Please help, at my wits end his marking!

[Jadens_Slave]

I found my dog Buddy over a year ago wandering the streets. He was skinny, filthy, and had very bad behavior problems (vet believes he was abused).

Despite our best efforts we never found the owners, so he ended up staying with us. Well hes got a problem..and its one that i have NOT been able to fix. It drives me and my husband off the walls, to the point that my husband is saying he has to go if i dont find a way to make him stop.

He marks EVERYTHING. I have to watch him 24/7. Which i cant do every second of the day. If i cant watch him like a hawk, he is locked in the kitchen, or outside. My kitchen is full of pee when i come back. He pees on everything. Ive tried walking him multiple times a day (people say he needs something to mark), ive tried rubbing his nose in it and punishing him, ive tried the spray that supposed to stop the smell but hell still pee there, ive tried the diapers, to which he just rips off.

Its been over a year and nothing has changed. YES he is neutered. He was fixed when we found him..which makes my husband believe he was thrown out of his first home for this.

Any suggestions PLEASE. Im at a loss of what to do. And my husband wont take much more of this. (plus we rent, we cant have this house smelling like PEE)

 

[Lizmo]

My first thought was has he been checked out by a vet to rule out any health problems?

(will let you answer that before I give out my advice)

 

[Angelique]

Barring any medical problems, marking is a social behavior.

You need to let him know that you find it unacceptable by socially correcting him the split second he is thinking about it or starting to do it.

Tether him to you and keep a corner of your eye on him at all times. Keep him away from vertical objects like couches and chairs.

No need to be angry or brutal, and don't take this personally. Just a slight tug on the leash and a verbal reprimand of "hey", "eh-eh", or "no" to break his focus is really all you should need. Ignore him after the correction.

Crate him in a small enough crate for him to turn around and be comfortable, but not so big he can pee in one end and lay down in the other whenever you aren't there to supervise.

You might also hire a trainer to come and observe and also teach you how to train a down/stay in person. Hard for a dog to mark when they are laying down.

Good luck!

 

[MafiaPrincess]

Smudge occasionally marks. When he gets away with it it reinforces the behaviour.. I usually keep him with me. If I'm going to let him wander it's because I am specifically keeping an eye on him. HEY usually is more than enough to get him to drop his leg. It's more infrequent than ever, but he has gotten sneakier about it. At times I've corrected him for stopping mid stride and tried to quickly mark and keep walking. Not a usual stand and hike..

 

[Lizmo]

Well, since your off line I'll go ahead and give you my opinion on what I woud likely do.

Since it seems physical punishment doesn't have any effect on him, I would go back to square one with training.

First I would try tethering him to you. Start house training all over. Going out every thirty minutes, limiting his water intake -or just watching him to see when he drinks, and after he drinks wait thirt minutes to an hour then take him outside to releave himself.

I would so give him a "pee" cue. My dog's word is "Bathroom". When you dog goes to the bathroom outside, say "Bathroom (or whatever word you want) Good boy!!" and give him a treat. I would do this many, many times. Showing him that going to the bathroom OUTSIDE brings good rewards.

If you do this without any change in behavior I would try this. . .

When you catch him in the act of peeing on something inside, have a can of pennies ready and shake it hard near him. He should react by stopping mid-pee. Do that a couple times and see what happens.

My young male started to think it was okay to mark. Boy, did he learn QUICKLY that that was NOT something I would tolerate at all!

 

[bubbatd]

Poor you and poor pup !! It;s not his fault considering his past , I too would go back to stage one , My pups learned early on what " Squat " meant and whether male or female would go when asked ...... thus they learned " No Squat " early on . Sorry for both of you !

 

[ihartgonzo]

In addition to crating him when you aren't home and tethering him to you when you are home... make sure EVERY spot that he could have possibly peed is satured in Nature's Miracle or a similar enzyme-killing cleaner. If you're cleaning the spots but not erasing the odor/enzymes completely, he will be tempted to keep marking his spots.

 

[Jadens_Slave]

I forgot to mention this.

Yes he was vet checked. Because my first thought was "bladder infection". The vet said hes healthy and nothing is wrong with him..pretty much its behavioral.

Its just that i CANT get thru his head that its wrong. He will litterally do it right in front of me. If i say HEY, yeah hell snap out of it..but then if i even turn my head hes right back at it.

I just dont have time to watch him 24/7 and its not fair for him to always be locked up in the kitchen.

I tried a spray specifically meant to kill the enzymes (or whatever you call it. Its meant to make it gone so they dont smell it) but its seems to have no affect. Hell just mark next to it or something else.

It doesnt seem like hes going for an specific spot..and he wont just go for corners/angles. Hell lift his legs on random walls..even the hallway for example.

 

[Angelique]

Not all dog/human relationships are a perfect match.

This sounds like a special needs dog who needs an owner who's up to the challenge.

If that person is not you, maybe you should think of rehoming before someone loses their temper.

 

[Lizmo]

Rehome over not being able to try a dog not to mark?! Are you serious?

To the OP, I would still try to start all over again. Take a day to wash the whole house. Get it good and clean, then treat this dog as a young, new puppy in the house for the first time.

 

[Maxy24]

Treat him like you are housebreaking. Don't let him out of your sight (have him on leash so he cannot leave your line of sight), clean all messes with an enzyme containing cleaner, and when you have to leave crate him so he will not mark. Take him out frequently, every two or three hours and let him mark out there. Every time he marks in the house it is rewarding. If he learns it is easier (no one stops him, he never is interrupted, he gets to fully mark, etc.) to mark outside and nearly impossible to mark inside (so unrewarding).

Also watch for the signs that he is about to mark. Sniffing vertical objects, walking up beside vertical objects or whatever else he does. When you see him do this this is the absolute best time to interrupt him (clap, say hey, run over and tuck his tail, gently remove him from the object using the leash he should be wearing, etc.) and take him outside, that way he knows what to do with the urge. respond the same way if you catch him in mid-stream, although this is less ideal timing because he has already gotten some relief from doing this.


Remember that dogs cannot learn "right" and "wrong", you can never teach a dog something is wrong, that involves the dogs having morals. Dogs don't try to do what is right in your mind. They work to do what is most rewarding for them. It is up to you to make marking outside much, much better than marking inside. You also must teach him it's not possible to mark inside (which will increase the value of marking outside) so he will give up.

 

[Dekka]

and I would also put a belly band on him.. so if he does try to mark at least he isnt' getting any on the surfaces. And some dogs find the feeling of being wet unpleasant.

 

[grab01]

If he stops when you say "hey", then take him out right then, rather than turning your head so he can finish marking. It isn't necessarily an eliminating behavior (it's usually for marking) but it still gets the idea across that it isn't something to do inside. Tether him to you, so he doesn't have a chance to get to something to mark. Treat him like a puppy..lots of potty breaks. I'd also stop the rubbing his nose in it, etc. It's not effective and is frustrating for both dog and owner.

I second the belly band suggestion as well. Some dogs will still mark with them on, but at least it keeps it off of your stuff.

 

[Jadens_Slave]

Isnt the belly band the same thing as the diapers? Or are we talking 2 different things?

 

[mjb]

I think they can be 2 different things. A belly band is a strip that fits around the male dog's abdomen that should 'catch' urine if the doggy tries to pee with it on.

My previous male dog wore one quite a bit the last 6-12 months of his life when he was old, partially blind, and not as reliable in his pottying.

I don't think he could have chewed it off, and I think the diapers I saw, he could.

 

[Dekka]

belly band..

 

[Jadens_Slave]

Wow i never even saw those at petsmart. Ill have to re-look next time im there.

 

[mjb]

I had to order mine on-line, but that was probably 6 or 7 years ago. They probably carry them at pet stores now.

I even made a few of them out of some cloth and stuck a mini pad in them to absorb. Those worked just as good as the ones I ordered.