Question
My dog
I have a 3 year old male dog (probably a mix of poodle/bischon/maltese - maybe a tad of terrier - see pic). I adopted him at about 18 months and immediately had him neutered. He marks constantly while we're on walks and the problem has only gotten worse. He also tends to pull on leash and dart at other dogs aggressively (some dogs, not all - he does interact nicely with many dogs that he sees). I read your reply to someone else about instructing him to 'go potty' at the beginning of the walk and to avoid stopping for marking while we're walking. I've done this quite a bit. The problem has 3 parts:
1. Each tinkle is only a very small amount (including the first - even if he hasn't been out in 8-9 hours).
2. When I don't let him pee about 12-15 times while we're on a walk, he'll inevitably pee in the house as soon as I go out. By comparison, he tries to pee every few feet while we're on a walk, so I'm already avoiding many opportunities for him to mark by nudging him along (as you suggested to the other writer yet hasn't gotten the point and continues to try). There seems to be a 12-15 peeing minimum on a 10-15 minute walk with dozens more attempts to pull on the leash to mark even more and this gets REALLY annoying. Our walks simply aren't enjoyable and that saddens me.
3. When I go to someone's house and there's another dog there (or if there has been another dog there), he'll pee.
4. When I take him to parks in enclosed off-leash areas for dogs, he'll spend a good deal of time simply wandering and marking. (that part is annoying because he has no interest in playing or running around there so it's no fun for me :-(
He's actually a VERY sweet dog who woudn't hurt a fly, but this behavior is really annoying. I live in a city where there are LOTS of other dogs and I have to walk him 3X/day because I don't have a back yard.
I'd appreciate any suggestions that you may have.
Thanks,
Matt
AnswerHi Matt,
The first thing to do with any dog that is constantly urinating everywhere is to have a culture and sensitivity test on the urine, to insure that there is no infection going on. Once that is ruled out, then the issue is likely to be behavioral. Unfortunately, this dog was neutered late, and some dogs continue to mark even after the neuter once they have learned to do it. Dogs of both genders are capable of retaining urine for that very purpose, and so the small amounts of pee at each urination attempt are not unusual either for a dog that has an infection, or for a dog that is just marking. I don't worry about marking outdoors too very much until the dog is trained to follow a specific cue, such as "let's go," with which I can then ask him to come along, and not pee. Before the dog is trained to understand the cue, you could say it all day long and he will just ignore you, so my suggestion is to find a good clicker trainer, or positive trainer, who can instruct you on the basic skill of getting his attention while on walks, plus getting him to pay attention to you on cue, to help avoid those situations when he gets nervous and lunges at oncoming dogs that he is unsure of. If you want to sample clicker training, there's a free site at www.clickerlessons.com where you can try out an "attention" exercise. If you are the type person who needs to see as well as read, then there are some free videos at www.clickertrainusa.com. I suspect that he isn't playing with other dogs because his early socialization experiences may not have been as extensive as you would have given him had you owned him from the beginning. Puppies optimal socialization period, when they should be exposed to those things, is between age 8-12 weeks! Most people don't realize that, and maybe his first owner didn't either. Also, some dogs just aren't in to playing once they reach a certain age. One of my dogs still likes all her friends, but she wasn't much in to physical play once she hit 3 years old. She's now 5, and still likes all her friends, but they don't roughhouse the way they once did.
Some owners resort to "belly bands" for their male dogs that mark: http://www.petexpertise.com/solve-dog-problems/male-wrap.html Works for some dogs, not for others, but cheap enough to give it a try maybe.
Puppy help!
Question
Roxy!
Hello! I am so glad I found this site:)
cairn terrier urinating in house
QuestionHi, I have a 2 1/2 year old cairn terrier who w
Male Chesador
QuestionWe have a 8 month old puppy that is more than s
Barking at strangers
Question
Kupe
We have a 7 month old (not neutered) male
