How to stop marking?

[Duffer]

Hi
my 8 month old male is going though his 'teenage' months, and has started squirting everything in the house! including my handbag this morning. I was wondering does anyone have any tips on how to stop this?

There are papers down for him, and the back door is always open for him to go into back garden, but he seems to be favoring any type of doorway.

Im not gonna lie, im a pretty big softie so i cant stay mad at him for ruining things, and i know he isnt doing it on purpose. But he will be fresh out of doggie dollars as he has to replace things he is ruining!

Any ideas, tips will be greatly appreciated
Clare

[Mindysmom]

Having two males I experienced a bit of this. I won't lie though - it was only once or twice in the house and the one time Rylie did it inside was to mark my 12 yo, dog with cancer, Mindy. It probably helped that I sternly put him outside and he had to stay there by himself until after I had Mindy bathed. He's never marked in the house since *touch wood*.

I was told to treat it just like housetraining and that's what I did. I limited their area to where I could always see him - or if I wasn't home to the kitchen. Rylie rarely marks anymore, even outside. Max (who is older and neutered months before he started marking) still feels the need to mark on every tree when we are going for a walk but he is getting much better by learning to focus on me during walks.

[Karlin]

Neutering resolves or significantly reduces this in about 75-80 % of cases. But your main problem is you don't have a fully housetrained dog either (this is a REALLY common problem in housetraining -- people give too much freedom well before the dog is actually housetrained), and simply leaving a door open isn't enough-- he is really pretty young still; his hormones have kicked in, if he isn't neutered they will be swamping him with messages to mark. Marking is really only part of housetaining -- what you are really seeing is more a not completely housetrained dog, left to his own devices and allowed to choose his spot to go, decideing to go inside now that he can lift his leg. It is probably likely that he may have been going inside and doing quick puppy squats that were missed, if he has always been allowed to find his own way outside in recent weeks or months ==and now that he is the age where he also lifts his leg, the semi-housetraining state he's in is a lot more obvious (fully housetrained dogs don't mark inside their own homes ). Most puppies need very structured, constant supervision and supervised trips outside/rewards/praise approach on training for many, many months. Most are not really relaible til around a year old.

So you really need a joint approach. If he isn't neutered I would do this, as an unneutered male is always likely to pee in other people's houses even if housetrained to your own (the longer left unneutered, the more marking becomes a permanent challenge), and start housetraining from scratch -- as if with an unhousetrained pup. Eg 100% supervision, accompanied trips to go outside at regular intervals during the day during which he is praised and rewarded or going every time; never any punishment for 'mistakes' inside as these are not his fault if he has not yet had enough training to know where to go (which is what accidents are all about! US not having done our job quite yet and giving the dog more responsibility that it can manage !) As he is mostly trained, a few weeks of extra close supervision will probably pay off quickly.

I am sure your vet will probably give the same advice.

[Duffer]

thanks for that guys, i know myself he isnt fully housetrained as we moved from apartment to house when he was a pup and I have never properly trained him.

i am going to get him neutered in a few months, once i can convince my bf ( he is very sympathetic with the dog - must be a male thing! ), but i will try and get him housetrained asap, i would die of mortification if he squirted in someone elses house!