Marking problem

[MattR]

I was wondering if anyone here could give me some advice on the problem I am having with my dog. Dustin is a little over a year old, and we got him from a shelter in Houston. He is part minature schnauzer and part yorkie, and even possibly part poodle (his hair has gotten very curly recently now that it is longer).

Anyway, ever since we got Dustin (about 5 months ago), whenever we leave, he always marks if we leave him out to roam around the house. But if we put him in his room with the other dog he is fine. He never marks when we are at home, but even if we leave for a few minutes and let him be free in the house, he pees. Then the other dog feels he has to join in and we have a mess.

Any thoughts on how to stop this behavior. It seems pretty hard to break him of this since we obviously aren't home and don't catch him in the act. Should I try putting him in a crate when we are gone? Should I try to scold him when we get back, (it seems he probably wouldn't remember?) If anyone can help I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

[Karen]

I think you need to keep him in "his room" whenever you are out.Similar to "crating him" the room is obviously his "den" and he won't soil it.

[MattR]

That is kind of what I figured. I was just hoping I could break him of it since I feel bad keeping him confined when I'm gone. Atleast he has another dog to keep him company.

[mugsy]

Has he been neutered? Our males pretty much stopped marking after they had been neutered.

[MattR]

Yes, he has been neutered. This has not gotten rid of his marking though. He marks everything outside. He will even try to mark when he doesn't have to pee. He will easily been done peeing 5 minutes into a walk, but will continue to lift his leg, even with no pee left, for the rest of the walk. I guess he is just very territorial. My mother cannot get over how much he marks. It really is kind of funny.

[ownerof3dogs]

I really don't have any advice because my dog Zeus does the same thing and he's going to be 6 yo in Feb. I have never found anything that stops him. Neutering him didn't help either. So everytime we leave we tie him up in the hallway (we have an outdoor wire leash hooked to a doorknob) and he doesn't pee there. I would use the crate but it drives Zeus nuts.

So I guess we're kind of in the same boat LOL.