Q: I have a 1-year old dog who was housebroken until we moved to our new house, and now he is peeing everywhere, even in front of us. Is he having emotional problems because of the move or is it that we just have to retrain him? Our new house has a smaller backyard so we were thinking that might have something to do with it. Also our new house has carpet, our other house was tile all throughout, does that make a difference? I have a baby coming in three months and I am getting quite nervous. Thank you.
A: This post took a few days to reach me and in the meantime I've answered some of your question on the message board. A move can disorient a dog, and certainly you need to always be prepared to provide the same supervision as in beginning housetraining, should it be necessary. No matter what the cause, allowing a dog to continue having accidents in the house will cause all kinds of problems.
It is very possible that being on carpet when he was completely on tile before makes him think it's okay to use that area. Retraining should go faster than training did the first time, but yes, I think that change definitely may take time for him to understand. Some breeders foolishly put carpeting in the box with puppies, teaching them at this very impressionable stage that carpeting is the right surface for elimination. Hopefully that was not done with your dog!
You didn't mention his size, but if he is a large dog, exercise might be an issue. One good way to exercise a dog is throw a ball for him to fetch if he likes that game. He may also be slowing down a bit in self-exercise and need more human help to keep the game going long enough to relieve his tensions and satisfy his muscles. Dogs go through some physical changes at about a year of age.
You need to have your vet neuter this dog if it has not yet been done. Not only is it extremely important to housetraining a male dog of his age, but it will be better for your dog's health and safer for your child. Neutered male dogs are significantly less likely to bite children than intact ones. I hope things go great!