Have you tried incontinence pants or disposable doggie diapers? Check your local pet store. If they are very hairy dogs you may want to have their rears and potty areas shaved to help with using the diapers.

Simple Solution is an enzymatic pet cleaner that helps... it doesn't mask orders, it eats them... sometimes I just spray it and let it dry...

I know what you mean about opening the windows, gosh darn it, when is it going to warm up here?!

Keeping the dogs clean is a chore, but helps with odors too. Coat, Ears, mouths, feet.... taking them to a groomer for a good bath and grooming, while you super clean the house helps alot too... (at least for a little while.)

Unless their health or medication prohibits it, you might want to start strictly scheduling their food and water access during the day. Getting their intake and potty on a schedule can really help. I know though, sometimes old bodies just don't seem able to stay in sync any more. Try cutting their water off earlier in the night so their bladders at least are empty by bedtime.

Can you confine them to an easy to an area with easy to clean floors, like the kitchen or mudroom?

FYI if pet urine breaches your floor sealant and saturates wood floors (old real wood, not modern composite 'hardwood' floors) it will change it chemically and permanently. It will turn the wood black and no scrubbing/chemicals/sanding will remove it. We dealt with this on our last restoration where the former owner's dog pottied in a corner in the dining room for years. We tried every trick and tip in the book, what a headache! Even after refinishing, the pro's recommended patching in the end.

Worse yet, if it seeps between boards to the subfloor no enzyme cleaner can reach it and the lingering smell will in encourage repeat 'use' of the area.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have Nature's Miracle, but haven't used it because I was thinking it's made for carpets and fabric. I'll have to read the label and perhaps give it a shot.

Northy, I'm really worried about the urine breaching the sealant. I have old wood floors that were refinished just a few years ago. We have no subfloor, by the way. Until now, I never thought of that as a good thing. :-)

Wolfy, a Husky-Shepherd, is by far the bigger offender. I can't imagine him tolerating a diaper, although I've been wrong before.

I tried cutting off their water, or at least cutting it down, but Angel (Briard mix) responded by barking. Since her middle-of-the-night barking is a problem all by itself, and I will do just about anything to avoid triggering it, I went back to filling their water dish.

The house has an open plan (we took out some of the partition walls a long time ago), making it impossible to confine them anywhere but the bathroom (more barking).

I'm thinking once the weather warms up, I will load up the doghouse with shavings and put Wolfy outside on clear nights. That will help somewhat.

Nature's Miracle works great on unfinished wood floors. Be generous and POUR it on the spot and let it sit. You might also try putting an inexpensive piece of linoleum over the entire wood floor after you let Nature's Miracle do its miracle. That way you will not have to put any plastic down and your wood floor will be protected.

Following this regimen, we kept an incontinent English Mastiff for 3 years with no damage to our wood floors.

I'd seriously reconsider keeping Wolfy outside in his doghouse. If he lies in his wastes it can damage his skin and you will be bathing and drying him a lot. You will also need to examine him very carefully for flies and maggots -- flies love to lay their eggs in wet skin. Especially since he is an older dog, he may no longer have the reflex to bite at any fly that lands on him (he may not feel the bites, either) or be able to get up and move enough so he dries...BELIEVE ME, you do not want to have to deal with maggots on top of everything else, they can start so insidiously, especially in a long-haired animal. They are hard to see when young since they are the size of a pinhead, they multiply at a breathtaking rate, they kill horribly, and they are very difficult to get rid of once established since chemicals that kill them completely destroy their host's living tissue...

I'm going to offer a different opinion, and one that may or may not appeal.

You mention that one of your dogs "was never very well housetrained ". This should be considered unacceptable from the time you brought the dog home, unless there is a medical issue. Even with that, something should have taken place to help the situation. Now, you are paying the price.

Your other dog "one very elderly whose perfect habits have been overriden by dementiaÂpoop and pee in the house every night", is in a situation that is clearly not pleasant for anyone involved. This is not living with dignity.

I do realize that this is a very difficult time, but it is obvious to me that something is being missed here, and you may be the only one who does not seem to realize what it is. No amount of cleaning or paper on the floor is going to fix this.

SG

Forgive me, but you don't sound very spiritual, Spiritual_ Gardner. I realized when I posted that I was in danger of having my wrists slapped, but it was a risk I was willing to take because over the years I've received so much useful information from the people who frequent this site and because I figured if anyone could understand someone desperately willing to go the extra mile for her dogs, even if it's a long and unpleasant mile, it would be the folks on this forum.

I can't argue with anything you said, but I can object to the fact that you said it with all the confidence of someone who knows absolutely nothing about the background. Why is it that some people (a blessed few) feel so free to chastise without considering that we are all different, and just maybe if they found themselves in another's exact same situation they would deal with it in the exact same way?

In the case of Wolfy and his poor training, he was adopted as an (untrained) adult dog by my daughter Gillian. She worked with him, but he was tough, and at some point she was no longer well enough to be consistent about it. She died seven years ago (today is the anniversary, as a matter of fact), and I took over Wolfy's care. At the time, my husband (a Yale Ph.D. chemist) had severe dementia, and it was another four years before he died. So suffice it to say that I didn't have a lot of interest in or energy for dog training for quite a long time.

Like most of us, I'm doing the best I can with what I have. And like most of us, I can do it better when I'm not getting criticized.

Susan,

My sympathies to you both for what you have gone through and what you are going through now. This cannot be easy, it's hard enough to see our beloved companions grow old without the extra hassle of dealing with their "issues". I don't have any good cleaning suggestions for you, but wondered if you have tried Anipryl for the dog with dementia? This worked very well for us with an elderly dog that was starting to have defecation issues in the house. If you have not tried it, you might consider asking your vet.

Good luck!

don't know if it will work on wood floors, but cornstarch is very absorbent.

(I used cornstarch successfully on a sofa that my nephew had peed on!)

I like the linoleum on the floor suggestion.

Along those same lines, I was going to suggest confining them in a room with tile floor at night along with some potty pads.

Alisande, since your floor plan doesn't allow you to confine them, how about an indoor kennel? Maybe if both dogs are confined together, Angel won't be as likely to bark, and any mess which needs to be cleaned up will at least be confined to the kennel and won't further damage your floors. .

Alisande, I don't have an answer but I just wanted to say I am sorry you are going thru this issue. Canine geriatrics can be so difficult. Our last PRT had dementia and barked continuously as well as lost control of her bladder. Just hoping you can find a way to deal with this without permanent damage to your floors. Being the anniversary of Gillians death must be such a difficult time. My thoughts are with you.

I did say that my post to this question would probably not appeal. I also did indicate that this is probably a difficult time, for all involved.

Issues you are dealing with many find difficult to deal with. You did post "My house STINKS!!" along with other comments lead me to believe that it has been this way for some time. Your dogs health aside, and again, the difficult time you are going through right now, indicate that you find this acceptable. No amount of cleaning is going to get to the root of the problem causing it.

Because I will never tolerate uncontrolled dog excrement in the house, and I voice an opinion about an out of control situation, does not make me less spiritual than anyone else.

This is the last word I'll have on this one.

SG

Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking Soda mixed together and used right away do a lovely job on "Thalines". (sweat, urine, poo, skunk odor, etc) You can do a "search" for "Skunk Antidote" on internet.
Sometimes soap is added, mostly for the bubbles and to make us humans happy.
Doesn't seem to make much difference as to if you make a spray, or a paste (ie more or less Baking Soda). Leaving on for a while before rinsing helps.

I think though, that once the color damage is done to the wood, you'll be replacing after the dogs are up in doggy heaven.

Sincerely,
AMS

Well, Spiritual Gardener, I'm sure Alisande appreciates the "apology", or whatever that was.

I know I enjoyed it.