Why Is My Dog Pooping or Peeing In The House?

Why Dogs House Soil

House soiling isn't a single behavior, instead it can have multiple underlying causes. A dog may pee or poop indoors because they:

• Don't understand the bathroom routine yet
• Are stressed or overwhelmed by change
• Were never reliably housetrained
• Are marking territory
• Are reacting emotionally (fear, excitement, separation distress)
• Have an underlying medical condition

Your dog may also be experiencing a combination of the reasons above. Understanding the causes for your pup's house soiling can significantly improve house training success rates, so let's get to the bottom of different house soiling types and why they happen.[1][4]

Common Types of House Soiling

Dogs may exhibit more than one type of house soiling, particularly during the first several weeks post-adoption, but with consistent supervision, predictable routine, and positive reinforcement, most dogs can be housetrained within 4–8 weeks.[1] Common types of house soiling include:

Adjustment Period Stress

Adoption can be a major physiological and psychological stressor. Dogs experience elevated stress hormone levels for 3–7 days after entering a new home and some need several weeks to return to baseline.[2]

Behavioral studies show that 30–40% of newly adopted dogs have at least one new or intensified behavior problem during the first 3 months, such as house soiling, vocalization, clinginess, or reactivity.[2][3] This "decompression" period is normal and usually improves within a few months.

Incomplete Housetraining or an Environmental "Reset"

Some dogs were never fully housetrained. Others were trained previously but may not automatically apply that training to a new environment or understand the different routine.[4]

For example if you adopted your pup from a shelter, they may have had to eliminate in their kennels, disrupting their housetraining habits or natural inhibition. Because of this, a full housetraining reset is recommended for the first few weeks post-adoption, even for adult dogs.[13][14]

Fear-Based or Separation-Related Accidents

Some dogs have accidents when they're left alone or emotionally overwhelmed. In the early weeks post-adoption, 25% of dogs exhibit some separation-related behaviors, ranging from mild vocalization to full panic responses.[3][6]

These types of accidents often happen even if a dog recently "went" outdoors and are accompanied by pacing, drooling, destruction, or escape attempts.

Urine Marking

Urine marking typically involves small amounts of urine, often on vertical surfaces, and is linked to insecurity, unfamiliar scents, or social stress. While more common in intact males, neutered dogs still mark, particularly after environmental changes like moving to a new home.[1]

Marking often decreases as dogs feel more secure, especially when combined with supervision, enzymatic cleaning, and housetraining.

Submissive or Excitement Urination

This involuntary behavior occurs during moments of emotional overload and is most common in puppies, adolescents, and timid dogs. A pup with this response isn't peeing on purpose and confidence-building and stress management can reduce this behavior over time.

Submissive urination can happen when a dog is fearful or anxious, while excitement urination may happen during greetings or overstimulation. Interestingly, both of these involuntary responses can happen simultaneously and overwhelm your dog.

For these types of urination, try a calm, neutral voice when greeting your dog. Introduce visitors slowly and avoid loud noises, sudden movements, and direct eye contact.[4] Avoid punishment, which can actually increase fear and make submissive urination worse.[1]

Medical Causes (Always Rule These Out)

Medical causes account for a substantial portion of sudden house soiling in adult dogs, especially when accidents begin abruptly or occur during sleep.[4][7] Medical conditions that can cause house soiling include:

• Urinary tract infections
• Gastrointestinal parasites
• Food intolerance
• Diabetes or kidney disease
• Age-related incontinence

If your pup has persistent or sudden accidents, especially a previously housetrained adult, first check with your veterinarian to rule out underlying medical causes.

How to Stop Indoor Accidents: Housetraining Tips

Once you understand why your dog is soiling indoors, the next step is helping them succeed by providing clarity, routine, and prevention.

• Start From Scratch (Even With Adult Dogs): Dogs may not automatically transfer housetraining skills between environments. When introducing your pup to a new environment, try providing fresh training and starting with the basics.[4][5]
• Establish a Predictable Potty Routine: Dogs with predictable feeding and potty schedules have higher housetraining success rates.[8] Take your dog outside immediately after waking, before bedtime, and 10-15 minutes after each meal and playtime. For new dogs, try going outside every 2–3 hours during the day. Once your dog has gone 8 weeks accident-free, then you can gradually reduce the outdoor trips.[1]
• Learn Your Dog's Habits: Try to understand your pup's elimination pattern, so you can plan your outings according to your dog's needs. Most dogs defecate 1-3 times a day and usually after a meal.[4]
• Supervise Closely While Housetraining: Until your dog is reliable, close supervision can help you prevent indoor accidents, intervene when accidents occur, and redirect pup to approved soiling spots. When supervision isn't possible, introducing your dog to a safe and humane confined space, such as a gated room, playpen, or comfortable crate, can minimize damage during the housetraining phase.
• Positively Reinforce Success: When your dog "goes" outdoors or where instructed, reward them within 1–2 seconds to strengthen learning the habit. Dogs trained with positive reinforcement learn faster and retain behaviors longer than those trained with punishment-based methods.[9]
• Post-Accident Actions: If your pup's already had an accident, avoid interacting with them or giving them attention. Clean the area with an odor-eliminating, enzymatic cleaner, since dogs are more likely to re-soil areas that have residual odors.[4][10]
• Never Punish Accidents: Punishment increases fear, stress, and avoidance. Research links aversive training methods to higher cortisol levels, increased anxiety behaviors, and poorer learning and training effectiveness.[9] Instead, if you catch your dog in the act, interrupt them with a sound, clap, or whistle and bring them to the right spot.

Indoor accidents after adoption are common and solvable. It may take some time for your dog to learn how to live in a new world with new rules, but with patience, consistency, and training, most dogs improve substantially within weeks and can be fully housetrained within 4-6 months.[15]