I missed that you were crating him around the clock -- this is cruel
. Please do not do this. A crate isn;t even the equal of a zoo cage. It is smaller than the space puppy mill dogs are bred in. Please commit to training him not to mark -- what he is doing is NORMAL behaviour for a dog and training him to do otherwise is an OWNER issue, not something he can learn magically just by having bits chopped off. He is way too young to have been completely housetrained -- you need several months of no accidents to be able to state a dog is housetrained. In addition he is just going into the point where he *starts* leg lifting. A much kinder way of managing marking males is simply to buy a
belly band while you are training him! You need to keep this clean and cannot make him wear it constantly, long term -- they can get infections left with them on constantly -- but breeders regularly use these with their intact males in the house if there are visiting dogs or females in heat for example that might cause periods of marking. I use them with rescue intact males -- I have yet to have had an intact male who did not try to mark in the house. Usually leas than a week's training -- which means watching constantly so that you can give a loud noise (I use the same noise I would for training bite inhibition) just as he starts lifiting so he never actually marks -- stops the behaviour.
If you are uncertain how to manage this in a dog,
please get some good training books -- eg anything by Ian Dunbar, Shirlee Kalstone's book on housetraining. And if that doesn't make things any clearer, then hire an APDT or CCPDT trainer to come in and get the direct advice that help resolve this problem.
You absolutely cannot keep a dog crated round the clock. You could be reported for cruelty to the SPCA for something like this. If you feel you cannot manage a dog -- and they do require many, many hours of training and hours of 100% supervision up til age 1, because dogs DO have accidents from time to time even after being housetrained -- then maybe consider rehoming. You will face greater challenges with a dog over its lifetime than the normal behaviour of marking a bit while still a puppy, and need to consider whether you are able for those challenges -- you cannot resolve problems by locking your dog up, especially a young energetic dog needing lots of exercise and stimulation. Frustration alone from being crated round the clock would easily increase marking too, and other unwanted behaviours will develop, as males will mark to calm themselves and relieve anxiety you are causing by penning him like this!. But do understand this is not *Tybalt's* issue to resolve -- it is YOUR issue to resolve by giving him the focused training and time he needs.
Dogs are time consuming.
Dogs are only starting adolescence at 6 months. He will likely become more difficult over the next 6 months -- which is also normal dog behaviour and again an owner management and training issue. Please, please go out and buy Dr Ian Dunbar's Before and After You Get your Puppy so that you know what to expect and how to manage a maturing puppy. It will be well worth the money to have a better understanding and reasonable expectations.
