Potty training all over again after moving to a new place?? PLEASE HELP!!

[ketters12]

So here is my situation- Tobey is now a little over 2 years old. He has only ever lived in one house since I brought him home. He was easy to potty train (got him as a puppy) and was trained to potty pads. he NEVER had an accident.

So my problem is that due to losing my job, I have moved in with two friends of mine who live in a townhouse with wall to wall cream carpeting. (trying to save a little money) My old house was all hardwood floors or tile with some thin rugs in some rooms. Now it seems that Tobey thinks the carpet is like one big potty pad! I am staying in the finished basement and his potty pad is in a storage room just off the finished room that we stay in ( just inside the door too). At first he was doing pretty good, but yesterday he had accidents all over the place. I use Nature's Miracle of course to clean the odor/spots up. I know I could try to confine him but he never had to be confined at our old house because he was totally trained and never destroyed anything. I tried to confine him to the basement, but he just whines and barks and I am worried he will bother the neighbors (also never had to worry about this living in a house before). Besides confining him, does anyone have any other ideas to discourage him from pottying on the carpet? I know how to train him because I have done it before. We have only been here a week. When we are downstairs and he goes to potty in the right place, I give him lots of praise and treats when he is done. But when I leave, he has accidents- usually on the main floor. Do you think he forgets to go downstairs? in our house, it was small and just one level.

Also- does anyone have experience with any carpet cleaning vacuums that you can buy? like, which ones work good? I feel bad because my roommates have gone out of their way to help me, so I would like to try and clean the carpet regularly if one of the carpet cleaners you can get at Target or Walmart work good. Please help- especially if you have experienced this where you have to re-train your dog to potty in a new place. Thanks so much!!

[QuickSilver]

Can you keep a potty pad upstairs as well, at least until he figures out the new sitch?

I've also heard of people putting the pee pad on a baking sheet or something similar to differentiate it from the rug. It probably does look all the same to him.

Good luck!

[LilMissy]

I have a Bissel ProHeat carpet cleaner, it's great. I think that you need to have a pee pad on each level of the home. Also, try to make sure he goes pee in the morning, before bed, after eating, when he first wakes up, and after playing. If you can't be there to do that then I think that you'll have to confine him. Sometimes you have to go back to square 1 unfortunately. Good luck!

[PrincessDiana]

When we moved we had to retrain our dogs completely. We watched them all the time, put up gates to confine them in the area/room we were in (we still do this), and took them out every 2 hours on the dot and made sure they pottied. When they did go we would praise and treat like crazy. It helps to find a treat that is really worth getting.. they catch on quick that way. We used cheese. It was different for us though because my dogs have been confined while we're away or asleep from day one. I'm not sure how you would go about properly retraining a dog without confining it. My suggestion would be a belly band while you're away so in case he does have accidents, it doesn't stain your carpet.

Any kind of transition is hard for a dog. Even my dogs, who I would consider fully potty trained, are having trouble with my roommates new dog. They now also sometimes pee in house so we're adjusting and dealing with that currently.

We have a portable steam cleaner that is perfect for cleaning up little stains as soon as they happen. An upright one would probably work better but would be more of a hassle considering you'd have to move all of your furniture and let it dry overnight before stepping on it. We have one of those also but only use it every couple of months. The portable one is out every day and used quite frequently. Aside from dogs it's great for any kind of spill. The one we have is Walmart.com: Bissell Little Green ProHeat TurboBrush Pet: Appliances Just soak up the pee, saturate the stain with Nature's Miracle and let dry for 24-48 hours. Then go over the stain with the steam cleaner. I don't like the pet solutions.. they don't seem to work as well. We use Woolite Deep OxyClean or just plain OxyClean mixed with water and it does a great job of getting stains out.

Good luck! Let me know if you have any more questions. :animal-p

[Coco Pebbles]

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[CaamyD]

Wow, I was just signing on to post this very same topic. I too just moved and it's like having her brand new all over again

Good luck...

[sbajaj1]

We just moved a few months ago and had similar issues with Charlie. Our situation was reverse in that we had a one bedroom apartment that was one level and all berber carpet and now we have a two level place with hardwood floors and tile on level one and plush carpet on level two. We had to retrain Charlie all over again.

I've found that it helps to limit him to where we are so we can keep an eye on him. He doesn't have free reign of the house when we're sleeping or out, he's restricted to the bedroom. When we're home, he's restricted to the first floor. I gate off our bedroom and keep the guest bedroom door closed. That way if he runs upstairs when I'm on level one, he gets bored quickly and comes back down. Each area - level one, master bedroom, and guest bedroom - has a designated area where his pad is so he knows to go there when he needs to pee/potty.

This has been working out great over the past few months and he's adjusted well to the new place. Hope this helps!