Marking- is it anxious or territorial?

[cantcopemuchlonger]

I've been struggling with our 20 month old cavapoo for months- he's terrible at stealing and guarding toys he steals from my 3yo. We got some great tips from a behaviourist but he's still set on destroying her stuff. Recently he's also started marking around the house constantly- nearly always on my youngest daughter's possessions. I've seen him do it when I'm on a work call and he looks at me as he's doing it so it always feels like defiant behaviour rather than anxious behaviour. The vet thinks he is anxious and neutering will make him worse so I've held off but the marking is driving me crazy. Behaviourist says to keep him in the same room as us and startle him if he marks which is fine in the week but we come unstuck at weekends when the kids are home and running between rooms playing. I try to be on top of it but he was unaccompanied for less than 5 minutes while I was cooking dinner and I've found 3 marking locations (he'd been out for a long walk an hour previously so it wasn't needing a wee) We won't rehome him but I'm so sorely tempted. I get so claustrophobic having him next to me 24/7 and needing to keep all the doors shut. He's making me miserable rather than making our life better.

I'm thinking to just get him neutered as a last ditch hope it would improve his behaviour. It really does feel territorial/ trying to get above the kids in the pack order but I'm honestly struggling now and while we can continue with the behaviourist, the cost is not matching the benefit

Well if it is anxiety, startling the poor dog is going to make the problem far worse. At best, as you’ve found, it simply convinces the dog to wait until your back is turned before he marks. It does nothing to address the root cause, regardless of his underlying motives

What qualifications does this behaviourist have? Their advice is most certainly not ‘industry standard’ to put it politely!

From their site- a fully qualified member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. I assumed that is a good thing but I could be wrong. Google seems to give the same sort of advice to this so I thought it was reliable but I'll admit to not being an expert in this. I just want to do right by my dog and family. Did loads of reading before we got him and he's ok trained on the whole- he can do all the basic commands and heel on the lead etc, it's just the marking that is driving me crazy

3.1 Shall work to minimize the use of aversive stimuli and maximize the effective use of positive reinforcement to modify animal behavior through a Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive (LIMA) based approach.

APDT are trainers, not behavioural specialists at least in the main. I’m not aware of them having a behaviour specific qualification and as quoted from their code of conduct above, they promote the use of aversives. Outdated, ineffective and disproven by scientific research into the way dogs learn and how to modify their behaviour. Most in the industry have moved away from this style of training

That's not to say some trainers with this qualification won’t be excellent, but clearly you aren’t getting the results you hoped for here. As a first step, I’d look elsewhere for advice in person

Thanks @Undisclosedlocation. Happy to look for another behaviourist but would genuinely be grateful for any advice around the marking behaviour as a stopgap. Behaviourists are difficult to find in our area, thought we had a good one and I'm pretty desperate to be honest

Try IDMT'a website as they do have behaviourists, or trainers that are officially recognised as canine behaviourists. A canine trainer alone, like a vet, isn't necessarily experienced in canine behaviour issues.

Don’t let him access to things he can steal and guard.
FB group dog training advice and support can advise on a behaviourist in your area. I wouldn’t neuter. Keep him near you and use brain games to keep him occupied and teach a settle??

Unfortunately any advice given without knowing why your dog is acting this way is fundamentally useless and potentially will make things worse
The cure is directly related to whichever cause is driving it…..so if it’s anxiety for example then the advice would be entirely different to if it’s a hormone based marking one.
sorry I’m not trying to be difficult, but as a trainer of many years experience, I despair at the keyboard warrior diagnoses and the potentially appalling ‘advice’ that comes with it. There really is no substitute for a professional in dog behaviour problems

Where are you based and people may be able to recommend someone?

I wouldn’t neuter it won’t stop the behaviour he’s displaying anyway

i I wouldn’t allow any access to toys/ anything he can guard

if that means he needs to be crated or kept somewhere else whilst you’re busy etc then do that.

Resource guarding can escalate quickly and you really need someone who can help resolve it and not give you advise which could make it much worse

Have you tried some brain games and things to get him mentally tired?

walks are fine but don’t do much for a lot of dogs and unless you’re walking for hours (not saying there’s any need for this btw I certainly don’t walk mine that long)

brain games can help tire them much more. Food in a frozen Kong or snuffle matt are easy ones. Or hiding some treats around the garden/ kitchen for him to find

Anxious dogs and territorial marking often go hand in hand.

I really would not recommend neutering - especially when your vet has also advised against it. Anxious dogs need as much help as possible and as testosterone is also known as the "brave hormone", getting rid of it would be hugely counterproductive.