2 yr old Male Chihuahua

Question
I have a 2 yr old male Chihuahua that has recently started peeing in the house again. He is intact and finds it necessary to pee on my blinds, sometimes right next to his door, and chair legs in the kitchen during the day while we are at work. He has a doggy door with access to outside, but still pees in the house. He only does it when we are gone though. I also have a female Chihuahua who is about 11 months, but she never goes in the house. We have tried everything to get him to stop. We have disciplined him by giving him a couple of spankings on his rear end, just pretending that it didn't happen, giving him praise and treats when he doesn't go in the house, as well as just telling him that he is a bad boy.
As a result of our efforts, he now is very submissive to us and rolls over onto his back when he thinks he is in trouble and pees when we go to reach for him to pick him up. He knows that he has been bad because of the way he acts when we come home from work and he has gone in the house. He will either sit there with his ears tucked back not wanting to look at us or he will run outside and stay out there.
  When we are home we are constantly giving the both of them attention and love, but yet he is still submissive. I really don't know what to do at this point. I have thought about getting him neutered, but I have heard that once they have learned the trait, they will continue to do it.

Please Help!
Brian

Answer
Neutering will definitely help.  In some cases, it is all it takes.  Better leadership should help too.  You need to repair the damage you have done by hitting him.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm

If the above doesn't stop it, you will have to quit leaving him loose in the house when nobody is around.  When you are around you need to keep a close eye on the dog. Use closed doors or gates to keep it in the same room as you are, and perhaps as I do, a short chain fastened to the computer desk.  If you catch it in the act, give it a sharp ''Ah, ah, ah!'' and take it out.  When you can't watch it, crate it.  


It is only natural that a puppy resists its crate at first.  What the puppy
wants more than anything else is to be others, you, anyone else in the
household, and any other pets.  In our modern society, even if we are home,
other things distract us from the attention an uncrated puppy must have.   The
only real solution is to crate the dog when you aren't around.  The dog may be
happier in its den than loose in the house.  It relaxes, it feels safe in its
den.  It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving
its self.  Dogs that have been crated all along do very well.  Many of them
will rest in their crates even when the door is open.  I think the plastic
ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling.  Metal ones can be put
in a corner or covered with something the dog can't pull in and chew.  Select
a crate just big enough for the full grown dog to stretch out in.

Leave it some toys.  Perhaps a Kong filled with peanut butter.  Don't leave
anything in the crate the dog might chew up.  It will do fine without even any
bedding.  You will come home to a safe dog and a house you can enjoy.

A dog that has not been crated since it was little, may take some work.
Start out just putting its toys and treats in the crate.  Praise it for going
in.  Feed it in the crate.  This is also an easy way to maintain order at
feeding time for more than one dog.

The "shut the puppy in a safe room" is a fallacy.  Very few houses even have a
safe room.  How many of us have a room with a hard surfaced floor and nothing
else?  Most rooms have electrical cords to chew if nothing else.  In addition
to destroying anything a bored puppy finds to chew, it may choke or have
intestinal  blockage from the pieces.  I had a friend that left her dog in a
"safe" room.  It ate a hole in the floor covering.  The safe rooms fail to
give the dog the comfort of the enclosed space their instinct requires.  Nor
do they restrict activity extending the time the dog can go without relieving
itself.