# HELP!! Peeing In the House: MAJOR Problem!



## Skeezix (Nov 24, 2004)

Okay, here's the setup: We have a 3 y/o female GSD, Zera, that we adopted when she was a 5 m/o pup. We lost our beloved male GSD, Bo, to cancer in March. We were going to wait several months to adopt another GSD, but Zera was REALLY lonesome, and a nearby rescue group had a male GSD that we all really liked and so we adopted Griff (2 y/o) in April. We love Griff and he and Zera bonded instantly. He has a wonderful, sweet, and often goofy spirit. He quickly earned the nickname "Goober".

In June, we took in another GSD, Buddy (4 y/o), as a foster dog. He was terribly abused but has made fantastic progress and we have now adopted him ourselves.

Now the problem: Griff started peeing in the house not long after we took in Buddy. We went through another round of crate training with Griff, and it _seemed_ to be working, but we have since learned that all it did was teach Griff to be more stealthy in his marking in the house. This weekend we found three more places he has marked and I caught him in the act this morning. He's back in the crate right now. (Both dogs ARE neutered.)

Griff wants to be dominant over Buddy and the couple of times they have started to fight, Buddy rolled over as soon as we yelled at them, but Griff continued to press the fight and we had to physically pull him away and hold him.

We love ALL of our dogs and make sure we spend equal time loving on each of them. And we take turns with them going places on our chores, like to the grocery store, Home Depot, etc. And when we're out we take that dog through the McDonalds drive thru for a cheeseburger each time also. In other words, me make a serious effort to have special time with each dog individually, apart from the walks and play sessions we have with whole pack of three of them. But Griff still marks in the house. 

Griff has been to the vet to make sure it's not a kidney disorder. And he has PLENTY of opportunities to relieve himself outdoors. He wasn't doing this before we took in Buddy, so we know it's some kind of territorial/dominance response to Buddy's presence in his perceived "space".

What can we do to get Griff over this? This peeing in the house has GOT to stop.



Thanks in advance. Y'all gave us excellent advice on how to deal with Buddy's fear aggression.


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## eggo520 (Oct 28, 2007)

I also have a territorial male GSD who doesn't like other male dogs in the house. Even though he's housebroken, he did mark in the house last year when we had a male foster dog staying with us (who's since found a home). The only thing I found to stop the marking was to give Jaga absolutely NO opportunity to "go" in the house. For us, this meant keeping him on a leash indoors or restricting his movement in the house with baby gates. For example, if I was in the kitchen cooking dinner, Jaga was confined to the kitchen where I could keep an eye on him. Did he like it? No. Did it stop the marking? Yes, because I corrected him EVERY time he started to do it. If I was unable to watch him for some reason, he was in the crate.

You say your male has become "stealthy" about his marking. IMO, it's time to start taking away his roaming privileges. If he can't follow house rules, he doesn't get to be loose in the house. Kind of how you'd treat a puppy. Of course, I'm not sure how this will affect the pack dynamics, if Buddy has roaming privileges and Griff does not. I don't know enough about aggression to tackle that issue. But I can say that I've dealt with the marking issue, and staying on top of him seemed to work. Good luck with your guys! I know you all will get the problem solved.


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## BlakeandLiza (Aug 13, 2009)

I am going through the same thing with Blake! He and my husband's beagle, Bud, have decided to have territory wars over the last year. It is VERY obnoxious! They spend all their outside time marking and remarking EVERYTHING!

I finally broke down and started crating both Blake and Bud again. Blake has had free roam of the house since he was about 5 months old (he's now 3.5 years old), and I feel horrible to have to, but I hate coming home to a house full of pee...and we can't afford to replace everything he destroys in the process.

I have bought anything and everything imaginable to control the situation...Nature's Miracle, ammonia, bleach, other dog scent killers/deterants....NOTHING WORKS! The carpet shampooer has been my new best friend!

Blake has even had the audacity to pee right on Bud while Bud is peeing in the yard! Tell me this dog isn't determined!

The sad thing is that we can go a week without any issues and then one night there will be 5 different marks after we leave the room for 15 minutes. We also babygate off the bedrooms and the sunroom, but Blake is determined to pee all over the living room and kitchen. And then Bud has to respond by remarking when no one is looking.

If anyone ever finds something that works, please let me know! I hate to think Blake has to spend the rest of his life crated every time we leave the room. It is just ridiculous!!


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## Judykaye (Feb 20, 2007)

I don't know a thing about this method, but a co-worker adopted a rescue dog that was older and he was marking in the house.

They bought a "band" that went on like a jock strap...

I bet you could find it on the Internet and read about the concept of how it works.

But, I do know that it worked for my co-worker.

Just something to at least research. Judy

I just quickly did an Internet Search and the bankd is called "belly band" and it works like a diaper...when the dog goes to mark it contains the urine and the dog does not like that...so he quicklly learns not to do it...


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## BlakeandLiza (Aug 13, 2009)

I have seen those advertised before, but I didn't know anyone that had used them before.

Did your co-worker ever get to a point where their dog didn't need it anymore?

Thanks!


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## Judykaye (Feb 20, 2007)

I don't work with him anymore, but I do know that it wasn't long before they didn't need to use it anymore. I would imagine each animal would be different.

I'm thinking it wouldn't hurt to try it...better than marking all over and having to constantly watch him...

Judy

Hope it works...


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## Alto (Nov 18, 2008)

Sometimes the bellyband works very well, other times the emotional aspect of the behavior is stronger - in your case, I'd expect to need to use the belly band on both dogs for a few months at least; also look at what you're doing in terms of NILIF - being very strict with it for a couple months (especially if you start with an "isolation" period after a round of marking so there is a link between the house full of pee & the start of the isolation) may help.

If the dogs have marked carpets & furniture, chances are there is still alot of urine odor to trigger both dogs despite loads of Urine Off applications (there are a couple of enzyme solutions that are better than the rest so re-treating with these may help break the cycle as well) re the urine may soak through the carpet into the underlay/wood flooring & you are only removing the top layer from the rug.

Did you also try the DAP plug-ins, sprays, collars?

You have my commiserations - marking is so demoralizing to deal with when nothing seems to work


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

Wow, that's a lot of transition in your house within a short period. I'm not being critical, just making an observation. 

Transition alone can cause a loss of housebreaking, even in adult dogs that have been housebroken for years. MAYBE this is marking. But it may simply be housebreaking issues.

Dogs aren't "stealthy." They don't intentionally try to hide their urine or feces UNLESS they have learned that "my owner doesn't like my pee and/or poop." When my adult dog died suddenly, my young dog lost her housebreaking skills and started to go in the house again. If I had made a fuss at all, she would have begun to "hide" it behind the draperies or under furniture. But I didn't. So she continued to go in the middle of the room until I got her re-housebroken. When we got our new puppy (more transition, right?) , she had a couple more accidents. I pot her on the same schedule as the puppy, and it looks like she's fully housebroken again.

The thing is WE often make problems worse. It sounds to me like Griff has lost all of his housebreaking entirely. That means he needs to lose all of his freedom AND he needs to be taken out immediately after 1. he eats. 2. he drinks. 3. he naps or sleeps. 4. he plays (if play lasts more than about 10 minutes, interrupt him and put him out to potty, then bring him back in and let him resume play). 

You probably need to have your carpets cleaned professionally, including deodorizing. Depending how thoroughly he's soaked it, you may need to consider replacing those areas where he has frequently wet the carpet. If you do so, you'll want to use a product like Kilz on the underlayment before relaying new carpet.

Instead of crating him all the time, you can tether him to you. Get a 4-6" leash, and attach it to your belt. This way, you will learn to see what his signs are for when he needs to potty, and he will learn to give you his signs. When he's playing in a room (with you supervising), watch for the dog to move to the perimeter of the room. That's a sure sign that he is looking to potty. 

Put each dog out separately to potty whenever possible. In general, young dogs will distract each other and they won't potty. They can actually be outside for 30 minutes, then come back in and pee on the kitchen floor. If you have a front yard and back yard, put one in each (with a human supervising each) to be more time efficient.

When dogs argue to the point of fighting, take them calmly by the collar and lead each to his crate --- every single dog. Don't say anything. In general, I NEVER use crates as punishment, but it's a good place to chill out. And when dogs are fighting, we don't want to yell or become angry and escalate the energy. We want to tone things down. You can put pup in there with a chew if you want. The point is to remain calm and separate them. Don't try to decide who caused the fight. Don't try to decide if the female should go in her crate too. It won't harm her to have some crate time. Your nerves can use a break. 

Finally, get rid of the idea of equal time. The dog that was here first has seniority. He feels overlooked. Make sure he gets at least as much attention as he did before. And get rid of the idea of who is "alpha." YOU are alpha. You and the other humans in the family. The other dogs are all beta. Make sure you're not trying to overcompensate Buddy having been abused. I know this sounds harsh, but you really need to step up or your situation will get worse. 

As soon as playing sounds like it's starting to get "grumpy," step in. Literally, step in -- use your body to body block the dogs to separate them. They'll learn that if they want to play without their owner interrupting them, they need to play at a calm and friendly level all the time. If they don't, you'll be right there to stop the fight and give them a time out. Don't use your hands (keep in mind that dogs play with their forepaws). Use your body. 

You have a few things going on. Hopefully, this will get you started. If the two boys can't get along, you may need to set up some baby gates to separate them until they can tolerate each other. Hopefully it won't come to that. 

(Hopefully, also, there aren't too many typos in this post. It's pretty late.







)

Good luck.


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