My 9 year old Maltese X Poodle is a lovely friendly dog in every way other than the fact that he KEEPS MARKING IN THE HOUSE ARRRRRRRRRRGGGG!!!!

He has done this since the very beginning. He is toilet trained and knows he is not suppose to mark in the house. He goes out side without a problem. I have NEVER caught him marking inside, and he is really sneaky about it. It makes my furniture/curtains/carpet/walls stink, and he has now taken a liking to marking on my sons bed

We have gates over all the rooms he is not allowed into, and he now only has access to the family area.

I am at my wits end as We are about to purchase a new lounge (for the family area) and i don't want him to ruin this one too. What can i do to stop this marking?

__________________

is he neutered? my BT used to do it till we got him neutered especially as there was a female dog living next door..he used to mark all over the place

__________________

Keep Dreaming Smudge! HAHAHA

Naughty little "moodle!)it certainly sounds like hes marking his terratory,you will need to have him neautered probably to fix this.

i agree,,,i don't think there is any other way unfortunatly!

__________________

Keep Dreaming Smudge! HAHAHA

Sorry forgot to add.... yes, he was neutered as a puppy!!

Here is a picture of Spunky that i took this morning



I have tried everything that I can think of. Even tried Dog repellent sprays, they don't work either!

I shut him outside when we go out, and I put a lead on him at night when he is in his bed.

He is still marking on my curtains in the family room when I am not watching. He has weed on the kids toys too

The house is so blocked off with gates and closed doors that I am starting to feel trapped by him.

Spunky is lovely in every other way, he is playful, affectionate and great with the kids, it's just the marking that is driving me up the wall!!

__________________

my mums crestie did that he went up on my sons bed and wee'd on it had to through all the bedding away we think it was battle of the alpha male.
he is def marking his territory do u have many other dogs in the house? and what do you clean with when he does it?

He is our only dog - The only other pets i have are birds and fish...
I use pure vinigar to clean up the urine.

I feed him after we have eaten and he is not allwed to sleep/sit on beds, lounges etc.

__________________

is there any other dogs in the area that he could feel threatened by???
ex. on walks, living next door etc.???

__________________

Keep Dreaming Smudge! HAHAHA

Have you tried to crate him > USing a crate will mean he has somewhere to sleep at night where he doeas,nt need a leash to keep him in place . And also a safe place to leave him when you go out you can get fairl large crates if you worried about room for the time your away . As he is 9 you could still have many more years to put up with this a friends shitzu did this as he got older sometimes you could say it was his age and he had less controll over his bladder but as your dog has always done it then that cant be the reason . Often marking is his way of telling you and others that this is his home , there are lots of other things you can do to make h im feel less of an alfa dog , such as reducing the amount of eye contact you give him and how much attention he gets too , Try ignoring him as much as possible dont let him jump at you when he greats you , when you reunite in the morning dont speak to him for at least 10 mins or untill he is calm and not looking for attention , then when you do fuss him its on your term and your time . this can be done also even when you have seperated yourself from him by going into another room , on being back in the same room ignore him till you call him and when he comes give lots of praise . Eat infront of him before you give him his meal even if its just a cracker an alpha eats first . and if he pulls on the lead when you got out stand still not saying anything untill he sits or is calm again and then resume the walk do this each time he pulls you may not get far to start but all hese ideas will forge you as the alpha not him and may make him less likely to mark . hope this helps .
Andrea

__________________

Sorry Andrea but I think that's awful advice.

The dog doesn't even think he is the alpha as he's being sneaky about it. If he thought he was the alpha he would do what he liked whenever he liked and not care if his owner were there or not!

Besides which that method of training is out outdated and cruel.

I'm not sure why you are suggesting a method of training that you wouldn't use with your own dogs either!?!

My advice would be to get him a crate or confine him to a small area that he can see as his own. Whenever you can't have your eye on him, crate him or confine him to his area. Just make sure you train him to see the crate/area as his safe place and you won't have any trouble, he won't want to mess in his own area!!