Dog peeing in the house

Question
BACKGROUND
I have 2 minature shnauers (brother & sister)which were born on the 8th of Feb 2007,
The boy was castrated during August thankfully with no change to his lovely nature.

They have a large crate which is in the kitchen which they never mess in.
During the day for about 8 hours they are free to go in and out of the garage (no crate is in the garage just a bed) and they mess on the path outside the garage which is ok.
On the odd occasion they have weed in the garage because it has been raining outside the garage, this does not happpen very often.

THE PROBLEM
When the dogs are in the kitchen with their crate open if you turn your back for one minute they have often peed on the wooden floor even though they have just come in from been in the garage all day.
If i am watching the dogs on an evening in the kitchen they very rarely mess at all.

WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?
What I would like is for the dogs to be trusted to be in the kitchen with the crate open when I am not there without the fear of them peeing & ppooing on the floor.
How do I get them to treat the space in the crate as same as the kitchen.
Your advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Nigel

Answer
Hey, Nigel,

Thanks for the question. I think it's very cool that you've got two schnauzers. They're great dogs, and must be good company for one another when you're not home.

First of all, since they're only 10 months old, my feeling is that this behavior isn't all that unusual. With some dogs the housebreaking process can take up to a year.

That said, here are some things that will be helpful:

#1 - Give Them More Playful Exercise Right When You Come Home

You said that the pee on the wooden floor "even though they have just come in from being in the garage all day." If their "accidents" routinely happen right after you've come home, after they've been "cooped up" in the garage all day, what I'd do is make sure I spend a little time with them outdoors (20 mins. or so) -- horsing around, playing fetch and tug, with whatever pee breaks might be neceessary -- before letting them come into the kitchen. If you don't have a yard, take them on a walk around the block before taking them into the kitchen.

Many people with more than one dog think it's enough for the dogs to have each other's company, and to have another pooch to play with, but the dogs also need play time with you. You're the center of their universe. And the perfect time to engage with them in this way is right after you come home.

#2 - Clean Up their Accidents with an Enzyme Cleaner or White Vinegar

You may already be doing this. If not, urine leaves an ammmonia smell on the floor, which will often cause dogs (esp. females) to go back to the same spot over and over. This is particularly true of wooden floors. Enzyme cleaners and even white vinegar will get rid of that odor.

#3 - Don't Scold or Correct Them

I don't know if you've been scolding them for their mistakes in the kitchen or not, but it's not helpful. In fact, in most cases it makes matters worse.  Why? If you're a dog, and you love your owner, and he comes home, you're suddenly full of joy and excitement at being "reunited" with him, and you feel a lot of happy energy flowing through your body.

Your owner also expresses his happiness to see YOU (through his eyes and his voice and body language), and gives you lots of affection, etc. So you feel emotionally connected to him in a very strong way.

Then let's say your owner takes you inside the kitchen where he turns his back on you (to put away the groceries, check for phone messages, make your dinner, whatever). Suddenly those eyes you love so much aren't focused on you anymore. All his body language is directed away from you. That happy surge of energy stops. And for whatever reason, you remember that you need to pee, so you do. Then your owner turns around, sees what you've done. And once again he focuses an intense amount of emotional energy on you, scolding you, talking to you, etc.

"Yay!" you think. "It's not the kind of energy I was looking for from him, but at least it's SOMETHING!"  

So by scolding or reprimanding the dogs you've unwittingly rewarded them for peeing!

If you were to ignore them instead, and simply clean up the mess (with the aforementiond products) without saying a word, you wouldn't be giving them ANY emotional energy of feed off of, and wouldn't be rewarding their behavior.

#4 - Spray "No Go!" on the Kitchen Floor

Many pet stores in the US sell an organic product called "No Go!" which has a scent (undetectable to humans) that inhibits a dog from urinating or defecating where it's been sprayed. It doesn't ALWAYS work, but it might help.

Good luck! They sound like great dogs!

LCK