Potty training never truly ends

Perhaps we became over confident in Loki’s potty training. Perhaps our new house is too big. Perhaps it’s just a fluke. But we found a peeing accident in our basement a few days ago. We found it in the same area that Loki had his pooping accident from when he ate too many almonds.

Perhaps we became over confident in Loki’s potty training. When we moved into our new home, we did not take precautions to ensure that he didn’t have any bathroom accidents. We were confident that he was well potty trained. He has done very well living in a variety of places (two different apartments, two homes of relatives, and a hotel room). I’ve read material from dog experts saying that dogs do not generalize. Just because a dog is trained to not potty in your house doesn’t mean that it is able to generalize that concept to not go potty in all indoor facilities. But after living in a variety of places and seeing that nothing bad happened, I let my guard down. We didn’t keep a close eye on him while in our new home.

Perhaps our house is too big. We moved from an apartment of about 700 sq ft to a townhouse that is triple that in size. Loki hangs out mostly on the main floor (which has his preferred couch, the kitchen, and dining room) and our bedroom. He spends the least time in the basement. He doesn’t eat there, sleep there, or play much there.

Perhaps it’s just a fluke. We understand that the almond incident was unique and not Loki’s fault. We washed the area down as best we could. We cleaned the carpet by hand, sprayed on Nature’s Miracle, and then even rented a steam cleaner from the grocery store to steam clean the area. Either there was still some smell that lingered even after we washed it, or Loki decided that the basement is still the best place to go because that’s sufficiently far from his living quarters. I don’t know.

The lesson today, pups, is that it’s always possible to have a bathroom accident, even with the best of dogs.