Re: 6 yr old male JRT marking territory in house

In Reply to: 6 yr old male JRT marking territory in house
Category:   Behavior Problems
Posted by:  Leigh
Posted on:  January 28, 2003 at 16:22:34

: My 6 yr. old male JRT is housebroken but still will mark his territory in the house. Why would he be doing this when he KNOWS to go outside to pee? He has a doggy door and can go outside at anytime. Is there anything I can do to stop him from doing this? Thanks for your help.

Response:

Hi Leigh,

Housebreaking and marking are really two separate things. One has very little to do with the other.

I have to assume your terrier is still intact? If so it will be hard to get him to stop marking his "territory", this is one of the reasons why we always advise people to neuter early before a dog starts.

You might be able to lessen some of the marking by having him neutered although it will take several months for the male hormones to leave his body.

You will have to find every spot in your house he has marked and you can do this by getting a black light and finding them. Black lights can be purchased rather cheaply at pet speciality stores and even Wal-Mart carrys them in the hardware department.

You will need to treat every area with an enzymatic cleaner like Nature's Miracle or Simple Solution (can be found in pet specialty stores). Plain cleaners only mask the odor for us but not the dogs, the types of cleaners I mentioned will totally eliminate the odor. Dogs tend to keep marking the same spots over and over (as long as they can smell it).

You might have to start taking him out for potty breaks so you know that he has emptied his bladder. Remember too, that some dogs will empty their bladder all at once and others like to go several times before it's emptied.

Make sure your dog doesn't have the run of the house. Keep him confined to one area so you can catch him in the act and make corrections.

These are some of the things you can do. Also please take advantage of our Go-to-Ground search and put in marking, it should pull up lots of previous posts regarding this subject. There should be more tips there.