Suggestions for house marking male dog?

[Kwill]

I am kind of at my wit’s end here – my small dog, who I adore, is certainly housebroken but he continually pees on certain things. I am home all day, he gets out basically whenever he wants, which is a minimum of 4x a day. He will ask to go out.

He pees on 1)the ends of my sofa. 2) anything in the family room that is upright and not permanent (laundry basket, this morning a bag of cat litter). He does not pee in any other rooms, never poops in the house. He seems respectful of my authority (comes when called, knows “no”, can go off lead).

He knows he shouldn’t do it, if I see him he clearly knows it’s wrong and he won’t do it in front of me. I have tried taking him over to the spot and telling him no, he gets pretty upset when disciplined but has never tried to bite me.

He’s the only male dog in the house, we have two other females he gets along with just fine (no housebreaking issues with them). He is not a biter, and is a very happy dog.

I am not sure what to do – more punishment? Live with it? He’s around 10, we are not sure how old he is, he was a shelter rescue.

Obviously I am not seeing something here that will be clear to everyone else.

I should add that I don’t crate my dogs.

[betsyk]

I’ll be interested in hearing what advice you get, because we have a friend’s dog who stays with us several times/year who does the same thing. We assume he’s marking and we can’t catch him at it - he knows it’s wrong. Doesn’t seem to matter if we’re home or not, doesn’t matter if it’s the first day he’s at our house or the end of the week, we could crate him all day and then let him out and ten minutes later we find he’s peed in the living room. He pretty much has one more chance before we tell his owner he can’t stay with us any more.

[Simkie]

If he won’t do it in front of you, make sure he’s always in front of you. Tether him or use baby gates.

Alternatively, use a belly band. http://www.kennelkomforts.com/male-dog-belly-bands/

[meupatdoes]

Basically it just has to stay with you AT. ALL. TIMES.

I have one of these and I make him come with me whereever I go in the house. If I am showering he has to hang out in the bathroom with me. When sleeping the baby gate keeps him in the bedroom. When cooking he has to be in the kitchen. When relaxing he has to be with me in the living room. If for some reason he can’t join me where I am going (the basement for laundry, where he is not allowed period because it if PRIME marking territory) he has to wait in the crate for me to be done.

If he ever sneaks off to a different room it is never for any good purpose. I know when he comes back from some other room to go looking for what he did.

[meupatdoes]

[QUOTE=Simkie;6522560]
If he won’t do it in front of you, make sure he’s always in front of you. Tether him or use baby gates.

Alternatively, use a belly band. http://www.kennelkomforts.com/male-dog-belly-bands/[/QUOTE]

Does the belly band prevent the behavior entirely because they don’t want to pee into it or does it just let them do it but contain the mess?

[Simkie]

@meupatdoes;6522579

Does the belly band prevent the behavior entirely because they don’t want to pee into it or does it just let them do it but contain the mess?

While I have never used one–I don’t have boy animals–I have read that some dogs stop the marking behavior after wearing a band for awhile because they realize they’re just peeing on themselves. Other dogs continue, but the mess is contained.

[Kwill]

I like the belly band idea.

I agree, if he goes into another room it’s for no good purpose! That made me laugh out loud.

Glad I am not the only one who suffers from this problem, he’s such an imp about it.

He also runs over and pees on the neighbor’s garbage can when it’s on the street, so I have to watch that too, but at least it’s outside. I can stop him if I yell before he gets there. He knows quite well when he’s misbehaving.

[wendy]

He knows he shouldn’t do it, if I seem him he clearly knows it’s wrong and he won’t do it in front of me.

If he knew he wasn’t supposed to do it, he wouldn’t do it. All your punishment has taught him is to not pee when you are present.

I’d stop punishing him. All that does is teach him to sneak around and hide where he pees. Housebreaking 101: you want your dog to feel comfortable peeing in front of you (on a leash outside), so you NEVER punish the dog for peeing in front of you.

He sounds un-house-broken to me. Dogs who are housebroken don’t pee in the house, period. Forget about it being “male marking” and just treat him like an unhousebroken puppy- clean the scented areas thoroughly with an enzymatic cleaner, don’t let him have any free run of the house, take him out often on a schedule, and praise, praise, praise for peeing outside.

If you catch him peeing in front of you, you say WHOOPS and whisk him outside.

[bccalhoun]

I have a dog exactly like that even use belly band but gets it off soon after put on & even use 2 of them. but he is at the bottom of the pack & from a rescue at animal control. If you find something out, I would love to know too.

[jetsmom]

[QUOTE=wendy;6522618]
If he knew he wasn’t supposed to do it, he wouldn’t do it. All your punishment has taught him is to not pee when you are present.

I’d stop punishing him. All that does is teach him to sneak around and hide where he pees. Housebreaking 101: you want your dog to feel comfortable peeing in front of you (on a leash outside), so you NEVER punish the dog for peeing in front of you.

He sounds un-house-broken to me. Dogs who are housebroken don’t pee in the house, period. Forget about it being “male marking” and just treat him like an unhousebroken puppy- clean the scented areas thoroughly with an enzymatic cleaner, don’t let him have any free run of the house, take him out often on a schedule, and praise, praise, praise for peeing outside.

If you catch him peeing in front of you, you say WHOOPS and whisk him outside.[/QUOTE]

This. Scolding a dog for peeing doesn’t work. Always supervise dog. Tether him to you when not crated or contained.

[LauraKY]

Tether him to you. Then spray every area where he’s peed with a urine enzyme cleaner. Keep him tethered to you or crated at all times. Then test. If he pees inappropriately, rinse and repeat.

[Sonesta]

I agree with the others that you never punish a dog for peeing or pooping mistakes. It’s not like they do it to spite you.

And if you punish them, they don’t understand that they are being punished for peeing/pooping INSIDE vs. outside. Instead, they begin to associate the act of peeing/pooping with punishment and since they MUST pee/poop, they will begin to hide to do it in hopes you won’t notice. Vicious cycle.

I also agree with keeping them with you - tethered if necessary - until they finally get the idea that we do our business outside. And use a belly band for those times that you cannot watch them every second. With the belly band, at least you won’t have a mess to clean up.

And EVERY TIME they pee/poop outside make a huge joyous big thing about it with lots and lots of praise and cuddles and treats, etc. Mistakes inside do NOT get the good reaction, but they don’t get punishment either.

Eventually you will be able to give a negative input sound when they go to mark (I give a sound like “aaaaaaaaa-aaaaaa”) then immediately pick them up and take them outside and huge praises when business is done there.

Patience in the key. The dog has had a long time to form the habit of marking. It will take a long time to unlearn it.

[paulaedwina]

This

He knows he shouldn’t do it, if I see him he clearly knows it’s wrong and he won’t do it in front of me. I have tried taking him over to the spot and telling him no, he gets pretty upset when disciplined but has never tried to bite me.

is not productive. Stop doing that. He doesn’t speak English. He is a dog.

Paula

[threedogpack]

in addition to the cautions about punishing urination and/or marking in the house, teach the dog to urinate rather than mark. I have a foster Puggle here right now that will eventually learn to empty rather than mark. I do that by letting him get pretty full then going to a place without vertical objects. He will get 2 or 3 opportunities to empty and if he does not, he goes back in the crate. That will be a few weeks down the road, as I need to work on other things first, but trust me, he will learn to empty rather than mark as I .really. dislike dogs who don’t empty and want to do a squirt here and a squirt there.

[Kwill]

[QUOTE=paulaedwina;6523480]
This

He knows he shouldn’t do it, if I see him he clearly knows it’s wrong and he won’t do it in front of me. I have tried taking him over to the spot and telling him no, he gets pretty upset when disciplined but has never tried to bite me.

is not productive. Stop doing that. He doesn’t speak English. He is a dog.

Paula[/QUOTE]

I know he doesn’t speak English – although he can certainly understand about 20 words/phrases in English. He’s no genius dog that can understand 150 words, like some can, but he’s not a stupid dog.

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone, they were helpful.

[paulaedwina]

Your mistake is thinking that taking him over to the spot and telling him no somehow communicates to him that you would not like him to urinate there. That is not in any way the case. Often you get more of what you don’t want-in order to avoid your aggression the animal may hide his urination. Your mistake is interpreting has canine submission/calming signals -oblique glances, cowering, urination, lip-licking, as human guilt. He is simply responding to your strong body language, he is not feeling guilty for some past offense.

Paula

[threedogpack]

[QUOTE=Kwill;6523716]
I know he doesn’t speak English – although he can certainly understand about 20 words/phrases in English. He’s no genius dog that can understand 150 words, like some can, but he’s not a stupid dog.

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone, they were helpful.[/QUOTE]

probably not and you will get further, faster, if you drop that line of thinking.

[Casey09]

I firmly believe that taking a dog over to an accident and discipling him does not accomplish anything. It isn’t that he isn’t smart, it just isn’t how his mind works.
I agree with keeping him right with you when he is loose in the house. The more you minimize his opportunity to make mistakes, the more you can steer him to correct habits. If he starts to have an accident, take him outside immediately. Go outside with him and reward him every single time he eliminates correctly. Make it a big deal. Keep it as positive as you can.

[GraceLikeRain]

[QUOTE=threedogpack;6523650]
in addition to the cautions about punishing urination and/or marking in the house, teach the dog to urinate rather than mark. I have a foster Puggle here right now that will eventually learn to empty rather than mark. I do that by letting him get pretty full then going to a place without vertical objects. He will get 2 or 3 opportunities to empty and if he does not, he goes back in the crate. That will be a few weeks down the road, as I need to work on other things first, but trust me, he will learn to empty rather than mark as I .really. dislike dogs who don’t empty and want to do a squirt here and a squirt there.[/QUOTE]

My puppy was never allowed to pee on vertical surfaces. Since 4 months he raises his leg to pee regardless. That dog could be about ready to pop and he will lift his leg in the middle of a grass field.
For some dogs the desire to lift the leg will never go away even if you take away all vertical surfaces.
This dog will also empty his bladder and then mark every other tree on a hike even if nothing is coming out.

I firmly believe urinating to relieve a full bladder and marking are two very different behaviors and I don’t think they can always be solved in the same manner. Not that I have a solution but I know that my dog wouldn’t stop marking just because I forced him to empty his bladder.

[threedogpack]

@GraceLikeRain;6524042

My puppy was never allowed to pee on vertical surfaces. Since 4 months he raises his leg to pee regardless. That dog could be about ready to pop and he will lift his leg in the middle of a grass field.

I never said they won’t raise a leg, I said to take away the vertical object so they urinate, rather than mark. Most dogs will not empty if they can mark.

For some dogs the desire to lift the leg will never go away even if you take away all vertical surfaces.
This dog will also empty his bladder and then mark every other tree on a hike even if nothing is coming out.

if you were teaching him to go on cue, you would not allow him to mark after he empties.

I firmly believe urinating to relieve a full bladder and marking are two very different behaviors and I don’t think they can always be solved in the same manner.

they are .very. different behaviors, but if the dog is full, then he empties and does not get a chance to mark
because he is then taken inside, you will change the behavior of what happens outside and thus he will be empty inside as well.