Cairn Terrier Housebreaking

Question
I recently adopted a three year old male cairn terrier from the humane society.  He was found as a stray and adopted once before but returned within two weeks for marking inside.  He's a sweet dog and will be neutered on July 8th but he is very obsessive about marking inside.  No matter how many times we take him out - I mean every hour, sometimes every half hour, he walks thru the house and pees or tries to, every foot or so on every surface.  I've owned dogs of all sorts since I was 12 (I'm 58) including unnuetered males who never acted like this.  I know neutering will help, but how do I treat this obsessive behavior?  He's very gentle and the other terrier mischief I can handle, but the potty problem has me baffled.

Answer
Karen -

This problem is actually pretty common in male cairns, especially when you don't know what his background is. If he was kept outside or in a kennel, he was likely never housebroken in the first place.

It's important to differentiate between peeing and marking, and it sure sounds like he's marking... which means it has nothing whatsoever with his having to go out. It has to do with the very territorial nature of many terriers.

I do cairn rescue, including the breeding dogs from puppymills, so you can imagine how many times I have faced this exact problem. When dogs have been stud dogs their whole lives and lived in cages, they are completely clueless on this topic.

I use a combination of several things.  

One - I always crate when I'm not home or cannot provide close supervision.  

Two - I make the dog drag a leash around all the time for a quick snatch and run outside.  Third, I use a spray bottle and I know some people who use the item below. These items are used to interrupt the unwanted behavior, and then you would take him outside.

http://mall.cairnrescue.com/mdse/show_item.php?itemno=G12

Thirdly, I use belly bands.  They are wrapped around the belly and cover the private parts. These work in a couple of fashions - one, they provide a physical barrier to your house, two, the dog hates getting wet, and third, I would swear they are embarassed to wear them.  If he insists on wetting his belly band, you can add 1/2 a sanitary pad for absorption.

http://www.decotogs.com/bellybands/bellybandinfo.htm

Lastly, you need to clean every surface he could have possibly marked on with an enzyme based cleanser. I prefer a product called "Get Serious" and have had very good results with it, even on carpet.

And armed with those tools, the name of the game is persistence.  By pure repetition he will learn that he must not do that in the house.

I sure wish you a lot of luck !  You are going to have to out-terrier the terrier on this one !

-Beth