Dear Darcie, We recently got a 3 year old neutered male westie from our local shelter. He was a rescue from a breeding farm. He is a great dog and very intelligent. He learns very quickly except for one thing. He continually marks in our house. We have one other male, 9, and one female westie, 13. Both are altered. When we leave the house he is contained within our laundry room which he does not mark. He absolutely will not crate and has an intense fear of any strangers. Our other 2 have the run and are very well behaved. He knows he is not supposed to mark so he watches to see if we are in sight. He will not mark if we are in sight. Sheri
Dear Darcie,
I watched a woman trainer work with a dog years ago. She got him to stop marking indoors and fast. I was surprised how quickly she did it. Oh, and she did it for outdoors, too. I saw him start to lift his leg on a plant the next day. He picked up his leg and put it down again.
Keep him on a leash with you when he is not in his safe zone, the laundry room. You might like the Buddy System, it’s a hands free leash. Search at www.sitstay.com for the size you need. I really like it.
Supervise him with an eagle eye. If he lifts his leg a hair off the floor, jump up and scream, “Accck!” She made it loud and she meant it. She scared the hell out of me the first time she yelled. I almost wet my own pants.
It took her five times and the dog never marked in the house again.
Clean the spots that he’s already marked with one of my favorites, not necessarily in this order: Get Serious, Nature’s Miracle, or Urine Off. Get the Urine-Off Urine Finder Black Light so you don’t miss any spots. I like all of these and the light is really fun to use. If you get the spots cleaned, he won’t be attracted back to them.
Make sure that you take him outside to “his spot” on leash for the next three weeks so he understands that we pee outside. I know that marking is not peeing but it helps to have a special spot to pee. Have a stick stuck into the ground or something to give him a target. A stick works great. Our Bruno used a basketball. I think the neighbor kids must have lost it in our yard, they didn’t want it back. It stayed right there in that same spot for over 8 years.
Do not let him mark when you go walking. Don’t slow down to allow it. You’re stopping the marking altogether. It’s your house and your walk and there is no reason for him to “protect” any territory ever again.
It’s good that he’s not marking his special room, that means he knows where he lives is off limits to marking and he doesn’t have to protect what’s already his living space. Teach him that the whole house is everybody’s special room and we live in all of it. Have all of the dogs with you when you do this. With him on leash, sit on the floor in every room, in every corner, including under the kitchen table and in the bathrooms. Take some time in each place, read a book, eat some popcorn or some other treats or even give them all a chew treat from SitStay.com while you munch on the popcorn. Eating is necessary for this exercise. Make a family thing of it. The more people who “live” in the space, the less likely he will be to mark it.
Popcorn is easy, we love it and so do our dogs. We only use popcorn once in a while, it’s corn, too much will make you and your dog fat. But it’s an easy treat for both people and dogs to share. It’s easy to toss the dogs a piece now and then while they “live” in the whole house with you. The chew treats, like Bully Sticks, will be a real pleasure for the dogs and they will lay down to chew. The whole house will become his living space and so off limits for marking, he shouldn’t attempt to mark again.
I wish you the best of luck.
We have SnuggEase Diapers if you have no luck at all.
Dear Darc, I’ve read a few of your articles. One things you’ve said several times is that they won’t go where they live. Mine didn’t seem to get that memo. For the first several years of their lives, they stayed in the laundry room while we were gone. Even then, they’d go right by their food and beds. Now, they go outside when they can (Mocha, the male, learned how to ring the bell, so he lets me know when he needs to go, unless I’m asleep, but that’s rare. Taffi, his sister, has never really learned how to tell me when she needs to go. She’s not consistent … once in awhile she’ll start jumping on me to let me know, but usually, she just finds a place to go. Help! Our carpet is ruined, and we want to get new flooring, but not until they are trained. Donitta
Dear Donitta, You might have to change the flooring now or you might never get this fixed. As long as it smells like urine and poop, they are going to continue to use it. I’d suggest any hard flooring that is more pet proof, no more carpet. Clean everything and try the crate training again. Dogs who are on regular feeding, walking and potty schedules rarely go to the bathroom in the house. Their bodies will learn a routine just like yours does when food is offered on a regular routine. You don’t say if your dogs are rescues, if they are, it might take you longer to train them. Rescues are often from puppy mills where they had no choice but to potty in their pens, it can take some time to change that but it can be done. Good luck and keep trying. You’ll get it done. A thorough cleaning and 100% supervision is going to solve this for you. Darc