# Not pee in the pet stores!



## Karin

When I take Heidi to the pet stores that allow dogs in them, she loves it. She'll go down the aisles, sniffing everything in sight. Then, all of a sudden, out of the blue, she'll squat and pee. She does it so quickly that I can't stop her.







Then I have to go and grab the paper towels and Nature's Miracle spray and clean it up (thank goodness for the cleanup stations at Petco!), all the while being very embarrassed about my ADULT dog doing such a thing!

I'm thinking that she smells where another dog has peed and she's marking over it because she peed in the dirt area outside the store right before we walked in. She never pees indoors in any other place except for the pet stores. Is there anything I can do about this, other than never setting foot in another pet store again??


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## UConnGSD

I'm sure it's a marking behavior. Wolfie did that once at a relative's house whose dog had peed heavily in one particular room before she was recently pts. And he NEVER pees indoors. Now, we just avoid that room whenever we go there. I guess in your case if you remember where it was she marked, you could try and avoid that aisle/section and see if that makes any difference.


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## DSudd

Karin We had the same problem with Rocky last year on vacation. We have taken him every year and last year is the only time he has done it, but within the first 24 hours we caught him marking a few times. Wasnt like he was peeing, it was more like a little drizzle just to say I was here. 

We were super shocked, he had not had an "accident" in the house for about 2 years prior to this.


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## Kayla's Dad

Hey Karin, yes I think it is from smelling all the other "calling cards" and wanting to add to the doggy "chain letter."

I think for a while you may want to consoder going into an obedience mode in the store. No sniffing, but work on focus, put Heidi in a down/sit-stay while you are perusing the shelfs. Watch real closely when she's release and you may pick up where the urge to mark comes up-no long term sniffing-short sniff okay let's move!

I'm going through it with Lancer too - in fact I've added another name to his reportoire, going from "Lancelot" to his new nickname "Marks-a-lot." He had always done great in the stores and then one day the leg lift appeared-seemingly out of the blue. He had recently started it outside. Now, when we do go in the store and it's pretty infrequent, we go in working mode similar to what I described above. Still let him meet and greet or be greeted where appropriate, but walking through the aisles it is not with the nose working the ground or corners.


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## GSD07

When I brought Anton home after him being away for 10 days first thing what he did was to mark in the living room. Never before and never after he did that again. He tries to mark in the pet store but I watch him like a hawk and say 'no mark'. He stopped doing that now.


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## 3K9Mom

Are you taking her to pet stores for the experience or because you have shopping to do?

Are you giving her a chance to potty ahead of time? 

What I would do is take her to the store after she's gone to the park (or gone for a walk) so you know her bladder is empty (or mostly empty). Whenever I take my dog into a store, we always potty ahead of time. I try to avoid that one area right outside the store where ALL of the dogs go and take my dog to the perimeter of the parking lot to potty. This way, my dog doesn't associate going to stores with marking. 

Then, walk up and down the aisles rather quickly. Walk in the middle of the aisle. Don't let her sniff the goods, just cruise up and down the aisles. Most adult dogs don't have "accidents" in stores (meaning, they can't hold their bladders); as you realize they intentionally mark. Usually, they're marking a corner of an endcap or a post. So don't let her get near enough to one of these. Keep her moving. Take her to a variety of pet stores. Big box stores, I've noticed, tend to have more of these "marked" spots than smaller stores. This is probably because they're bigger, so more owners allow their dogs to roam at the end of flexi's relatively unsupervised.

Your task isn't for you to shop. It's to train Heidi that she can and will go into a store, walk around it, and come back out without marking in it. The quicker you can keep her moving in the middle of aisles, cruising throughout the store, so she has to pass the same spots over and over, the quicker she'll learn that she can (well, has to) pass marked spots. But in exchange, she gets to see the whole store, which is interesting, and she does so at a brisk pace, which is fun. 

Don't bring her into a store when you're there to shop for now. It will probably take her several months of going to stores a couple times a week until she gets it, that she's not allowed to mark anymore. 

There are times when it's ok to mark. If we're near a park or on a walk and passing the hydrant that I know ALL of the dogs mark, then I will give my dog the ok to mark. But marking (indoors, on plants, other people's property, etc) is a rude behavior, and yes, our adult dogs can control it. 

But we have to train that, just like everything else.









I'm sure you can do that with a bit of consistency


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## Karin

> Originally Posted By: Everett54I've added another name to his reportoire, going from "Lancelot" to his new nickname "Marks-a-lot."










That cracked me up!

Well, I'm glad to see that Heidi isn't the only one who likes to leave "calling cards"! Next time we go to the pet store, I'm going to keep a close eye on her and not let her go into sniff mode. I think I've been getting too lax with her lately. Thanks for the replies, everyone!


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## Karin

> Originally Posted By: 3K9MomAre you taking her to pet stores for the experience or because you have shopping to do?


Both, but this time mainly because I needed some items.



> Originally Posted By: 3K9MomAre you giving her a chance to potty ahead of time?


Yes, she peed right before we went into the store, which made me doubly frustrated when she peed again inside!!

Those ideas are all very good, and that's a great idea about taking her there when I'm NOT shopping because I was very distracted and not watching her when I was in there today. Thanks for the good advice!


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## BowWowMeow

It's definitely marking behavior. Basu used to do that and it really shocked me the first time and was so embarrassing but evidently he wasn't the first one! After that I kept him on a very short lead and watched him like a hawk and when I saw the slightest sign that he might even be thinking about marking I turned sharply and went in the other direction!


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## selzer

I took Rushie to see his breeders this weekend and he was fine with the man, but he recognized the woman and then peed on her shoe. Marked I should say. 

Errgh!!!! I was SO embarrassed! 

I figure he was saying, "you rotten people gave me to THIS crazy woman!"


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## rjvamp

> Originally Posted By: selzer
> 
> I figure he was saying, "you rotten people gave me to THIS crazy woman!"


Please don't be offended, but you really had me rolling when you said this! I could just see a dog thinking that!


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## UConnGSD

> Originally Posted By: selzerI took Rushie to see his breeders this weekend and he was fine with the man, but he recognized the woman and then peed on her shoe. Marked I should say.










Oh, I can sympathize with that! Wolfie used to get SUPER excited around women when he was a baby and piddle on them. Now that pleasure is just reserved for this one male vet tech at his vet's office. All the other vet techs (who are all women) know about Wolfie being a ladies man when he was younger so you can imagine the cracks they make at this poor guy's expense.


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## tchandler

rambo did that the other day at my local privately owned pet store. =/ i was soooo embarrassed. they didnt seem to mind much though because they love me and my dogs. =]


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## selzer

Ok, as we are admitting stuff, Dubya, RIP, stopped going to pet stores when he marked the floor model of one of those carpeted cat trees.








Those things are hugely expensive!!! How would you clean it??? My guess is that he was not the first boy to do so (evidence pointed in that direction). I even feel kind of sorry for the yayhoo that buys it.









I cleaned up what I could.









That was the first and last time Dubya soiled a pet store. I do not remember Rushie ever doing that. Most of my girls are pretty good, but every once in a while, they do try to add to what is there.


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## Velinda81

I would take Nadia to the vet inside Petsmart since she is enrolled in Banfield she never peed before inside the store. All of a sudden she squatted and peed right on the carpet at the main entrance to the store. Talk about embarrassing. I learned to have her go right along side of the store. Once she relieved herself outside we'd walk straight through those sliding doors over the entrance carpet not allowing her to sniff the carpet or aisle. As of now she has not peed yet.


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