Could anger be a reason a dog is marking the inside of the house?

[Diana Allen]

I am going crazy with my dogs lately... Cagney the labradoodle is 2 yrs old and has not been fixed as of yet,  plans are to have him done in a few months...Timber is 6 yrs old and a Shipoo... both are marking in the house now.

There have not been any changes to anything in the house, no babies, pets, nothing.

 

Last Fri I had to throw out my large roll top desk, the urine ruined it. I don't know which one is doing what but sometimes I can see the guilt, caught the little one trying to mark up against a chair in my boys room.

My bed, the shoe rack, a wicker vase in my room, new coffee tables ( over 8 mths old ), new couch same age as tables, books on a built in wall book shelf. I am going nuts with this. Nothing seems to be working, I clean remove the odor etc. tell them no, etc. nothing is working....

 

It seems that when any of us leave the house they are angry about it and show us this by marking. Does anyone have this problem? I am unsure if the fixing of Cagney will help this matter, The dogs trump each other all over the yard and the park. I think that is happening in the house when we are not home as well. I though to setting up a Nanny cam but that is only a small part of the battle, does not fix this problem.

Helpppppp

[Lorraine Bromley]

Crate again then umbilical training until they figure out who is boss again. Apparently they have figured that they are now the top of the heap and need taken down a notch.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I agree with Lorraine. It sounds like they are vying for position as "top dog", which, of course, is YOUR posiition!! It could be because Cagney is becoming an adult.

I would suggest going back to the basics of house training with crates and or tethers at least to start with. I'm sure there are other measures that can be taken as well. Can they be crated or in separate rooms when you cannot monitor them? Does this only happen when they are together? What do you do when you catch them at it? Do you take a strong leadership roll with the dogs? Perhaps this needs to be strengthened so they know that YOU own everything in the house and they have no business marking it.

 

Also, it's imperative to get every trace of odor out of whatever has been marked by the boys to prevent it becoming an attractant again. But you probably know that.

 

This is a tough issue I can see where it would make you crazy!! :(

[Adina P]

Dogs don't mark out of anger.  

 

I think there are only two options here...well three, but until you get the 2 y.o. neutered you've got 2 options to prevent marking:

 

1) CRATE each dog when you are not there to see the marking happen--a nanny cam won't do a thing to help you correct the problem even if you find out who marked on what.  This on its own will make marking a non-issue.  

 

2) Put belly bands on each dog so they can't mark (though they will probably wet themselves at first before they figure it out) when you're home.  I have no idea if dogs will tolerate the belly bands when they are unsupervised.

 

You really can't 'fix' this problem unless you catch them in the act.  Looking guilty is just looking 'submissive' if they know you're upset. It's an appeasement technique.  Not 'feeling bad.' 

 

This is definitely a risk of not-neutering before puberty. 

 

It does seem to be a repetitive cycle...one dog does it then the next wants to then the 1st one has to do it again and so on.  Rosco was neutered at 5months old.  He has NEVER marked in the house but he will mark outdoors on bushes and trees where other dogs have left their 'pee-mail'.  However, once at a dog friendly hotel he lifted his leg onto a table leg in our room!  There was only one explanation and that is that another (or several) dogs had marked there before.  This had nothing to do with Rosco suddenly thinking I was not in charge or that I'd lost my leadership role.  It was simply a natural response to something that had NEVER been indoors so he didn't know it was off limits.  I let him know in no uncertain terms that was NOT acceptable and I watched him like a hawk for the next day, not letting him be out of my sight and often in a down stay near me so he couldn't repeat it.  

 

Anyway, I guess I don't think it necessarily means anything significant other than it's been allowed to happen and allowed to be practiced and now it's a really annoying and bad habit they've developed.  You have to simply make it impossible for them to do it.

[Diana Allen]

Hi there, Thank you so much for taking the time to write, that goes for everyone who wrote.

My boyfriend was procrastinating about getting Cagney fixed, but it will happen and soon.

We are not able to crate Cagney as every time we did he pooped in it... it was quite a mess.

If we put him in one room even he gets panicky and he chewed through the bottom of the door and pooped in the room. That was such a nice mess coming home to after my daugther's graduation,,, ugh...

It just seems so odd that they do it when we are not home, like they are mad that we are leaving them. Cagney loves to go everywhere with us. Even to go for short drives he wants to be there.

Then there is that trumping issue, with Cagney being the young unfixed male his hormones are going crazy... Timber has to keep up to it and it furthers the problem.

I actually found a website about belly bands today, and I mentioned it to my boyfriend and we are going to see if our pet store up our street has them. That might help before we get Cagney fixed. We can only hope, I would hate to lose more of our furniture due to this. Tomorrow I am going to look for this product.

I want to thank you for recommending this product. I love this site it it the best!

Diana

[Michael Gurley]

Could you take him outside and wait until he poops before you take him back inside and crate him?

 

The crate should be a safe place, and fun! Maybe you can give him a bone or frozen peanut butter kong for him to chew while he's in there.

[Adina P]

It sounds like he has real separation anxiety and hence the reason for pooping in the crate as well as chewing through the door when left in a room.  Not sure he necessarily HAS to go before he's left but the anxiety probably gets his bowels moving.

[Diana Allen]

Yes I would agree, he is very sensitive, very smart. He wants to be with us 24/7. Every car ride, every walk, everything going he wants to be there. It is like he takes it personally if we leave him behind.

We always made sure we had him outside to do his business before crating him. How he finds it in his body to produce more amazed us! What a disaster that was each time to come home to. At night when we first tried to put him in it at night he would make a scene. I have only had one dog use the crate successfully and actually enjoy it. I have had 5 dogs and each has their own personality and likes and dislikes.

Let's hope the belly band will work until we can get him fixed....

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

One of my dogs has separation anxiety.  He has never pooped or peed in the house as part of it though, he also could NOT be crated.  His destruction ONLY occurred when we were not home.  We lost couches, rugs, even the molding on the walls and paint off doors and windowsills. He appeared to outgrow the destructiveness and we thought he was fine. He is not and recently began howling when we leave him.

My DIL used a belly band on her Whippet and it works - but you need to remember to keep checking that the haven't peed in it.

[Lynn D.]

Adina-

I am interested to know how you "let him know in no uncertain terms that (marking) was NOT acceptable". Can you share with us (me) exactly how you shared this nugget of knowledge with him? I actually fear taking my dog to a pet friendly hotel or friends house due to the fact that my normally house-trained pup might mark.

Thanks for the help.

[Adina P]

I don't remember exactly...it wasn't a planned response to his behavior but I was upset and he needed to know it.  I don't correct in 'anger' as a typical thing...but I didn't want to ever deal with this again.  I am guessing he probably had his training collar on because we hadn't been in the room long yet and I probably gave him a firm leash correction coupled with a loud verbal correction of some kind.  It was more like a momma dog who got really irked with her puppy.

[Jennifer and Jack]

Adina, I am going to buy a plane ticket for Jack and I and we are coming to your home.. Jack is yours, your house in mine.. I will leave with a trained dog, you will be left with organization like you have never known!!

 

You are like my daily reminder as much as I love Jack, he is not human, he does not think like a human but rather a dog. 

 

Jack has never marked in my house but I assure you if he did, his tiny butt would be on a leash attached to my hip and when I left the house he would be crated. For me, I am way to OCD clean to have that,

 

I agree that it is more of a natural instinct to pee one on top of the other. One thing for sure is to get them neutered. Second I would seriously consider having all your carpets cleaned. If that is not an option, try baking soda and then clean the area well. Any furniture that has been sprayed, I would wash throughout and then I would not allow that dog in that particular room again for a least a week or so.

 

Hang in there, with determination you will soon have a no marking zone in your home!!

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

I know exactly what you are talking about.  We had a dog who did exactly that.  As soon as we left, he would lift his leg and then poop.  We could watch him do it through a small window in the front door.  His name was Ivan and he was arguably the best dog we ever had, except for this.  Ivan did not even have the grace to look guilty. He was not neutered either and had been a stray.  He was completely house broken when we were home, even if it was just a child while I went out to the garage to do the laundry.  He would not stay in anything either, lots of torn screens, dug under fences, jumped over fences etc.  He could and did get out of anything.  When we had to leave him at a kennel occasionally they let him sleep in the house with them.  This was after two mornings of going to the kennel and finding Ivan and all the other dogs out running around in the fenced yard.

We did not find a solution except to leave him complete access to house, porch and yard via two dog doors.  My husband would not neuter him - it's a guy thing.  Took me fifteen years to get him to neuter our dogs, spaying was fine/ almost.

I know dogs are not supposed to have feelings of annoyance, anger, etc.  But it sure as heck seemed like he was very annoyed, or afraid at having us leave.  Sometimes what we "know" isn't as important as what we don't have a clue about. Maybe dogs do have feelings - they may not be the same as ours or maybe they are?

 

Hope neutering helps.