Why is my dog suddenly lifting his leg in the house?
If your dog suddenly starts marking in the house, it could be because of a change in his situation … perhaps a new dog or baby in the house, a new home, or even a new adult in the household. You’ll also want to rule out medical causes of marking, like a bladder problem.
Yes, female dogs will also do territorial marking in the house or outside, for the same reasons as males. Some females will even lift a leg to pee on a taller object.
How do I reduce outdoor marking?
It is likely impractical to expect to control and limit all marking and elimination behavior when your dog is taken for walks outdoors. When taking your dog for a walk, you will need to work on training your dog to walk on a relaxed leash by your side and to sit each time you come to a stop (see Teaching Calm – Settle and Relaxation Training and Teaching Loose Leash Walks, Backing Up, and Turning Away). With a leash, or leash and head halter, it should be possible to keep your dog on task. The leash and head halter controls the muzzle and nose so that the head can be immediately turned away from the stimulus (potential target of marking) as it begins to show pre-marking behavior such as exploring, sniffing, turning into position, beginning to lift leg). Learn to predict and preempt. Once you reach the area where it is permissible for your dog to eliminate you can allow your dog to explore and sniff, and positively reinforce marking behavior.
Stop Dog Marking In The House
So how do you teach your dog that it’s not acceptable to mark inside?
Catch It Early Start working on prevention and training at the first sign of indoor marking. If you let it become a habit, it will be much harder to get your message across to your dog. Marking can be its own reward because it feels good and fills a natural urge. So make sure that when you’re rewarding alternative behaviors, that you use high value rewards (what your dog wants most).
Don’t Punish Your Dog Using punishment may make the problem harder to stop! This is because your dog will learn that marking when you can see him is dangerous, so he’ll wait till you’re not looking or not around. This just adds to the frustration for you and adds difficulty to his training.
Watch For The Signs …The goal is to notice your dog’s “set-up” behaviors that precede marking. Watch your dog when he’s outside. What does he do just before he lifts his leg? Often there will be sniffing and then movement of the body to get on target. This is what you need to watch for in the house, and it’s when you need to interrupt him. If you can let him know at the “thinking about it stage” that it’s not allowed in the house, you’ll make it easier to get the message to him (and will save yourself some clean-up!) But it means you’ll have to watch your dog like a hawk … and prevent marking until you can be sure he understands.
Interrupt and redirect sniffing behaviors. There are likely not very many places in your home the dog has not already sniffed. And even if you’re visiting someplace new, sniffing is not a critical behavior for your dog to do (though it may be a sign your dog is feeling stressed). So unless you’ve just dropped a dog cookie, your dog doesn’t NEED to be sniffing around. If you see your dog sniffing, call him to you … then reward him for leaving the interesting smell and listening when you called. This will get his brain on something else. Or better yet, take your dog outside when you see him sniffing!
See if he will mark outside instead. If your dog is marking outside, reward that! You want the outside behavior to have a stronger and more frequent history of reward than doing it indoors. If your dog gets “paid” high value rewards to mark outside but gets nothing if he does it indoors … why would he want to mark indoors for free? How effective this will be as the only training remedy depends on how much of a habit the marking inside has become. You will likely need to do this in addition to the other suggestions here.
Clean-up messes correctly and completely! A dog’s nose is very powerful and can detect amazingly small amounts of odor-causing bacteria and oils … or whatever else causes the scent in urine. Completely wetting the area with a cleaner that has an enzyme in it will do the best job of removing the odors. Because enzymes are living organisms, choose and store your products carefully. You don’t want to let them freeze or get too hot or sit around in storage too long, which could kill the enzymes and make the product much less effective.
Never use an ammonia-based cleaning product. Ammonia is found in urine, so it will make your dog more likely to try to cover that scent.
Regardless of the training methods above that you choose, you’ll want to also use prevention to make sure your dog isn’t marking in the house when you aren’t looking.
Belly bands are a popular method. If you search online you’ll find several sources and many colorful styles. You can also make your own out of an ace type bandage and a feminine pad. The band wraps around the dog, covering his boy parts, so that if he tries to mark, he can’t leave any liquid behind. This means that he doesn’t get the satisfaction of smelling his own scent over the other dogs. It also leaves him feeling wet and smelly himself. Some dogs are really bothered by that and others couldn’t care less. You’ll want to use training in addition to the band, otherwise your dog may need to wear the band the rest of his life. Changing the pad and washing the band is nearly as time-consuming as cleaning up messes. It’s a temporary tool, not a permanent fix.
Crates, gates, doors and leashes can also help. If your dog has specific spots he likes to mark, you may be able to stop it by restricting his access to that spot. If you want to keep an eye on your dog, but not use a crate, you can keep him leashed to you. Whether or not this is a practical solution depends on your situation and dog.
How to Stop Your Dog From Marking Indoors
A lot of pet parents have questions about how to potty train their dogs and avoid messy cleanups. One of the questions we frequently get is about intact, older male dogs who are urinating on furniture.
Pet parents often mistake pee accidents for dog marking. As you know, there is a very big difference between a puppy squatting and peeing a puddle on the floor, and an older male dog peeing on things like furniture, doorways, and clothing! The first one is a potty-training issue, the other is a dog marking issue, which can be much more stressful on you because it requires more than simply having to train your pup to potty outside.
In this article, we will look at the causes of dog marking, how to stop a male dog from marking, especially in the house, and useful tips to prevent marking in the future. We’ll also address common questions like will neutering stop dog marking and do belly bands stop dogs from marking.
“Do belly bands stop dogs from marking? Yes! If cleanups are too much for you, have your dog wear a belly band”
Have you ever walked your male dog around the neighborhood first thing in the morning? Now you KNOW your dog hasn’t peed in eight or more hours, and they must really need to go, but instead of peeing all at once and relieving their bladder like we do, they pee a little bit on this tree, then pee a little on that fire hydrant, then a little on that mailbox. Twenty minutes later they are still peeing on stuff they pass by!
The first thing you need to understand about your dog marking is they don’t think pee is gross like you do. To them, pee is much like ink. Imagine your dog as a gang member (dogs and wolf packs being like gangs), and they go around the neighborhood reading other dogs’ graffiti, then shakes their own can of spray paint and tags everything they can, claiming it as their own. It is best to understand that female dogs also mark, though males tend to do it more.
Dogs use their pee to show dominance (my gang is tougher than yours) and to mark whatever they think belongs to them (This is MY stop sign, get your own). They mark using their pee to claim their territories and communicate with other animals in the area.
So now you may be asking, “Okay, but why mark stuff in the house? It’s not like neighborhood dogs walk through our house and pee on our sofa.”
Dogs also sometimes mark when they’re feeling anxious, stressed, and insecure. If you’ve just moved into a new house, or you’ve brought a new baby or a new pet into your home, this can be a catalyst for marking. Kind of like their way of saying, “Hey, just because this new baby is here, doesnt mean you can forget about me!” According to Pets WebMD, when your dog’s environment changes, they might feel the need to mark their territory.
Though you obviously don’t like the fact your dog is marking on stuff, try and stay calm and think of the situation from your dog’s point of view. They arent like humans and they can’t express their feelings in words. They have to communicate issues in different ways. Becoming angry and yelling at your dog, or worse, punishing them is not going to help the situation. Honestly, it will probably only make things worse.
Additionally, male dogs mark when they encounter females, particularly those that are in heat. According to VCA Animal Hospital, a male dog is overwhelmed when there are female dogs in heat and they show their excitement by marking. Dog marking is a sign that your male dog can’t fully grasp the thrill of the situation they are in. Marking is also their way of gaining notice from the female dog in heat.
Marking is a strong instinct. Your dog is not intentionally doing it to upset you. They are doing it because they instinctively feel the need to. Remember that marking is a natural instinctive behavior in dogs, and you cannot just put a stop to it, but there are ways to minimize and manage it.
With that being said, dog marking is still an activity that you would like to put a stop to, especially for a male dog marking in the house. So, let’s look at how to stop a male dog from marking. Here are the top 5 things you can do to help manage your furbabys marking behavior.
Will neutering a dog stop marking? Male dogs that have been neutered are less likely to mark compared to intact male dogs. If your dog is older but still intact, consider getting them neutered. Testosterone plays a big role in dominance and marking. After neutering, it has been reported that as many as 50-60% of male dogs marked significantly less often. As suggested by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals® (ASPCA®), while the usual age for neutering your dog is six to nine months, puppies or adult dogs can undergo neutering with your vet’s approval as long as theyre healthy and are of the right weight. If you are unsure if it is too soon to neuter your dog, or too late, consult your veterinarian to get an expert opinion for your specific dog.