marking indoors

[Syrusvkato]

My 2.5 y.o intact male has begun to mark in the house. i have not experienced many other sex/behavior related problems and i cannot seem to catch him in the act. I could swear that he waits until i am gone. This problem is compounded by the fact that i am moving in a month and this problem needs to be taken care since there will be another dog in the picture then. He seems to mark corners on both the upstairs and downstairs, and very recently has begun to just 'spray' randomly on the wall. The problem is not so pervasive yet as to be a disaster, but i am cleaning walls a couple of times a week at least. I can provide any other info necessary, please assist.!

Justin

[rott-n-roll]

My Rottweiler does the exact same thing and he's also the same age 2.5 years old and he does it only when i'm gone cause he knows he's not allowed. I think he does it also when i'm not around cause he hears or sees other dogs outside and that may contribute to him being territorial when i'm gone. He feels safe when he marks his territory but beyond that I don't think there's anything we can do unless we fix our dogs. We can't punish them for stuff that comes natural. I spoke to a vet about that and she said that he can be suffering from seperation anxiety. If your gone for long periods of time they tend to get frustrated.

[JonandMichelle]

First, dogs do NOT do things because they **know** they are not allowed to or do things out of spit. The way you correct this behavior is supervision. You MUST catch him in the act, inorder to correct him. IF you can not supervise him, esp. while you are away, then crate him. There is never a dog too old to be crated. Yes, neutering him gives you a better chance of stopping the behavior, but is not always a 100% fix-all. Only supervision and corrections.

[rott-n-roll]

So why does my dog immediately go into his cage when he sees me looking at his poop.... when I got home?

*plays the violin*


If that were the case which you describe he'd be pooping in my living room and expecting a treat when i walked through the door instead. Never underestimate a Rottweilers intelligence. He's not dumb trust me. I used to think like you and that's why he ended up the way he is. If he could talk he'd probably tell me the minor league scores while i was gone.

If i may add - the minute you leave the house - is when Rottweilers start to party.

They hop into the kitchen and tear open garbage bags for left overs,

than they take a dump,

than sprawl out all over your bed until not even they can no longer stand the smell,

than they make their way into the kitchen to see what they didn't finish off,

than they hop into the den for "some more fun " and destroy 20 dollar toys within hours, leaving parts of it everywhere.

than guess what... where's the hell's the cat?

"ooh oh I think someone's coming"

[JonandMichelle]

Originally posted by rott-n-roll
He's not dumb trust me. I used to think like you and that's why he ended up the way he is.

http://www.rottweiler.net/forums/sho...threadid=10787


Nahhhh rott-n-roll, you never "thought" like me. I don't "humanize" my Rottweilers. I understand the proper training and up-bringing, and I have done plenty of homework on this breed (which isn't for everyone) that I don't have the problems as "some" do;)

And you are right, they are not "dumb." They are quite the intelligent breed.

[rott-n-roll]

yeah Ok John! LOL

My Rottweiler might not be perfect and might have some issues but the most important thing he's got is a friendly and outgoing personlity. If you can bring up your dogs to be safe and sound with people of all ages like I did, than we'll see if you really did the right things for your dogs also. Adios amigo :)

*Oh yeah your advice has been noted*

[SarasMom]

Justin,
You can solve your problem, but it'll take some work. Sure, marking is a natural behavior, but it can be stopped. There are lots of natural behaviors we curtail and plenty of un-natural ones that we encourage. ;) What you need to do is crate your boy while you're not at home. When you're at home with him, watch him every second and correct him when he tries to mark. This is the only thing that will work. And yes, it can be stopped. My boy was a snap to housetrain but at 10 months marked in the house a couple of times. I just watched him every second for a few weeks and the couple of times I caught him trying to mark, I let him know in no uncertain terms that marking would NOT be allowed in the house, period. Not had a problem in over a year now.

[SarasMom]

Originally posted by rott-n-roll
So why does my dog immediately go into his cage when he sees me looking at his poop.... when I got home?

*plays the violin*

He's not going to his cage because you're looking at the poop. It's because he can see from your body language that you are angry. He doesn't know why you are angry, just that you are.

If i may add - the minute you leave the house - is when Rottweilers start to party.

They hop into the kitchen and tear open garbage bags for left overs,

than they take a dump,

than sprawl out all over your bed until not even they can no longer stand the smell,

than they make their way into the kitchen to see what they didn't finish off,

than they hop into the den for "some more fun " and destroy 20 dollar toys within hours, leaving parts of it everywhere.

than guess what... where's the hell's the cat?

"ooh oh I think someone's coming"

Not sure if this was meant to be funny, but it's not. :( You have to TRAIN your dog. Get a crate. Put him in it when you are not at home. When you are at home, teach him what acceptable behaviors are. Rottweilers are very intelligent, but they must be TAUGHT. Please please, for the sake of your dog, read everything you can on this forum and get to work training him. :(

[rott-n-roll]

Justin don't listen to her, you know your never gonna catch your dog marking unless you install a spy cam and sit there until he does it. Dogs know when they screw up because I literally stood there and the minute I looked at the poop my dog was off into his cage. You actually think your gonna catch your dog marking, and lifting his leg while your home? He'll never in a million years do it when your around and you know that. Don't cage your dog until he's blue in the face to take a piss...what if you get home late one night what are you gonna do than, knowing your dog is in the cage waiting to take a piss? Is it fair? Either get him fixed or deal with the odour that's your only choice, or beat the dog until he's scared ****less and you don't wanna do that either so...there you have it. I love how some people have visions about dog training that they think will work but when it boils down to reality things are alot different. Be reasonable, and hopefully with all our advice you can come to the right conclusion. Think of your lifestyle and think of your dogs cause you guys gotta live together.

*Seperation anxiety, I think my vet would know better than a breeder*

[Joslyn]

rott-n-roll
I agree with you for the most part.. i too also believe that ANY smart dog who does wrong KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT THEY HAVE DONE WRONG and why your upset about it...(especially when you have been working with them correcting bad /negative behaviour) i do believe whole heartedly that dogs know much more than people have a tendancy to want to realize and or awcknowledge....

I had a dog once who was a beautiful mutt... he was the single best dog and the most WELL trainned dog i have ever owned and never once stepped foot inside a trainning class.. he was my parents dog and my parents laid the footwork and the foundation.. that dog never had to be walked on a leash....came ALWAYS when called. you could lay a steak down on the kitchen floor and tell him not to touch it walk out of the room and walk back 20 mins later and the steak would still be sitting there...... that dog was awesome he knew when we were upset when help was needed and if i didnt know better myself i would have thought he was human.... iam not going to say he never made mistakes because that would be a bold face lie....but generally the mistakes he made couldnt be helped ie: (diarreah in house in front of door...you could clearly see he was trying to get out but couldnt hold it) and when we came home to see the mess he reacted in the same way you described..HE KNEW HE HAD DONE SOMETHING THAT HE WASNT ALLOWED TO DO!!!! and no one will convince me otherwise ... that dog rarely repeated the same mistake twice... i just wish that my rott mindy was alot like him but iam a novice and i do not have my parents knowledge in raising good dogs..
i do know obove anything consistancy and patience are definatly a must along with constant repetition fairness and of course love....

the part i have to disagree with you on is the part where you claim that your vet would know more than a breeder would.... i seriously doubt that very much... i would bet the farm that my vet wouldnt....LOL terrible to say but its the truth.... my vet is the kind to reccomend SCIENCE DIET.....ROFLMAOOOOOOOOOO and i would almost bet yours is too......(hopefully not).. no offence....

[CarolineS]

So, rott-n-roll, have we met before? Something about you sure sounds familiar. You wouldn't be trying to get these poor people going with your dog's "problems", would you?

Justin,

SarasMom has given you excellent advice. The only way to stop an action is to catch the dog in the midst of the act. If you can't be there to watch, then the dog should be crated. They are never too old to be crated. I didn't get my oldest dog until she was 2 years old and she'd always lived outside. For about the first year, she was always crated when I wasn't home and always crated at night.

A dog that's completely housebroken may well be upset if it had diarrhea and no one was there to let it outside. That is because the dog has learned and fully understands it is not to go in the house. If a dog is marking in the house and has never, ever been caught in the act and corrected, he does not know he shouldn't do it. If he acts "guilty" when you discover it, it is only because the dog is reacting to your body language signalling upset. The dog doesn't know why you're upset, has just learned from past experience it's best to clear out when this happens.

It is a pain having to watch a dog every single minute when something like this needs to be corrected, but it is the only way. If you're busy in one room, then move a baby gate from room to room with you to keep the dog in sight. When you're out, crate the dog. Eventually you'll catch him in the act of raising his leg.

[WorkinDogz]

Neutering (or "fixing" as rott-n-roll likes to call it) renders a dog unable to reproduce. Period.

It's not a fix to poor social habits; which marking is. Plenty of us own intact males (more than one) and the dogs are conditioned to urinate outside; versus in the house.

To even think that a dog......regardless of breed or how "smart" the dog is......that the dog has the cognative ability to say "I chewed that ________ 2 hours ago; and I know I'm in big trouble for it." is just not the case.

They just don't think this way. CarolineS explained it perfectly; no need to repeat it.......but; dogs are not spiteful NOR jealous NOR have the ability to "just know" that you the human are upset because of WHAT they did. They know you're upset and are reacting TO that. Nothing more; nothing less.

Dogs.....really are not people.

[Barbara Surplus]

Dear rott-n-roll, you might wish to check out the archives on this forum or enlist the aid of a professional trainer to get help with the problems your dog's experiencing. There's nothing wrong with admitting you have a long way to go before you have *the perfect dog*. We've all been in the position of learning from past mistakes. ;)
Barbara

[rott-n-roll]

Oh I totally agree but if a dog is smart enough to warn off an intruder and he is able to predict the actions as such is going to be negative than he's smart enough to know that when he popped he made a mistake. I like this discussion now were getting into pôlitically incorrect.

*my dog, no your dog, hey that's enough*

[AngelBunny]

rott-n-roll:

I recommend you read Jean Donaldson's The Culture Clash. It may be an eye-opener for you.

To prevent your dog from marking in your house, crate him if you're unwilling--for whatever reason--to train him not to do so. Marking in a house is bad manners--bad manners stemming from a lack of training.