train for rest of house

Question
We have a beautiful 2 year old Bridle with wonderful temperament. He has been with us since he was 11 wks old. We potty trained him using cage & gates that separated him from the rest of the house. When we take the gates down he pees in other areas of the house (i.e., dining room table leg, end of bed, etc.) as though it is the outside or new territory that he wants to claim. How do we train him for he rest of the house now?

Thank you so very much in advance for your reply.


Answer
That is exactly what he is doing-- claiming new areas that he's never been to before.

A dog will do that when the family moves to a new house. Mark it with their own scent.

Being 2 years old now, is going to be hard, as the gates should have come down long before that age-- back when he was being trained. I can understand the gates to keep him within site and supervision, and from roaming and chewing on things and hurting himself- but as a puppy, he should have been introduced to the rest of the house early on.

Now that he does have access, he is marking.

What you'll have to do is devise a reprimand that you and your family agree on and will all do together consistently...

Such as your verbal reprimands being exactly the same, and method of action taken.

Get a whistle. (more than one- each person that will reprimand him must have a whistle)...

When he pees, blow the whistle a few times, verbally reprimand him in a stern voice, then take him outside and leave him for 10 minutes unattended.

Do this each and every time and do not fail.

The whistle sound becomes a signal of bad behavior to him-- the verbal reprimand accompanies the whistle and the words and tone of voice become a signal of him displeasing you and learning he is doing something wrong- and the action of taking him outside and leaving him apart from the family social structure, all reinforces his learning behavior.