Toilet Training Problems With Dogs
Few things put a strain on your relationship with your dog quite like finding a puddle or worse in the house. Whether it's a new puppy, a rescue, or even a dog you've had for years, toilet mishaps inside the home can lead to upset, frustration, and even shame, especially when they happen regularly.
Beyond Puppies: When Toilet Issues Continue
When people think of toilet training problems, their minds usually jump to puppies. It’s true that most dogs need several weeks, if not months, of consistent training to fully understand where they should and shouldn’t relieve themselves. But some dogs continue to struggle well beyond their puppy months, and this is where owners often feel lost.
You might have a young adult dog that’s still not completely reliable indoors. Or maybe your dog seems fine during the day, but you wake up to accidents in the morning. Perhaps the issue only occurs when you’re out. In my work over the years, I’ve seen all of these situations and more.
Some dogs are simply left too long to manage their needs, especially if their internal routine isn’t quite aligned with yours yet. Others may have learned bad habits early on or never quite grasped the link between going outside and receiving praise or reward.
But here’s where things can get even more interesting, and more complicated.
Is it Toilet Training, or Something Else Entirely?
One of the key distinctions I always make early on with clients is between toilet training problems and elimination caused by stress or anxiety.
Inappropriate urination or defecation doesn’t always mean a dog is poorly trained. It may mean your dog is distressed.
Take separation anxiety, for instance. While it’s not the only cause of toileting in the home, it’s one of the most overlooked.
A significant percentage of the behavioural cases I take on involve some level of separation anxiety. For those dogs, the problem is not about toileting per se, it’s a symptom of a much deeper emotional struggle.
What Separation Anxiety Really Looks Like
When most dogs are left alone, they’ll find a spot to curl up and go to sleep. They might grumble or sniff around a bit first, but after a few minutes, the house settles.
But for a dog suffering with separation anxiety, those quiet moments never come.
The dog is left confused, panicked, and unsure whether their family will ever return. The level of stress this causes isn’t just emotional, it’s physical. Dogs in this state may:
Bark, howl, or whine relentlessly
Salivate excessively
Pace or spin compulsively
Vomit or lose control of their bowels
Scratch at doors and windows in desperation
Chew or destroy furniture, crates, or even plasterboard
In some extreme cases, refuse food entirely or slip into a depressive state
Toilet mishaps are just one of the ways this stress leaks out, sometimes quite literally.
It’s why it’s so important to consider context. If your dog always toilets indoors when you’re out but is fine when you’re home, we’re likely not dealing with poor toilet training. We’re dealing with a dog who’s emotionally overwhelmed by your absence.
Why Some Dogs Struggle More Than Others
Just like people, every dog is a product of both nature and nurture. Genetics, early life experiences, socialisation, and daily routine all play a part.
Some dogs are naturally more anxious or sensitive, while others might have had a rocky start, perhaps they were taken from their mother too early, passed around between homes, or lacked exposure to the everyday world in those critical early weeks.
Others may have bonded intensely with their primary caregiver and now struggle to cope without them. In fact, over-bonding is one of the most common precursors to separation issues, especially in households where a dog has constant access to one person 24/7.
It’s worth considering:
Has your dog ever been left alone for any significant amount of time?
Was toilet training consistent from the beginning?
Are they particularly clingy, following you from room to room or becoming distressed when you're out of sight?
Did the problems start recently, perhaps after a change in routine, a house move, or a family member leaving?
Each of these can be important clues. And sometimes, the issue isn’t just one thing. It’s a blend of factors that require a more nuanced approach.
Marking vs. Toileting, Not the Same Thing
Another mistake I often see is owners confusing indoor urination with marking.
Marking is typically a small squirt of urine on vertical surfaces, doors, chairs, bags, or even your bed. This is more likely to be driven by territorial behaviour, often stress-related, and can occur in both male and female dogs (though it’s more common in males, especially intact ones).
Whereas toileting accidents tend to involve full emptying of the bladder or bowels and are more about a lack of control than a statement.
The solutions, naturally, are quite different. Which is why making the right diagnosis is key.
Avoiding the Common Traps
One of the biggest traps owners fall into when dealing with indoor messes is reacting with frustration or anger. It’s natural, you’ve just stepped in something unpleasant, and emotions are running high.
Even a single angry outburst after finding an accident can damage your dog’s trust and increase anxiety, which can ironically increase the likelihood of future accidents.
Dogs don’t associate the act of toileting with punishment unless they’re caught in the act, and even then, the message they receive is more about fear and confusion than correction.
A calm, composed response (even when that’s the last thing you feel like giving) is always the better path. Clean up, move on, and make a note of when and where it happened. Patterns can often tell us far more than isolated incidents.
When to Seek Help
If your dog is consistently having accidents inside despite what feels like solid training, or if the toileting is accompanied by other signs of stress, whining, chewing, barking, pacing, it may be time to seek support.
It’s tempting to try and solve things solo using online advice, but behaviour problems tied to emotional distress often require a tailored approach. Every dog is different, and what works for one may exacerbate issues in another.
In my work, I look not just at the behaviour itself, but at the whole environment. How is the dog exercised? What’s the daily routine? What’s the relationship like between dog and owner? What subtle messages might the dog be picking up on?
Only with a full picture can we start to turn things around.
Final Thoughts: Patience, Perspective, and Progress
Whether your dog’s toileting issues are due to incomplete training, anxiety, or something else entirely, there’s one universal truth: punishment never helps, and understanding always does.
You’re not alone in this, and your dog isn’t ‘broken’ or beyond hope. With the right mindset and support, most dogs, even those with deeply ingrained patterns, can learn to feel secure, clean, and comfortable in the home.
In my one-to-one work, we go into personalised plans to help both dog and owner find their rhythm again. It can be a gentle, methodical process, but the payoff is worth every step. The calm that follows, the trust rebuilt, and the sense of living in harmony with your dog again… it’s hard to beat.
