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What do I do if the dog I am housesitting keeps peeing in the house no matter how much I take him outside?

I am housesitting a senior dog, he is 12.5 years old. The owner told me that he was house trained during our meet and greet. The first day I got to the house, the owner left me a note including basic instructions that we went over in the meet and greet. The owner also mentioned in the note that he had a few accidents in the house prior to their departure. Since I have been housesitting, the dog has peed inside everyday, no matter how often I let him out or walk him. And to clarify, he does go to the bathroom every time I've walked him or let him outside in the yard. I've tried removing his water bowl at night and for a few hours while I got to work. I've been leaving the door open to the backyard while I am at the house. I've been waking up early and staying up later to take him on walks. I left for two hours earlier, after he peed three times on a walk, and I came back to more pee on the floor. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do? I already agreed to housesitting this dog next week, but I don't know if I can handle this.

2 Answers

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Consider yourself lucky that all this peeing is happening in the dog's home, rather than yours. This often goes with the nature of the work. It could be a result of stress/anxiety or medical issue, such as urinary infection. Since the owner noted the dog was having indoor accidents before leaving, it sounds like this is normal to them. Certainly, you can still briefly mention what's happening in the updates. You could also present the concept of using a belly band (in interest of protecting their home) and ask them if they'd like you to buy one, which means you'd like them to reimburse you for that upon return, or if they want to order online and have shipped to the home. It doesn't sound like this will change next week and it would be rather unfair to the dog and owners for you to back out of the agreement plus rover will likely penalize your account for doing so if they have to try to coordinate another sitter.

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It could be incontinence due to the dog's age or the dog is expressing his displeasure about the owner's absence. My only suggestion at this point is for the dog to wear a belly band. Ask the owners to buy them. I use disposable ones from amazon.