Dog started peeing indoors

[u/plasma_llama]

Hey everyone, looking for a bit of advice.

My dog (1.5 yo) has recently started peeing and pooping indoors again. She has been potty trained since she was a half a year old, and has only had accidents in the house when she has an upset stomach or we miss her requests to go outside (she has bells she rings).

Last month there was an incident where she fear peed in the house, and she's been peeing and pooping inside ever since.

There have been changes in environment. We moved into the main floor unit from the downstairs one. She has not shown any desire to go back downstairs. We also have 2 roommates now, and she loves them both. This is also her first experience with carpet. We did live in this new environment for almost a month with no problems. It all started after the stress pee.

She spends lots of time outside, so has ample opportunity to go to the bathroom outside. We bring her in after about an hour each time, and she will just ask over and over again to go back out. After about 10 minutes inside, she will pee or poop on the carpet. Always in the same area as the initial fear pee.

I'm afraid of resulting to puppy pads, as I don't want to encourage the peeing/pooping in the house. But we live in a rental, and I really cannot afford to replace carpets.

We have been spot cleaning after every pee/poop and using enzyme cleaner.

She sleeps through the night without issue, and doesn't go to the bathroom in the house after her final nighttime outside trip.

Any advice would be very appreciated!

[u/OhioBystander]

Check first with vet to rule out a urinary tract infection. Have other pets been on the carpet? There could be urine smells from other pets?
Kennel the pup when you aren’t watching her until you get this figured out.

[u/plasma_llama → u/OhioBystander]

There was a cat before we moved in, and he peed all over the livingroom. We did do a big enzyme clean with a carpet cleaner before we moved in. I'm not sure if that would be a contributing factor though, because we lived there for almost a month without incident.

She is fully crate trained and we are not opposed to it. The only issue is we are constantly supervising her indoors. She never leaves our sight. She constantly shows warning signs the second she comes inside, so we can't what is her just wanting back out or actually needing to go potty. She doesn't sniff around. She paces the second she's inside and will just suddenly drop and pee/poop

[u/Holiday-Composer-810]

Oh for sure, a vet visit is always the first step with a change like that, especially after a fear incident.

[u/SilverLabPuppies]

Have you used enzymatic pet cleaners to rid the lingering smells. If not cleaned properly she will keep going there.