home for just in case but is outdoor potty trained successfully. He did use the pee pad when we were not home or when he was stressed by the mailman or dogs passing the house. Here at the lakehouse life is usually calm. We have wood floors and no basement so we decided to drop the pee pad luxury. We paid attention to his needs, he spends more time outdoors so it seemed to be working. Initially I noticed a pee puddle in the front entry hall on rare occasions when the grandkids were here. We cleaned it up. I figured he was stressed. Then We put a entry rug by the front door when guests came and apparently Deuce thought that was his pee pad and began piddling there unknown to me. One day I lifted the rug and saw the evidence on the rubber side so I removed the rug. Now I've been cleaning up pee in the entry hall for the past few days perhaps once a day.

I need some solutions but I do have some ideas so please comment and add to my thoughts. I really do not have the space for pee pads in this house so I want that to be the last resort.

Solutions:
I will block off the front entry hall. Construct a portable gate as I did for the upstairs guest rooms. (Two rooms have rugs. He will go in and mark them if he gets up there)

Clean the hall with the enzyme cleaner before I gate it.

Trash the little rug and start over. It was an inexpensive Costco rug so no big deal.

Put a Buddy belt on him when guests are here. (Where can I get some cute ones?)

Take him out every two hours as a new training commitment, praise, reward. (But if I do that will he then expect to go out so often and when we are out have a problem?)

Should I confine him in a Portable playpen or in the mudroom? It's just that the mudroom is boring. He can't even see outside from there. Maybe I shouldn't even worry about that since he tends to sleep when we're gone and it seems he pees when we're here. When I'm here he likes to watch me.

Try to teach him to signal us when he has to go potty. I once tried to use the bell but he was afraid of it. Should I try it again?

Thanks for your time. I know we can teach an adolescent dog new tricks!