Re: 3 yr old urinating in house and digging back yard

In Reply to: 3 yr old urinating in house and digging back yard
Category:   Behavior Problems
Posted by:  Robin Casella
Posted on:  January 30, 2002 at 16:38:53

: My husband and I have a 3 yr old Jack Russell named Jax. He is a sweet little guy and we love him as if he were our child, but he can drive us nuts at time. Two things going on that we need some help with. Last May he started marking all over the house so we finally had him neutered in July or August. That was a huge help. But he still seems to have an accident(urine)a couple/few times a week. Any ideas? He knows to go outside and potty. In fact I take him iour in the morning before leaving for work and several time throughout the evening before going to bed at night. We need help with this. Cleaning up urine is getting very old. The other thing is we have a fenced in yard and Jax has started to dig at fence edges and also our patio edge. There is a corn field right behind our fence in the back and since the corn has been cut down, field mice have burrowed holes next to patio and outsed fence next to house foundation, so I think he smells them and wants to dig to get them. We are worried that he will get out for one. But filling in holes is not soemthing that we want to keep having to do. We are thinking about getting one of those electric/battery collars to train him not to dig. Any advice.

: We would appreciate any help.

: Thank you. : )

Response:
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Hi Robin,

Neutering will not necessarily stop all marking, and this is very true when it comes to neutering a dog at an older age. This is one of the reasons we always recommend neutering at around 5-6 months old. Some vets will do it even sooner. If you neuter early, there is a good possibility the dog will never mark indoors.

When you are cleaning up the urine you need to be using an enzymatic cleaner like Nature's Miracle because this will neutralize the odor. If you don't neutralize the odor he will still go to the spot and continue to mark. You need to find all the spots he has marked...there may be spots you are unaware of. The use of a black light will help you to find all the spots. You can then treat them all with the cleaner.

Depending on where he is lifting his leg you could try to wrap that spot with aluminum foil so the next time he lifts, the urine will splash right back on him....I am sure he won't like it! You may even have to go back to a housebreaking routine with him and retrain him. This type of problem is not cured overnight and it will take loads of patience on your part to see if you can stop him from doing this.

If he is marking he should not be left loose in the house to do it. If you have to leash him while he is loose in the house and keep him near you. That way you have better control of where he goes and if he starts to mark you are right there to correct him.

The digging is a whole different matter. This is a breed that was bred to dig. Digging to them is as natural as breathing. You have a couple of choices here. I would suggest running a "hot wire" along the bottom of your fencing and that should discourage him from trying to dig out of the yard. If you do a search in our GTG search and put in "digging" you should pull up a lot of previous posts on the subject. You are much better off with the hot wire than a shock collar. They can get "shock collar" savvy and if you are there to shock him well he'll just continue on his merry way. The hot wire is a consistent deterrent.