Peeing In The House

Recently I received the following email from a lady named Rachel -

"Andrew -

My friend forwarded your newsletter to me as I am getting a bit frustrated.

I have 2 x 6month old Border Terriers. They are super except for the fact that they have started peeing in the house. They have their favourite places they like to pee and other times they take me by surprise and do it in front of me or where they have never done it before. I have been told not to scream at them or rub their noses in it but what am I supposed to do?

I look forward to hearing from you"

I then wrote back with a list of questions -

Hi Rachel,

Before I can answer you it would help for me to know a bit more detail. Please can you answer the following points -

• Are they littermates? And have you had them both since they left the breeder?
• What sex are they?
• Have they both started peeing in the house, or is it just one of them? Can you be certain about it?
• If they're both doing it, did the second one start doing it within a short time of the first one beginning to do it? (I'm not talking about having an actual wee here, but about when the habit began.)
• How long ago did the problem start?
• Had they both been fully housetrained before this started?
• Are there any triggers that you've been able to establish which make it happen? In other words can you link it to any behaviour of yours or anybody else they come into contact with? Or can you associate it with any external factors like loud noises, distinctive smells etc?
• Does it tend to happen at particular times of day/night?
• How have you dealt with it up to this point? What, if any, strategies have you adopted?
• How have you been reacting to them?
• Has your behaviour towards them changed at all since you first got them?
• Do you live alone, have a partner, children, family etc etc? If you do not live alone has the behaviour towards them of the other members of your household changed?
• Has your home life situation changed recently? It could be something like a breakup of a relationship with a partner moving out, or the beginning of a relationship with a new partner moving in.

I'm so sorry to just bombard you with questions, especially as some of them are personal, but I'm looking for clues. My suspicion is that it's a psychological problem rather than a physical one, and obviously without being able to see them in the home environment it's incredibly difficult for me to know the answer, but I'll certainly do what I can.

Any detail you can give me, no matter how trivial it might appear to you, will help me.

And here's Rachel's reply -

"Andrew -

Here we go:

Yes they are littermates and have had them since they were 8 weeks old

They are both boys

They have both started doing it, but I dont always know which ones has done it when, sometimes I catch one doing it.

This seems to have been going on off and on for about 4 weeks now.

They were both fully house trained, they had a dog flap from 10 weeks old and were cocking their legs at this age too.

I cannot tell of any triggers, there are certain places they always seem to do it, i.e. up the freezer door, up the kitchen door and up the radiator and up the table leg, all of these places they have access to during the day as they are cut off when I am not in. But very recently they seem to be doing it wherever they fancy.

If I saw them doing it I was telling them off and putting them outside, if I didn't see them doing it I just cleared it up as I thought they would not know what I was telling them off for. The other day however I really lost it with them rubbed their noses in it and locked them outside.

I live with my partner so there are no changes or upsets there.

They come across as very confident little chaps and I adore them but this is getting crazy"

And this is what I then told her -

Hi Rachel,

Thanks for your answers. I 'm pretty sure I know what's going on, but as all I have to go on is your email you must appreciate it's impossible for me to be 100% certain.

But my gut feeling is that this is an adolescent 'macho' thing. Dogs cock their legs on any trees, bushes, posts etc within their territory to mark the fact that it's 'their' patch. I suspect that they're both trying to assert themselves and show how grown up they are (to each other, not to you. This is purely a canine matter.) And they're also trying to work out who's the top dog. Cocking their leg over the back door etc is their way of telling the other one not to mess with them.

You've got a difficult problem on your hands. It's _possible_ that once this flood of testosterone pumping through them at the moment has calmed down the problem will resolve itself. However it might not, and there's no way of knowing how long it might take. 'Wait and see' is obviously a completely unacceptable idea. We have to find some sort of pro-active approach.

I think my first step would be to try and separate them, but that's obviously easier said than done. Is there anybody who could look after one of them for you in the short term? A friend or family member? Or maybe the breeder? Or as a last resort maybe put one into kennels for a short while?

Once they're apart the competition between them for top dog position will instantly disappear, and hopefully they will no longer feel the need to assert their authority indoors. BUT you will have to totally eradicte all trace of even the faintest odour of urine from anything they've already cocked their leg over. Otherwise if any smell remains they will want to keep 'topping it up' on an ongoing basis. I believe there are a number of proprietary products available that can help you with this. Try in any good pet shop.

If you're unable to find anything I can recommend tonic water on carpets _after_ it's already been thoroughly washed with soapy then clean water. In other words it's now clean but the smell remains. The tonic water seems to lift the smell out. Bleach will do a good job, but obviously you need to be careful about what you put it on. Don't put it anywhere near any carpets or anything dyed.

You must also be extra vigilant for the first few days of the separation. Don't leave the remaining dog unattended at all. If you can't watch him then keep him outside. And when he's in the house watch him like a hawk the whole time. The very second he looks to be about to cock his leg you must come down on him like a ton of bricks. And every time he wees outside make a big fuss of him. It may even be worth reinforcing that by giving him a tasty titbit each time he wees outside. Most dogs love cheese. Lots love raw liver. You know what yours like and don't like. Choose something they'll think absolutely delicious. Each time the dog wees outside immediately give him plenty of praise and a little morsel of treat. Plenty of fuss - _what_ a good dog!

How long will it all take?

The honest answer is that I don't know. But my guess is that if you can totally eradicate all smell of urine inside the house and make certain the one remaining dog is only inside when you can concentrate 100% on him, you should make rapid progress.

Then of course you have to swap dogs around.

Assuming you solve the problem with them both individually you then have to reintroduce them. That's when you're likely to have problems. You'll have to watch them like hawks as before, only this time be extra specially alert for problems. As before only have them inside when you can concentrate on them. Maybe you'll have to have them inside one at a time for a while. In other words one's in the garden while the other's in the house, then vice versa. Hopefully that would only be necessary for a few days (if at all).

It may be that you'll need to get them neutered. If you sort the problem out with them both individually but as soon as you try to reintroduce them together it just flares up again I think your only options will be either to neuter them both or resign yourself to rehoming one of them. I realise that's very draconian and hopefully it needn't come to that.

I must add that I'm not an animal behaviouralist and this is not my area of expertise. So all I've said _might_ be completely wrong. You might wish to consult a professional behaviouralist before embarking on my advice. Your vet should be able to recommend one local to you.

I realise what I've said has probably left you feeling in a state of despair. I'm sorry for that, but I think you already know that you've got a very difficult job on your hands and there are no easy answers.

But can I ask you a big favour? Please, please let me know what you decide, and how you get on. Especially if you seek advice from a professional behaviouralist. I wont be in the slightest bit offended if you go down that road, and I will be very interested to hear their opinion.

Best of luck,

Andrew

And the outcome? -

"Andrew

Thanks for that. We decided last night that it was not practical for various reasons to separate them. So much of what you said made sense.

Having spoken to the vet this morning he said he thinks that as they are litter mates, male and terriers it may be best to have them both neutered, as we do not intend to breed from them this perhaps is not so bad. Do male dogs go a bit soppy if they do not have their bits?

He said the normal age is around 9 months but he said as they are such healthy and strong lads he would be happy to do this earlier.

Thanks once again for your insight into a dogs mind and I look forward to receiving your newsletters in the future.

Regards

R"

I realise this is more of a behavioural topic than a training one as such, but I felt it might be interesting for you to understand a little bit about the workings of an adolescent dog's mind.

If you've ever come across a similar problem please drop me a line about it.

Recommended reading "Dog Training Blueprint To Success".

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