Friday, July 31, 2009

Fixing a 4 year old male dog...will he still mark in the house?

We are interested in adopting a 4 year old male from our local Humane Society. He will be fixed but my concern is he will still mark inside the house...btw, he is a Welshi-Corgi mix...very sweet...
Answers:
He might, and he might not. Do you have other dogs? Sometimes male dogs mark because you have other dogs. Sometimes male dogs mark because they just do. This may be a habit of his, or it may not be. You will have to watch him carefully. Why not crate train him when you get him, then you can keep him in his crate when you are not at home if this is something you are worried about until you know for sure.
Our male dog would mark when he was angry about something just to show us he could. He would mark when we got a new dog just because he could. He would go years without marking then start again. Go figure.
As long as it hasn't become an established behavior he probably won't. It takes about a month after they are neutered for the hormones to be gone from their systems. You may have to train him like you would a puppy, as he might not be properly housebroken. Use the crate training method, walk him frequently, feed meals at same time each day, don't let him out of your sight until trained, etc.
He might.. He might not.. It's likely that he'll try.. You correct him a few times and he will stop.. It's more of a habit once they are neutered.. You just need to break the habit.
Some males never mark in the house - so you if he hasn't before you are in luck.
Even if he has marked in eh house before - you are at an advantage - since your house will be new territory to him, he will not have the behavior of having marked in it before.
Get him neutered before you bring him home %26 then watch him CLOSELY for the first several wks.
He may try to do it - but you will be there to catch him FAST!
Tell him "NO!!" Which will probably scare the dickens out of him - then take him outside immediately %26 let him do his thing. Then praise him profusely. This will be a good start.
I would definitely keep him on a leash or in sight when in the house for the first couple of weeks.
You want to catch him in the act if he tries it before he develops a habit.
By the way - even dogs who are perfectly house trained will make a mistake or two in a new place - this is also a good reason to keep a new dog in sight at all times. Even if it's a female.
Good luck to you!
My friend shows Corgis %26 she always has a male for a house dog (un-neutered.) She has never had a dog mark in her house! They are very nice dogs!
Neutering has no effect on a dog's inclination to mark, nor spaying a b?tch either for that matter. This is a matter of training.
(Note: "dog" is a male canine, "b?tch" is a female)
I suggest that when you get the dog home you give him some water, wait for 10 minutes then take him outside. Hopefully he will go.
We have trained quite a few Schipperkes to ring a set of jingle bells hung on the door handle. We do the above but when we take them to the door we take their paw and bang the bells, praise them and take them outside. After a few weeks, they usually start going to the door and with a week or so after that, they figure out that ringing the bell gets them outside.

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