Young dog started marking in the house, what should we do?

[Wicker382]

I swear this dogs got a handbook of bad dog behaviour and he's slowly ticking everything off the list. No sooner have we tackeld one issue, another one crops up.

In the last week he's marked 3 times. Once up our bedroom door, once on my basket of clean washing 😤 and last night he did it on his blanket.

He's 14 months old and we haven't had him castrated and didn't want to (he's a nervous dog). We've restricted him to downstairs and we're watching him closely but is there anything else we can do before this becomes a habit?

Many thanks.

Make sure you’re using an enzyme cleaner so he can’t smell where he’s been and keep going back there.

Don't let him free roam at all. Put him on a lead in the house (ideally tethered to you) and every single time he looks like he's going to mark or pee, take him straight outside.

Also make sure you're cleaning up with a proper pet urine cleaner.

Try and catch him at it good luck with that, we had a 6 year old rescue who did it tried all sorts castration worked for us

I may be missing something here, but why wouldn't you neuter the dog? I am pretty sure they usually mark a LOT less once they're neutered...

Thanks for all the replies.

Neutering a nervous/reactive dog can make them much worse. He's a lot better than he was though so I'm hoping it was just a phase of fear reactivity that he'll grow out of. I don't want to make that decision yet though, especially as we've not been able to work through some of the issues he's had with strangers in the house (due to lockdown).

@Hotchox

I may be missing something here, but why wouldn't you neuter the dog? I am pretty sure they usually mark a LOT less once they're neutered...

Nope, not necessarily. Marking is generally a behavioural problem.

And neutering a nervous/reactive dog is not recommended. 14 months is also very young to consider neutering.

Our Ddog started doing this too, around the same age.
Like you we are trying to avoid neutering too.
I used an enzyme cleaner and was super vigilant. As soon as I saw him even think about marking I took him outside.
He seemed to stop/grow out of it just as quickly as it started tbh.
I'm still super cautious when we take him new places that may have had dogs like holiday homes/friends houses etc but not had any incidences now for about a year.

If you're positive it's not a UTI or kidney issue, is there anything different which might have made him more anxious? New furniture, new people visiting, neighbours got a puppy etc. can all raise stress levels and lead to marking. An adaptil plug in might help reduce stress if you don't already use one.

Unnutered dogs do scent mark. All mine have been neutered so I have never had this issue. Is there a reason he is not neutered.

@Sitdowncupoftea

Unnutered dogs do scent mark. All mine have been neutered so I have never had this issue. Is there a reason he is not neutered.

OP said in her opening post that it's because he's nervous, and neutering a nervous dog is not recommended, so she's doing the right thing.

Neutered dogs can scent mark too. Neutering isn't guaranteed to fix marking as a behaviour.

Marking is usually an anxiety behaviour

Def don't castrate him.

It may be worth trialling suprelorelin (6 m implant) as this will tell you how he'd respond to castration and whether the marking is anxiety driven or testosterone driven

We had this issue and eventually had him neutered after we'd tried everything else to stop the behaviour. He stopped pretty much immediately which was a bit of a surprise as I'd read that it might not work. It changed his behaviour in other ways too (not for the worse or better, just different) so it isn't an easy decision to make.

Hi! Quite late to this thread but we’re having this issue too however we have 2x 10 month old pups - so it’s double the trouble!

Due to work commitments and money we can’t get them neutered until after Christmas but from what we’ve learned they’re trying to assert their dominance and this shows even when they play fight. One is quite on the aggressive side too (not attack wise) but basically barks at everyone and anyone - so for us the neutering will be a double win in a sense that it could help with both issues.

Maybe make an appointment with the vet? Vets are usually quite knowledgable with animal behaviour and when I’ve been in the past they’ve been better than a trainer we previously seen.

But yes I clean daily (daily) with the enzymatic cleaner and we’re going to hire a carpet/upholstery cleaner for now. We went back to the basics of toilet training which helped so now it’s only when we go to bed of a night which is an issue! Which is the last thing to tackle

Would recommend maybe pretending you’re toilet training for the first time again go through the basics, speak to the vet about neutering if their nervous

And good luck! It’s so hard. I like things clean so this has set me off a lot I’ve cried I’ve thought “this will never end” but it will. This is unfortunately another phase and in time we’ll look back and think “thank f*ck that’s over”

Hope you get this solved

Also I do know you said he’s a nervous pup! So maybe the neutering may not be the way but maybe ask the vets for alternatives

Maybe due to him being nervous he’s experiencing a bit of anxiety? That may be the reason for increased marking rather than needing the snip!

Yes using a cleaner that completely gets rid of the smell so they don't re mark it and shutting all doors apart from where you/they are, lots of opportunities to go outside like when they were training, Good luck xx