House breaking and the Swifter Wet Jet?

[dsgordon]

Our first weeks of house breaking Brodie have been going very well. Brodie has taken a liking to his Kennel and goes there two nap during the day and does not wine when we close the door or leave. He has also been sleeping through most nights in his crate in our bedroom. No accidents in either one. In fact no accidents at all. (We watch him closely and are quick to bring him outside as soon as he wakes up or after he eats. We have had a close call or two but no actual messes). Until the other day that is. Only a short time after Brodie had been outside my wife was cleaning the kitchen floor with a swifter wet jet and when she turned around to put it away right were she just wiped Brodie relieved himself. I asked her if she cleaned the area he used with the spray we have for accidents that is made to remove any smells. She said she did but latter that evening when I was watching him I took my eye off him to get a glass of water he did it again right on the kitchen floor in a slightly different spot. No smelling around first like he usually does he followed me into the kitchen and then just when I looked away he went over and did it. I cleaned the whole kitchen floor this time with the pet cleaner and he has not had another accident since then.

So here my question. Do you think that the cleaner in the swifter wet jet (Possibly an ammonia or similar smell) had anything to do with his accident or is it just a coincident?

 

[Cami]

In both cases I would say it was directly related to human error.
In the first incident you said your wife turned away to put the mop away. She took her eyes off him and may not have seen the "I have to go potty sign".
2nd time you said you took your eyes off him to go get a drink.
One can *assume* that since there have been two accidents that you have both been keeping a very watchful eye on him.....hence NO accidents!
If you think there is a correlation between the cleaner used it is an easy "set-up" to try and see if you get the same results.
I really think that if there was any connection that there would be a bunch of posts about it since this is a very popular apparatus!
Sometimes us humans are just not willing to admit defeat! :D
Of course this is just my opinion......

 

[reuben]

agreed

i totaly felt the same with some of my cleaners ....("maybe this is just erasing his mark and he is just marking it again?") well i believe you and i were wrong with that thought and just missed our fur child's signal (OR)communication. i know me and my pup have some work to do!

 

[dsgordon]

I thought it just might be a coincidence, but since I remember reading that you should not clean up a dogs accident with ammonia based cleaners. Those types of cleaners can intensify the odor to the dog and contribute to repeated accidents. It is recommended that instead you use a pet cleaner that is designed to remove the odor in order to help prevent reuse of the same spot.

Then again I haven't had a repeat since we cleaned the whole floor with pet cleaner. Just had our first time where he ran to the door and barked at the leash that we hang there. Took him out to his potty area and Brodie did his business right away. Hopefully this is a good sign of things to come and not just another coincidence.

He does seems to have the Idea down that one area in the yard is were he should do his business. He will urinate anywhere in the yard as soon as we get outside but in most cases (except at night in the rain ) he will jog down to the potty area which is pretty far from the house to do the other.

 

[Caney Creek]

His re-offense very likely had something to do with the floor cleaner containing ammonia, BUT if he had been supervised the whole time then you would have caught him in the act and therefore been able to prevent it. Happens to the best of us... we live and we learn and puppies LOVE to teach us those lessons!