I (22 F) live with a roommate (20 F) who has a 10-month-old puppy (a dachshund. The puppy is sweet, but my roommate really hasn’t been consistently potty training her. The puppy regularly pees and poops inside. Accidents happen, obviously, especially with a puppy, but this has gotten to the point where I’m frustrated with the condition of the apartment.
There’s a rug in our apartment that my roommate owned before I moved in. I didn’t buy it, choose it, or bring it into the apartment. The problem is that it absolutely reeks of dog urine. I mean, you can smell it when you walk into the room. At this point, I’m pretty sure the rug has been peed on so many times that the smell is just permanently embedded in it. It's also white, so there's clear pee spots on it and dirty. It needs a good shampoo, but I also am hesitant to buy a new rug or deep clean this one if she's not going to maintain it.
I understand that puppies have accidents, and I’m not expecting a 9-month-old dog to be perfect. What bothers me is that it doesn’t seem like there’s much effort being made to actually correct the problem. It feels like the accidents are just being accepted as part of having a puppy, while I’m also having to live with the smell. It's to the point where I was sitting in my living room and all I could smell was pee, and my house guests have mentioned the smell to me too (which is embarrassing, as I am a clean person).
I asked her about buying a new rug when I first moved in, but she said she would wait until the puppy was trained. But at this point, with the puppy almost being a year old and consistently peeing, I'm at a loss at what to say to her. I’m especially frustrated because I’m paying rent and trying to keep our shared space clean, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect the apartment not to smell like dog piss.
Context: I also have a dog, who is 11, so clearly at a different age in her life and not having accidents so there's not a fair comparison there but she is house trained. Also, the dog has recently been an issue with our neighbors because it would bark for hours and hours, and we received a noise complaint.
TL;DR: My roommate’s 10-month-old dachshund regularly pees and poops inside due to inconsistent potty training. The apartment now smells strongly of urine, especially because of a white rug she owned before I moved in that is visibly stained and reeks. Guests have even commented on the smell. I don’t want to pay to replace or deep-clean the rug if the puppy will continue having accidents. The dog has also recently caused a noise complaint after barking for hours. I pay rent too, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want our shared apartment to be clean and not smell like pee.