Marking indoors.

Rhino

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#1
I'm an obedience trainer, however, this little guy (my own!) has me stumped.

Problem: marking indoors.

I'm going to run everything passed you guys and I'd appreciate it if you all could point out what I'm missing.

I have an almost 2 year old neutered male Jack Russell Terrier. We've had him since he was 8 weeks old. He's crate trained.

He also excels in obedience and therapy work. He has his CGC and TDI and he works regularly in medical clinics.

He is exercised a lot. We have a huge field, beach and yard where he gets multiple daily runs with his "chuck-it" and tennis ball. At the moment potty breaks are all on leash (no fence at the moment.. hurricane damage). He gets to go out, I'd say, every 3-5 hours.

He's well socialized with other dogs and people (obviously for therapy work), etc.

My philosophy is the NILF (nothing in life is free) one, combined with body language and alpha training. He's fed two meals a day in his crate, and both dogs (we have another female JRT) receive basic training/work on a daily basis (in order to keep "manners" spiffy for the therapy work we do). I'm also a firm believer that a bored dog is one that will cause problems, so they're always learning something new or working on existing commands.

He's VERY well behaved - doesn't jump on people, doesn't bark incessantly, non-destructive, very respectful. He is actually very atypical for a Jack Russell (personality wise).

HOWEVER, his one vice is indoor marking. He started this around 8-10 months of age, and as a result, he gets crated when I'm unable to supervise him. My problem is that sometimes it's impossible to get him in the crate for things like me going to the restroom. For example, I'm 7 months pregnant and just HAD to pee (LOL) so I ran to the bathroom and he got left behind in the bedroom. I was gone all of 2 minutes and when I came back he nailed the bedroom door leaving a puddle on the carpet. :mad:

He is unreliable if he's not with you. He has NEVER marked in front me or my husband - EVER! It is always when he is left alone, whether it be for 2 minutes to visit the restroom, or an hour to go grocery shopping.

I use an enzymatic cleaner and a bissel spot lifter. He is not a re-occurring marker. In otherwords, he won't go back to past places just for the sake of marking over his own scent. It's done strictly when he is left behind, and on what ever is closest - the bedroom door, corner of the bed or sofa, etc. I can, however, leave him alone in a vehicle and he won't lift his leg at all. :confused:

I have now begun cracking down on him, HARD. However, no matter how diligent I am, I'm not always going to be able to rush him down the stairs to crate him so I can pee (not being 7 months pregnant anyway!!). It's idealistic to be able to crate him when he's not being supervised, this I know, however, I'm sure most will agree that it's just not possible 100% of the time. And with a baby almost here, the urgency to get him over this is even more prevelent because, like I said, as diligent as I am, always getting him in the crate is just not realistic.

He was previously allowed on the furniture if he was invited. Both dogs have beds on the floor, but I'm not opposed to them sitting on the couches with us as long as WE initiate it. I've stopped allowing this now. No more getting on the furniture. I want him to view me from down there. They also sleep in their crates - always have.

I do hand feet treats, but they must be earned first. Whether it's a simple "sit" or more complex sequence like a target match, etc, they're NEVER free.

I'm really very confused about how and why this is such a problem for us.

Since I'm unable to catch him in the act to correct him, I'm left only with being able to prevent it, but like with incidents today, sometimes they just can't be avoided.

I've thought about a belly band, has anyone used one?

I'd love to hear any feed back you guys might be able to offer.
 
R

RedyreRottweilers

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#2
Have you thought about eliminating all the stress, since you are an experienced trainer and nothing seems to be working, by getting him a belly band to wear in the house?

:D
 
R

RedyreRottweilers

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#3
oh duh now I read your last sentence.

People I have spoken to say they work really well, and that most dogs will NOT mark when they are wearing one.

I'd give it a try for sure.
 

DanL

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#4
What is a belly band? We have a similar problem with our pug. He will mark for example, if I go upstairs for something, he'll hit the bottom step. When he gets agitated when the GSD gets too rough, his way of dealing with it is to mark something. He spends a lot of time in his crate even though I work at home. I just can't watch him all the time. If he's sleeping under my desk it's ok but once he starts moving around, its outside for a while and then in the crate.
 

Rhino

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#6
On the belly band issue - we purchased one tonight. I don't like how it is designed as the elastic bunches up and then his sheath pokes through and he's still be able to mark. It basically bunches up right in front of his hips and renders it useless. That was 30 bucks! Needless to say I'm taking it back.

So then I dug out my scrap box of fabric and found some old swim suit material and cut it down and put some velcro strips on. It's very crude but I just wanted to see how it would work. It's Ok but not very stable because it's so flimsy it just bunches under his belly.

I may try that site and see if I can get one from there that works.
 

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