Archived Message

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
by debbie morreale

My second maltese, P.J. is driving me crazy. He wont stop urinating in the house. He WAS trained. He would use the yard. We moved to Tennessee and began walking him 4 times a day as we dont have a yard. He is urinating in the house!*AND* he's been doing it for the three months we've lived here! He will lift his leg and urinate right in front of me. After I scold him, he will do it again!! His does it every room. He will do it right after just being walked! I clean up after him almost every day. There will be days where he wont do anything. But his naughty days are more often. If anyone could offer any information, I would apreciate it. My first Maltese,(4 years old) is not having a problem.

DISCUSSION:

Is your first Maltese a male? That could be the problem...He is marking his territory. I read that some people have problems with females marking their territory every time they come in heat. I don't know...but good luck!
-Janis

Debbie, Maybe there was another dog in your new house before you moved in. It may have left its mark and your dog is trying to re-mark it. You can get a special black light from a pet supply and use it to see if there is any old urine in the new house. If you then use something like Nature's Miracle to remove it, it could help. Also, he might just be confused by the transition to walking. I know that my dog, Higgens, who was used to having access on demand to the outdoors from the time he was a baby had to be leash trained when I moved from a house in CA to an apartment in MD when he was about 4 years old. He had frequent accidents until he caught on. You may have to "re-do" your original potty trainig.
-cathy brown

I think it might just be a retraining situation. He was so used to the being able to go in the yard and now he must be walked. I too, had to retrain my second Maltese who was fully toilet trained outside however I had to train her to go on the Wee Wee pads indoors as my other Maltese does. It took lots of time and particularly patience and yes, she did it all over the house until she got the hang of it. Good luck and be real patient although I know how frustrating it can be.
-Pat

Hi Debbie,
Your problem sounds like one we had with a retired female of ours. She had free acess to the yard here at my house and I never had any trouble until my sister took her home. Their yard was unfenced so they walked her she would not go on a leash under at any time they walked her but would go in the house when they got home. They moved to a house with a yard very shortly after taking her home and after that never had another problem with her. She was comfused you might try fencing off a small part of the yard for a dog run. Or he may be marking the house as his.
-Cherie

Debbie, I know how frustrated you feel. Just in the past week my Casper, now 17 months has decided to mark his territory. Up until now he was perfect. He is trained to a litter box, will go on command, then last week I caught him lifting his let on the side of my sofa, again on my chair in the bedroom, and on the bedskirt. I couldn't believe my eyes! What has gotten into him? Fortunately I caught him in the act twice and shouted NO! and then he just dropped to the ground and rolled over on his back. What can I do to discourage this behavior? I don't understand why he would start to do this now, after being just excellent for the past 15 months. HELP!!!
-Trudy