Hey Guys real need advice.Milo my 2 year old male Lab has started marking around the house mostly up the side of the sofa. My vet said if he keeps it up he might have to be neutered as its territorial which i really don't want to do. Anyone been through this any solutions?
Hi there. This is a behaviour that needs training like toilet training does. If you catch him sniffing or looks like he's about to raise his leg, immediately take him outside and give him his cue to go to the loo. Someone here, I think @Boogie, says you need to toilet train the boys twice - once when they're squatting and then again when they're cocking their legs! Neutering may be a "quick fix", but wholly unnecessary when training can achieve the same result - and a study of the effect of castration in behaviour reported that it stopped only 50% of dogs marking inside. So you may find that the surgery was for nothing.
Yes - make sure he has no access whatever to places he may mark, except when you are around - then take him out as soon as you see the sniffing. Clean his spots well with an enzyme cleaner like Simple Solution to get rid of all marking smells. ...
I say you have to train the boys twice too. First on horizontal surfaces. Then when they start to tri-paw'd pee, again on vertical surfaces. Is he just starting to leg lift? Ditto as well on the enzyme cleaner. My friend, a dog trainer, said at an outside show she figured the grass was covered in pee that splashed on her legs and that's why Oban aimed a squirt at her. Just think, that could happen to anyone, not even a dog owner, who walks through a park and then if they visit you and sit on your sofa the scent could transfer to your sofa. Kind of a long shot (the idea not the pee) but might be.
He has been lifting his leg since he was a year old but lately i noticed he squatted too(hasnt done that for ages) the vet told me to do a urine test just incase of infection.Will do it but don't think its that. Will follow advice and train again and watch him Thanks
I notice that sometimes Snowie doesn't lift his leg when he's directing his urine downwards onto grass. He will also do a little wiggle -- I'm guessing to spread his urine, and he will also walk a step forward and sprinkle his urine over a greater area. Usually done in our local park where dogs wee all over the place including in the middle of the grassy areas, so he marks over these spots. Snowie often doesn't lift his leg in our garden when he's simply emptying his bladder (usually last thing before we go to sleep). He never squats like a female, but he will simply move the back leg slightly backwards but still resting the toe on the ground, or he will lift it ever so slightly (like a ballet arabesque!), and then he will stay that way for ages while he does a looooong wee. But bare in mind that Snowie does have a slipped lumbar disc, so he might be weeing like this because it is less painful (perhaps) -- as suggested above. But outside of our garden you can be sure he lifts his leg as high as needed for marking purposes.
Just want to say...Coco cocked his leg every time this morning on his walk. He's always been a girly wee-er with the occasional cock. This week, I've noticed him cocking his leg more than usual & I've been encouraging him with a loud squeal "GOOD COCK COCO! Good cock!" I hope the plantation was as empty as I thought it was..
Looks like I have to go about training Luffy again too! On walkies he's always embarks on a spraying spree. I would goes so far as to say he takes to cocking and spraying every 10ft or so! In the house, I've never had the problem of him spraying downstairs; however, my room is another story... ...When I'm not looking he'll take to spraying on the side of my bed. And boy does he leave a godawful reek! :S
