Since DH went away, the dog (1year old) has taken to peeing in the house

[Saltire]

He is fully house trained, and usually goes to the door if he wants out.
DH went away 2 weeks for 4 months.Since then the dog has started peeing indoors, but only in teh same 2 or 3 places. First thing in the morning he gets let into garden, he does a wee. Then he goes upstairs and does it against bathrom door! Then I go tow roka dn Dses go tos chool. he is then on his ownf or aobut 4 hours. Since he was a puppy he has been dry during this time, and still is, I get home and the first thing I do is let him in the garden, and he goes out, then I go upstairs to change and he follows me and wees againt the bathroom door.
We always have a long wlak int eh afternoon. Then at some point between 3.30 and 5.00 pm he wees in the kicthen, usually against the back door frame, but someitmes if the laundry basket is there, he'll do it against that.

Any tips on what is causing this?

I should also say that whenever I in kitchen/dining room the back door is always open for him to come and go from garden

Hello Saltire!

Dinnae fret, lassie!

First of all, you need to make really sure you've got all the smell out, otherwise he'll just keep returning to the same spot. A solution of biological washing liquid/powder is good, or you can get special odour removers like Simple Solution from your pet shop or vet.

And sorry to be so personal, but is he castrated? (The dog, not DH!).

Bella x

No he's not, he was supposed to be getting "done" this month, but the tossers MOD thought it would be great to send DH away 4 months early, at v short notice.
We were holding off till June till DH gets back

It might be better once he's done - in the meantime give his favourite spots a good scrub.

Dogs are also great at picking up on stress so if you're (quite understandably) stressed with DH away, that could have triggered this.

HTH

Yours aye

Bella

Thanks Bella. I told DH when I emailed him and he wondered if Dog was trying to be Alpha male.

He does seem to be missing DH, adn it has been stressful, with both Dses having a sickness bug in the space of 24 hours and me with a flare up, I suppose he's picking up on it

You can get a DAP (dog appeasing pheromone) diffuser from your vet for about £25 which may help him chill a bit.

I don't really hold with all the alpha male stuff but it would seem your DH going away has been the trigger. Poor wee soul misses his daddy!

Hope you're all fully recovered from your bugs soon...

And of course collies (if I remember correctly, that's what he is, isn't he?) are so intelligent and sensitive really.

Yep.. definitely sounds like he's marking his territory.. my SIL's dog wasn't castrated (still isn't) and when he used to come to my house, he'd try and scent up my tv cabinet or the unit.. we really had to watch him and stop him before-hand.. pretty much what tom-cats do before they're done too. My dog was a bitch and the alpha dog but it didn't stop him tryin to strut his stuff!

It does sound as though he is trying to assume your DH's role and 'protect' you and the family by marking out his (and your) territory, bless him!

I think the trick is to allay his concern that he is the one who has been left in charge, by letting him know that you have everything in hand. There are simple behavioural tricks that are supposed to help, like not letting the dog go through a doorway before you do (so you are the 'scouting' and therefore alpha pack member), and not establishing any eye contact and not making a fuss of him when you first arrive home from being out. There are loads of books on this sort of thing, eg the Dog Whisperer. Good luck.

Interesting. I might try the non eye contact when I get in from work, although it will be difficult as he is so excited (usually, I have to say, because he's chewed the door frame or eaten a bag of nappy sacks) when I get in and jumps at the stairgate to greet me.
He's been really settled tonight, sleeping when I did the ironing, and when I was watching tv, he lay down and slept again, usually he's trying to climb on my lap!

Bella - yes he's a Border Collie

Following on from Pixel it sounds as if the poor dog now thinks he has to be alpha male.

Quite right about not letting him go through the doorway before you. Don't let him on furniture (particularly the sofa or bed) so that he is 'lower' than you, don't let him greet people at the door - encourage people when they come in to ignore him for 5 minutes before cuddling him (inlcuding dc's), take his food away during eating and give him it back a few minutes later, eat before the dog.

It is difficult to ignore him, as his door into his cupboard (well I say cupboard, it's about 5ft by 6ft, walk in one) is the first one once in teh door, it has a stair gate and he jumps at it as soon as anyone comes in!
Will give it a go though

Yeah, by ignore I just mean no eye contact, just getting on with your own thing for a few minutes, not physically touching him etc.

Just don't look at him over the stair gate

even when he's doing his cute puppy-wuppy face

OH yes he's good at "look I'm cute". I'm off to bed now, will try these things out tomorrow

Just did a quick google and this site came up, haven't read it all but it contains advice on dominance and behavioural issues.

dog listener

Although he seems to be dissing the 'alpha' theory in preference of 'pack controller', it's got lots of advice on establishing control which might help.

Well this morning he peed on the freshly ironed basket of clothes!

I've heard spraying white vinegar where he's peed will stop him coming back to the same spot. i guess sooner or later he'll run out of non-vinagered places
It does sound like his pack dynamic has changed so he's assuming the alpha role.

lol at the thought of covering all the freshly irnoned clothes in vinegar so he doesn't pee there again!