Peeing in the basement.
 

Jaeger is housetrained, and has been since he was a few months old. He has NEVER peed in the house, either of the houses she stays at. But within the last couple months he's been sneaking off to pee in the basement. He's not marking, he's taking a full out pee.

It's very 'earthy' down there. It smells like dirt and it's musty and the lawnmowers go down there so it smells a lot like the outdoors. Just not quite so fresh. But it's not okay to pee in! :rolleyes:


He's usually very good at letting someone know when he needs out, and I think the problem is while I was gone for a few weeks, nobody listened to him like I do and that might be how it started.

Obviously the easy fix is not letting him down there, but I want to fix the cause not the problem.

My plan of attack is totally bleaching and scrubbing down there, and giving him a new way to say he needs out, like bell training and letting him go whenever he jingles it, so he learns he won't be ignored and doesn't need to give up on us and pee elsewhere.
I'm also trying to figure out how to best show him the basement is just like any other part of the house and WE DON'T PEE DOWN THERE, like spending more time down there and doing things we do in the rest of the house.

I'm pretty sure I can handle this fine but I'm open to suggestions. Nobody is upset with him, we all know it's something we've done wrong, not him.

After cleaning completely and you will need something like natures miracle, try closing off the basement so he can't get to it. Start over like your potty training again by taking him out every hour..

Having outdoor type smells down there is probably giving him mixed signals.

Keep him out of there or change the smell. JMO.

I would let him out every two hours or so, not wait for him to ask.

If you clean the basement you need something to absorb the enzymes the dog can smell. Bleach will disinfect and take care of the odor we humans can smell but you'll need something like Nature's Miracle if you don't want the dog to pick up the scent.

Yep, I have something (I can't remember the name) that has enzymes to absorb it.

I'm going to try to bell thing like I'm potty training him all over again, though. Thanks guys.