House Training Problems

House training problems is one area of dog ownership that can cause most confusion, misunderstanding and just plain dread!

Two of the most basic house training problems are:

Submissive/excited urination, and Scent marking

Submissive / excited urination

A submissive urinator is a dog that urinates on the floor and himself and sometimes on you and any visitors you may have, in situations of extreme excitement or stress, for example when you return home at the end of the day, or when your dog is being reprimanded.

Puppies suffer most from submissive/excited urination, but it's not uncommon to see adult dogs with the problem also. Normally, these are highly sensitive and timid dogs, and/or ones from a shelter with a history of abuse.

When is an excited/fearful dog likely to urinate

Greeting time after a prolonged absence
Play time
The arrival of guests
Stressful situations at home, eg arguments
When he's being reprimanded
Sudden loud noises

What you can do

Luckily, it's not difficult to cure your dog of this problem.

Firstly, you should take him to the vet to be sure there are no medical grounds for the issue such as diabetes or a bladder infection.

Next, it's time to take control of the problem.

Restrict his consumption of water to help him control his bladder more effectively. Don't cut back his water intake over an extended period of time, but if you know there's a situation approaching which would ordinarily result in urination, for example, you have guests coming over, or are planning on a play session soon, take his water bowl away for a short period of time, maybe half an hour to an hour, before the event.

When greeting your dog, keep calm and don't allow him to get excited. The more excited he is, the more difficult it is for him to control his bladder, so don't encourage him to get worked up. Disregard him for the first few moments, or give him an indifferent "hello", a quick pat, and then set about making yourself at home.

It's significant that you do not punish or harshly discipline your dog for this conduct. It's not something that he can easily control, and he's certainly not doing it by choice. When you catch him in the act, you can interrupt him, a firm "No" followed by praise when he stops should suffice, but don't punish him. Keep calm, and try to be sympathetic.

If he urinates out of submissiveness when scolding him for another misdemeanor, try to take the stress levels down a notch by keeping a firm, authoritative, but not angry tone. Remember, you're dealing with a sensitive, highly strung dog. If you get angry or worry him further, the problem will exacerbate.

Scent marking

The second most common house training problem concerns scent marking. Where a dog marks his or her territory with urine, is technically not really a house training problem, because it's based on issues of dominance and territoriality rather than insufficient house training. A dog can be perfectly house trained but still mark inside the house.

All the same, since the problem centers around the unwanted presence of urine in the house, it seems logical, in a way, to link this problem with house training and since this is one of the most widespread problems among dog owners, we thought it worthwhile to include some practical advice.

Scent marking and lack of house training. How to distinguish between the two.

Your dog is in all probability scent marking, rather than genuinely relieving himself, if:

The amount of urine produced is comparatively small, and tends to be directed against vertical surfaces such as walls, doors, etc.

He's male, unneutered, and at least five or six months old. Unneutered dogs are much more territorial than neutered ones, if you have an unneutered dog in the house, you can pretty much anticipate a certain amount of scent marking. Unspayed females also mark, but it's less common. Spayed and neutered dogs can also demonstrate marking behavior, but it's relatively infrequent.

It makes little difference how often he's taken outside for a toilet break.

He often targets items that are new to the house. New possessions, clothing, footwear, etc.

You live in a multi-dog home and there is dispute between two or more of the dogs.

There are other, unneutered or unspayed pets in the house.

What to do about Scent marking

First of all, spay or neuter your dog(s) as soon as you possibly can. If you can do this early enough, ideally, at six months of age, this often halts marking completely but if your dog's been marking for a sustained period of time, he or she may continue to do so after being spayed or neutered, since a pattern of behavior will have been established.

Clean soiled areas exhaustively. Use a non ammonia based cleaner. Oxi-Clean mixed with warm water is particularly efficient. There are also plenty of commercial cleaners designed specifically to lift pet stains and odors, which you can buy from pet stores and some supermarkets.

Because dogs tend to re-mark the same places, you'll need to redefine the places that you know he's marked to prevent repeat offending.

You can do this in a number of ways:

Feed him next to or on top of the spot
Play with him there
Groom him there
Put his bed over or next to it
Spend time there yourself by reading a book or sitting down to work.

If there is rivalry between dogs in the household, you'll need to take steps to settle it. Any dispute is likely to be hierarchical in nature which means that all you have to do to stop the hostility is pay attention to which dog appears to be more dominant than the other one and reinforce this position.

How to do this

Always feed the dominant dog first. Pet him or her first. Give him or her a toy before anyone else gets one. This makes it clear to all dogs in the house which one actually is the dominant dog and when this pecking order has been recognizably established, territorial behaviors like scent marking often disappear overnight.

For more information on other house training problems and how to successfully house train your dog you'll probably want to check out The Ultimate House Training Guide. It's the complete dog-house-training guide.

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