"Potty trained" dog keeps going to the bathroom on my carpet. What do I do?

I am against pee pads and in my profile I state that I do not take dogs who are pee pad trained. Pee pads are good for puppies or small breed dogs when you are training them not to go potty in the house but usually they are weaned off. If they are not taught to go outside then when they go to a sitters home and their pee pad is not placed the same way that it's at their home, they get confused. You see,carpet to them looks like and feels like a pee pad so they think it's ok to go there. They don't see anything wrong. You can take the dog out 10 times in a an hour but when he gets back too your house he will use your carpet because its nice and fluffy just like a pee pad. The owner didn't lie, the dog is potty trained to use the pee pad in HER house, not yours.

I know it sounds outrageous, but the owner may have been straightforward about the behavior at home. The dog may be stressed in a new environment away from his mom. As an example, I had a 12 yr. old small dog who I was told was house/potty trained that during the first visit peed inside my home almost hourly. Although all dogs are offered 3-4+ walks a day, I started taking her out a lot more frequently to pee. I texted her mom, who confirmed that was not normal. Subsequent visits, she had less accidents. Fast forward, after several visits, she no longer pees in my home. If this stay is continuing, I'd suggest you use gates inside to restrict the area the dog can roam unobserved and of course try to remedy the carpet stain so every dog doesn't want his/her scent to cover the area.

It is all about training and whether or not the owner is lying. Of course they are not going to want to admit their dog sometimes pisses other places. I have kept dogs who have never been to anyone elses home and used pee pee pads. They saw where I put it down and they went on it. There were some dogs that acted like they had no clue what a pee pee pad was. I went to a seminar once and they passed around a short survey for dog owners. All the sitters were emailed the results a week after and a little over 90% of sitters said they would not tell sitters if their dog has had accidents in other sitters home or even in their own home.

I always expect a dog to have at least one or two accidents, especially the first day. However, if the dogs is constantly peeing on the floor after day 3 that is a huge issue. All dogs can be trained. I let the owners know upfront that if by the 3rd day their dog is peeing and pooping they have the option of their dog staying in a crate the remainder of the stay or paying extra for doggie diapers.

Ditto what Deb said. This dog probably doesn't have accidents at home, because the owners have shown her where to go and not go at home. But now she's in a new place, where no one has shown her where to go and not go. She goes on the familiar potty pad, but she doesn't have the experience to know that your carpet isn't also an acceptable place. She's allowed to go on the pad, but she's also allowed to go tons of other places, like in the yard or anywhere on walks. Dogs don't generalize concepts in the same way humans do, so when you're showing a dog "go here, but not here; here, but not here," they're learning those specific places rather than extrapolating that information to mean outdoors is good and indoors is bad. That generalization is also being complicated with the use of the pads, so indoors is also good sometimes! And on top of all that, she's under a fair bit of stress being in a new place with different people and her family gone. Essentially, even in the best case scenario, it takes a lot of repetitions in new environments before a dog will begin to recognize the broad pattern of behavior you want instead of just individual rules in specific locations.

There are definitely dogs out there who can go into a new environment and immediately know what's up with the potty situation, but they tend to be dogs who have had a lot of experience in new environments and who generalize skills quickly. I'd say easily half the dogs I watch have at least one accident in the house, and I only watch house trained dogs. It's just part of the business. The dogs who have more difficulties just need more supervision, more frequent potty breaks, and a little effort from me to teach them where they're allowed to go in this new place.