Mike started marking in the house two weeks before he was neutered. He marked everywhere. The living room, bedroom, bathroom, etc. He marked a lot of things such as the bedpost, the wall, the recliner, Lorna’s bathroom towel (that about got the boy killed). The weirdest thing he marked was Sam and Joella’s raised food-bowl stands.
I asked a positive training list I am on for advice on how to get him to stop. I’d like to mention the ones that seemed to work.
- We limited (again) where he had unsupervised access. The gates in the living room went back up for several days. He stopped marking in the living room and because of various other stuff, I moved the gate that kept him from the rest of the house. We kept the bedroom blocked and the hallway to the bathroom blocked but he (and the others) had access to the outside, the kitchen, and the Cat Room (the room between the living room and the kitchen).
- We were cleaning up the marking with the vinegar and water spray just like we had been his peeing. I was advised to change that routine slightly. The idea for peeing is to put the dog outside or elsewhere so they can’t see you clean it up (I think the idea behind it is so they don’t think you are Mama cleaning the den and that it’s okay to continue). But for the marking, it was suggested I let him see me cleaning it up and to increase the vinegar amount in the spray bottle. Basically, I was showing him I could mark, too. After about 3 days of this, I started seeing Mike back up when he saw the bottle come out. He watched me spray his spots and would run out of the house. I didn’t fuss at him while I cleaned it, but I did talk to him about it. I told him I didn’t like it and marking inside the house was not acceptable. He could mark all he wanted outdoors, but not indoors. This “conversational discussion” worked on Sparky, a Norwegian Elkhound we had. Yelling did no good. But put your hands on your hips and talk to him? He’d hit the floor and act all repentant. I think this is going to work with Mike, too.
- It was also suggested to take him for short walks and praise like mad when he hiked his leg to urinate and/or mark. This is to put a cue word for hiking his leg. We decided to not use another cue word but continue to use “HURRY UP” which is what we used during his house training. We took him out on the leash for a few days again, reinforcing the HURRY UP and him hiking his leg. He never marked when out on the leash but we did catch him marking in the dog lot so we praised him then. For reference, marking is when they urinate just a small amount, usually in several places vs emptying the bladder in one long pee in one place.
Mike now only regularly marks indoors in one place: Joella’s raised food-bowl stand. We’ve moved it, thinking he was really marking the cabinet where it sat. Nope, he’s marking the stand. We’ve started spraying it down until it is soaked and removing Joella’s bowl from it after she is finished eating. No clue as to why he is doing that. Sometimes he will mark Sam’s stand and sometimes he will mark on the front of the dishwasher. We think he does the dishwasher because of Callie, our ancient cat who has decided litter boxes are not for her. He marks the back porch but as I spray those down, the location is moving further and further away from the door.
I also received two pieces of advice that I chose to reject.
- One was that Mike should be considered a “wash out” as a Service Dog. I see the point to it but I wanted to try and fix it, not be told to forget it. That male marking is often not un-learned and with Mike going into public areas, marking behavior is not acceptable. I agree to that last part but not to anything else. Mike is just 8 mos old. His house training was delayed due to his bladder issue. He is so smart that if I just could figure out how to train him out of it, then he and I could get beyond it. If the marking does not stop or if when I start taking him out in public he start marking there, then I will reconsider using him as a Service Dog.
- The other advice was to use a belly band or a diaper on him. The idea was that he would associate the nasty wet on his penis and stop marking. But I don’t consider this positive training. And I don’t think he would have made the connection between the wet diaper and the marking. Then there’s the increased risk of infections and skin irritations. I can see their purpose for older dogs who have lost bladder control. But I don’t see their purpose on an 8 mos old pup he has figured out he’s a male.
Tags: Housetraining, Training
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