Thinks he can potty on rugs

In May, we adopted a shelter pup who came to us as a stray. They guessed that he was 3-5 years old. He was not even remotely potty trained.

FINALLY though, we trained him 🙂 he doesn’t potty in the house.

And then we got a rug. Our dogs love the rug, it gives them purchase to wrestle and play. But when we aren’t around, our shelter pup will potty on the rug.

We don’t let him access the rug unsupervised anymore and we block off that section of the house overnight. Sometimes we mess up and he’ll go pee on it. And then last night he got through the barrier and pottied on it (pee and poo).

There are no medical issues, we just did a urine analysis and recently did bloodwork. And it’s only ever rugs.

I’ve seen people say to just go back to regular potty training and have a party outside when he goes. Is that the only thing to do? I feel like we need to catch him right before he tries to pee on the rug and then redirect that so that he understands the rug is not a place for potty. But maybe that’s not necessary? But we’re losing our minds 🙂