Re: Marking his spot when he wasn't before

In Reply to: Re: Marking his spot when he wasn't before
Posted by:  Linda
Posted on:  July 29, 2001 at 06:49:02

: : Hi, I have a 20month old JRT that was trained when we got him at 5 months of age. He did very well until our daughter started bringing her mail housebroken RT to our house for us to watch during the day occasionally. They both have started marking there territory all over my house. I have shampooed and used dog odor eliminator and our JRT still does it even tho the other one no longer comes here during the day. He now has no qualms about doing it in front of us. He is an incredibly intelligent dog and is otherwise a joy to have. He sleeps with us at night and doesn't do it in our bedroom for 8-10 hrs a night. We take him right out first thing in the morning and he will go, then comes in a does it in the house shortly after coming in. Any suggestions on how to break this habit he has aquired.

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: Hi, First of all Marking is NOT a housebreaking problem. It is a male problems and something that all Males, or any breed do, unless they are neutered at an early age. Please use the search engine to find out more information on this subject, but I really hate to say this but once it starts there is not much you can do at this late date. Early neutering would have prevented this, but neutering at a later age, may slow it down some but nothing will stop it.
: Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but as I said please use the search to find out more info. This has been posted many, many times before.
: Thanks for helping us cut down on the numerous duplicate questions.
: Regards
: Linda

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Dear June,

I agree with Linda that changing this behavior is difficult and that neutering your male is a step in the right direction. You wrote that your terrier was doing "very well" which leads me to think that maybe he wasn't as trained as you think he was? House-trained means that the dog knows it's unacceptable to eliminate in the house and he/she will "hold it" until let outside.

I suggest you consider your terrier not house-broken and take the appropriate steps to re-train him. "Marking" is also a sign of dominance so you should also look to your relatonship with your terrier as a reason for his behavior.

Good luck,
Leslie