Dogs and Territorial Marking

Dogs and Territorial Marking

As a rescue, we deal with a HUGE percentage of male dogs that mark.. that is, they pee on anything and everything, especially within the house. These rescues are rescued for a reason. Almost 90 % of the animals that come to us are not neutered. They are either dumped at shelters, found as strays or are abandoned and abused. Most of the time it's because they were not neutered and the owner did not understand that the simple surgery could have prevented the problems to begin with!

First and foremost, if your male dog is not yet neuetered, do it now. Neutering can cut down the marking by an estimated 50 to 70% ! And has the ability to virtually eliminate all behavior problems in many cases.

However, if you do have a neutered dog, and he is STILL marking his territory, this page is for you. Although if your dog isn't fixed, you can still get some helpful tips here, but our advice to you right now is neuter, neuter, neuter and then come back here to apply the rest of the techniques. Not neutering will NEVER fix your problem.

Ok, back to those of you who've already done the right thing and sterlized your male!

Why they mark: Dogs gather essential social information using their sense of smell, whether smelling other dogs directly or sniffing their urine. That's why dogs urinate much more than humans do. Marking serves as a way to claim territory, advertise mating availability and to support the social order. Dogs like hierarchy; it's what they understand. They communicate age, gender and status within their packs via the pheromones in urine. Both male and female animals can engage in marking behavior but for now we'll just address the boys since it's much more common.

First, let's make sure that this is really marking and not just bad housebreaking habits. Your pet may be urine-marking if:

• The problem is primarily urination. Dogs rarely mark with feces.
• The amount of urine is small and is found primarily on vertical surfaces (although dogs do sometimes mark on horizontal surfaces).
• Any pet in your home is not spayed or neutered. Both intact males and females are more likely to urine-mark than are spayed or neutered animals. However, even spayed or neutered animals may mark in response to other intact animals in the home.
• Your pet urinates on new objects in the environment (a shopping bag, a visitor's purse), on objects that have unfamiliar smells, or on objects that have another animal's scent.
• Your pet has conflicts with other animals in your home. When there's instability in the pack hierarchy, a dog may feel a need to establish his dominance by urine-marking his territory. If one dog is intimidating another dog, the bullied dog may express his anxiety by urine-marking.
• Your pet has contact with other animals outside your home. If your pet sees another animal through a door or window, he may feel a need to mark his territory.
• Your dog marks frequently on neighborhood walks.

What to do:

Watch your dog at all times when he is indoors for signs that he is thinking about urinating. When he begins to urinate, interrupt him with a loud noise and take him outside, then praise him and give him a treat if he urinates outside. When you're unable to watch him, put your dog in confinement (a crate or small room where he has never marked).

Practice the "nothing in life is free" technique with your dog. This is a safe, non-confrontational way to establish your leadership and requires your dog to work for everything he wants from you. Have your dog obey at least one command (such as "sit") before you pet him, give him dinner, put on his leash or throw a toy for him. Establishing yourself as a strong leader can help stabilize the hierarchy and thus diminish your dog's need to mark his territory.

If your pet is marking in response to a new resident in your home (a new baby, roommate or spouse), have the new resident make friends with your pet by feeding, grooming and playing with your pet. Make sure good things happen to your pet when they are around so that they learn to associate the new person with good things!

Keep objects likely to cause marking out of reach. Point blank, if you know that putting down a shopping bag has caused your dog to mark in the past, don't tempt him by putting it there again. Take away the temptation, this is not a power struggle over who is going to 'win'. This is teaching your pet how to be responsible. Part of that is to give him a helping hand by not tempting him to do things he should not be doing.

Be sure to clean soiled areas thoroughly. Don't use strong smelling cleaners such as bleach or ammonia as these may cause your pet to "over-mark" the spot again. Use an enzymatic cleaner that is specially formulated to break down and dissolve pet urine. We sell several brands under the "Cleaning" tab, then "Stain and Odor"that have been effective for us when retraining our own dogs and rescues not to mark.

Sometimes a passing animal can set off insecurity causing them to feel the need to defend their territory. Restrict your pet's access to doors and windows through which they can observe other animals outside.

Consistency is absolute key. You must catch the dog maring EVERY time, and and EVERY time you must reprimand, take them outside and praise when you see them do it outside. If you do not do this just once, you have to start all over again. Quite simply put, your marking dog should NOT leave your sight when it is not contained to a designated area to prevent marking. If the dog marks when it is out of it's designated area, this is YOUR fault. YOU MUST WATCH THE DOG EVERY SECOND HE IS OUT OF THE DESIGNATED AREA. When he goes to mark, you MUST be consistant. Yes, you may have to repeat the process two hundred times befoe he gets it, but he WILL get it, as long as you are consistant!

For more information and tips, feel free to contact us at rntanimalrescue@aol.com