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my 3 year old Maltese

20 10:01:11

Question
Hello georgia,

I have a 3 year old Maltese. He's very active and a great dog.
He barks at everything but I was told Maltese tend to do that.

The big problem I am having with him is that he urinates
everywhere in the house. And he'll urinate on the same spots
over and over. He tried to train him but doesn't seem to work.

He's not fix yet. do you think that's part of the problem? will the
urinte stop after getting him fixed?

Thank you
amy


Answer
Dear Amy,

Its a long messege, so bear with me. I want to tell you what I know.
Training Maltese breeds is tough work! I commend you on what you have accomplished so far. First and foremost, getting your dog fixed will alleviate some of his aggresiveness (if he has any) and sexual urges, and hopefully prevent him from territoring everywhere in your home. It really depends on the specific dog, and sadly, you don't know till its done.
It also depends if he lifts his leg while he pees or just sets in with his hips. If he lifts his leg, then getting him fixed might be a good option. If he sets in, then it is a mere training problem. However, it takes time for the operation to set in because his body is still making hormones and beating nature is hard. My maltese peed in the house all of the time, but I got him fixed as a young puppy (which I felt horrible about doing at the time), it payed off because he is not as territorial.
Some training is still necessary. When my maltese pees somewhere he is not supposed to, I throughly clean the area with an alchohol wipe and tell him what he did wrong. Usually he knows and I give him a time out in his "crib" He also seems to pee in similar areas. To avoid bad repetative behavior, you have to associate a bell, wistle, word(harder) or reward for the area you want him to pee in. When he does as you wish reward him by rubbing his belly or giving him a treat and smiling. Some maltese breeds pay attention to facial expression. Some other methods involve purchasing apple-bitter spray, which maltese breeds dislike! If you dont mind the smell of it, and it can be applied to the area, spray some around the area he usually goes and hope for the best! I do not recommend spraying it on furnature. Other advice is purchasing pee pads that are rather expensive, but I have tried them, and placing them in the locations where the dog pees. These are scented so that the do goes pee on them, except my dog avoided them, so they still may work towards your advantage.
It takes months to fully train a dog, and even then there will still be some accidents. My maltese is also active, so this method did not work well for him, but worked for me. I would leave him in the crib, surrounded by a plastic crate 3feet by 4feet, and when he had to go or wanted to go out of the crib, I would immediately take the leash and place him outside. It is very time consuming because sometimes he just go out there and do nothing. I had to be extremly patient with him. Sometimes he went at the last minute when I was about to pick him up and put him back inside. He associated the leash with "out" and he goes "out" After a couple of months on nonstop barking and peeing, I finally go him trained to come to me if he had to go so I could open the door, or he would sit by the door and wait for someone to open it. Its all about association and habit! When his only choice was to go in a certain area, he would continually go there.
About the barking, I am still working on that one!
My dog is a larger maltese and his barks are still piercing. Usually he barks at night because of all of the planes and trains making noise where I live. However, I found that by putting towels over his crate at night both around and above settled the barking for a while. Also, I moved him away from the windows so he would not see the neighbors in the night. Also during the day, when I have to leave him playing to go upstairs, I leave slowly and always pat him on the head three times. He learned that this means play time over, but I still love you.

I wish you the best with your dog. I'm sure he is cute! If you have any more specific questions you can email me directly at sunnysunsun@sbcglobal.net. GOOD LUCK!