Territorial Urination

Question
My family has owned a apricot miniature poodle for 3 years and have run into some problems with his territorial behaviour.  Often, we will find little puddles of his urine in various spots in the house. We rarely catch him in the act.  We believe that it largely has something to do with the fact that one of my sisters brings her dog over to our house and he feels threatened.  We have done a bit of research that indicates we should go back to the basics with discipline, such as re-introducing the crate, decreasing treats etc.  But, to no avail.  Do you have any suggestions about why he may be doing this?  And, do you have any suggestions for methods of stopping this behaviour?  Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you kindly,

Beth

Answer
First of all, you need to clean the 'accidents' or 'markings' with a mixture of 3 parts water, 1 part vinegar to neutralize the smell so he won't go back to it.  As for why he does it - is there another new dog in the area? He MAY be trying to challenge the man of the house for the position of Alpha Dog.  It is a hard thing to break and other than sending him to a behavioral trainer, I would suggest a preventive measure. They do make doggie diapers for male and female dogs.  If you keep him in the diaper when he is in the house, and then when you let him out to pee, praise him effusively for doing his business in the right place, it may modify the behavior.  Here is one link:

http://www.lambriarvet.com/catalog/Dog-Diapers.htm

although there are many more. The google link I used was:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22dog+diapers%22

I wish you luck. There is no easy answer, sadly, and it just takes patience and trial and error.

Good luck!

Kathryn