Mikee Marking! Help me!
by Annette
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
Dear Friends....you are the only ones who can help me. I have a major dilemma. Little Mikee who is so good at always using the litter pan has started celebrating his first birthday by marking EVERYTHING in site! At first it was just in the kitchen around everything that belonged to Angel. Her bed, her water bowl, her food bowl, and of course, HER litter pan. This morning as I sipped my first cup of coffee at 6:30 a.m., Mikee entered the living room and hiked that little leg toward my lovely couch, sprayed, and took off like a bat out of hades. He KNOWS it upsets me. He KNOWS not to do it. I give up! I can't allow this. I can't bear to give him up. I dreamed last night he died and I was so sad I couldn't stand it.
To make matters more complicated, he has been successfully trained to the litter PuppyJohn pan and always uses it to tinkle and poop. So, I can't just put a Depends diaper on him for inside the house and remove it when he wants to go out…because he never asks to go out. What am I to do? I hate to leave him forever in the kitchen and not let him enjoy the rest of our/his home? And, I can't bear to get rid of him. But I can't allow the constant marking of my house and furniture either. Help me please! Thanks, Annette, "Markee" (Mikee) and Almost an Angel
DISCUSSION:
How upsetting! From my understanding there is only one thing you can do and that is to have Mikee neutered. This marking is natural, it and health are the reasons I had Quigley neutered. Good Luck.
Gloria
Annette: Don't worry, it is just a phase. My Lucca, who is not neutered and is 13 months old, was marking all over about two months ago. He was sternly corrected each time we caught him in the act. He was kept in a confined area whenever we weren't in the apartment, and under a very watchful eye whenever we were. In any new environment (like visiting my Mom), we kept him on leash the entire time. As they say, he is just "feeling his oats" and will get over it. In the meantime, buy lots of white vinegar to neutralize the odor from each spot.
JoanG
If Mikee is not neutered, it will be almost impossible to keep him from marking. I also recommend neutering if it has not been done. Also, the longer one delays, the greater the possibility that the marking will continue. Noah did it right in front of me(with glee) when he was 6 months old. I promptly took him to the vet. No problem since.
April B
Annette, be patient...I am going thru this with my 11 month old Buster too. No, neutering will not stop the marking. You just have to watch them very closely and keep them confined when you cannot supervise them. Buster is watched like a hawk. Again, be patient. Its a male thing! Ha!
Libby & Buster
Hi Annette - I posted a similar plea for help when one of the Beasties (now aged 1 yr) started to mark the fridge about 10 weeks ago. The general consensus was "it's time to neuter" but I got some resistance from hubby (it must be a male empathy thing!) then I caught Moose lifting his leg on the furniture a couple of times. They were whisked in to the vets for neutering within a week of that. Moose still lifts his leg to pee on the papers (Squirrel has nearly always squatted) but neither of them have marked in the house since they were neutered. I heard that if you don't neuter them very quickly after they start to mark that there is only about a 50% chance of correcting it, if you do it straight away the odds are much better (and better still if you do it before they start marking. Of course, you may not want to have Mikee neutered, but that's what worked for us. Good luck, I can certainly sympathise with you!
Deanna (Moose & Squirrel)
Don't give up on him!! Just be very persistant. I think if you keep an eye on him and not let him have much freedom for awhile, he'll stop. Do you walk him daily? Marking is very natural and he can be taught to do it only outside. My Sunny is still very young, 1yr, but he only does it outside. I haven't yet to see him do it in the house, but we'll see. He is also trained to papers. They say neutering makes a difference. Sunny is neutered, but like I said he still marks outside. Good luck. Try your best to keep him.
Charlynn
Annette, I would certainly try neutering before giving him up! Both my boys were neutered at 6 mos. Baxter has marked only a couple of times. Once I caught him in the act and sharply corrected him. It's nowhere near the problem you're having with Mikee though. (Didn't Mikee have a training problem and you took off work and put forth a concentrated effort on training - and it worked? Maybe it's time for some more "concentrated" training. It worked once, right?) Good luck.
Marie
Annette, sometime neutering does help. There are some some things about marking that are helpful to know to understand what's going on. Dog's mark to let other dogs know the boundaries of their territory. They will go to the same spots over and over again......if allowed. (that's the key).
If it is allowed to go on for a long time, they may begin to aggressively defend their areas.....even someone elses yard or the street if they're allowed to mark there. So...what to do??
Don't allow any marking except on their turf...and only OUTSIDE. If you anticipate it, you can stop it the very instant they look as if they intend to. Just say "Ahem" in a growlly kinda voice. The second they stop, "good dog."
anneh
Annette, I too have a little marker named Gus. Always on the stuffed animals. So, no more stuffed animals!! As far as neutering him, that doesn't always work. My daughter has a 4 year old Malt/poodle, he has been neutered since he was 10 months and he marks everything he can hike his leg to. Shortly after we got our fur babies I caught him hiking his leg on Gus's crate, a stern NO and outside he went ended that. I do keep a very close eye on him and Gus in our house tho. Gus is not neutered and I have no intentions of neutering him. I have had other male dogs in the past that tried to mark in the house. It takes some time, be patient and they will realize marking in the house is not acceptable. Good Luck and keep us posted.
ricky
Dear, dear friends! Thank you so much for you helpful, kind, and supportive words. I'm GLAD to hear I'm not the only Mommie with a male Maltese and was especially glad to hear of your experiences.
I had spoken to my vet in the past about the marking situation - if it ever happened to me - and he confirmed what you have told me - that the neutering doesn't always make ANY difference about stopping the marking. He explains that it is probably because of the little girl in the house and, like you said, he is establishing boundaries. However, I take all of your advice much more readily than my vet's! After all, you deal with your babies on a day-to-day basis, hour by hour, and because of that, your advice is more reliable and useful than his. I surely do thank each one of you for your help. It is most comforting to know I'm not alone and we can help each other.
I hope I don't offend anyone...that's not my desire, but I need to share a couple of things with you. Number one: Most of you will remember that on August 9, 1997, we lost our Precious of 14 years. A perfect Maltese. Yes, she was. Not because she's dead and we have forgotten any bad habits...we have tons of witnesses. She was a perfect animal. Mikee and Angel are not. But we love them as sweetly as we loved Precious. They have us wrapped around their little Maltese paws. For an explanation as to why we do not plan to neuter Mikee. We grieved for two months and then found Mikee in one city and Angel in another. He is one month older than her. Yes, someday I do plan to have some babies. Yes, I've read and heard all the pros and cons for and against "just having babies" because you want babies from your babies. I may never do so, but, I don't want to close that option. They wouldn't score 100% if they were being judged, but they are close. We looked long and hard to find the features = size, height, hair, eyes, nose, and weight that we wanted in each of them. They would have beautiful babies. They would pass on good quality puppies. At one year, Mikee is 4 1/2 pounds and Angel is 6 1/2 pounds. I have researched and studied and have worked with two breeders as to what all goes into the breeding responsibility. I repeat, I may never breed my two babies, but I feel that, if I did, they would add a desired addition to the Maltese population and to our family.
Now, if that hasn't turned you against me, this might. Regarding Mikee's marking. Yes, I know you are NOT supposed to strike your people children in this day and age. Confession: I did spank my three male people children when they were growing up and they all turned out, as we say, "just fine". They even bring me Mother's Day and Birthday gifts!
I have read that you "love" your animals with your hands and "correct" them with paper! Well.........one morning this week, when Mikee hiked his leg and marked my couch (remember?), well........I took two light-weight brochures and chased him into the kitchen screaming, "NO! NO! NO!" to the top of my voice and everytime I screamed, "NO!" I popped his little fat butt with the very light-weight brochures. He KNEW Mommie was angry! Since then, he hasn't marked in the living room again. He has slowed his marking in the kitchen considerably. I will take your kind advice and be patient and do some more vigilant watching and give it a wait and see. Hopefully Mikee will stop marking after a bit. If he doesn't, I'll have to deal with that situation in some manner. I'm going to follow Ricki's final words: "be patient and they will realize marking in the house is NOT ACCEPTABLE! " I don't think I could ever give him to anyone else. After all, I'm his Mommie!
Thanks Joan G. for the vinegar tip! Hoping you all won't drop me as your co-Maltese friend, Shirley, Mikee and Angel
Annette
Annette -- your description of how you chastised Mikee with the brochures had me LOL.......I could really picture it! Hope you have success!
Deanna (Moose & Squirrel)
Annette, I too am picturing Mikee's little butt running thru your house. Same way Gus would tear thru my house, I'm sure. LOL
Good Luck to you(and Mikee)
ricky
Dear Annette. Sounds like you did your homework before considering breeding and on picking your pair. My first little Champion stud was a housedog and pretty well trained until he was a little over a year and it was Christmas. By husband insisted on a big tree on the oriental rug in the living room. O.K. I can hear the laughter already and I haven't even finished posting this. Your guessed it that was the end of his life as a house dog. My boys lead a little different life than my girls because no one was neutered. The boys couldn't have run of the house after being just babies. It is one of the disadvantages of being a breeder. Oh, also he would lift his leg on a postage stamp sized piece of paper because they were all paper trained (as opposed to being raised on wire) in the kitchen. What a cutie he was, got his CD too.
Mary Lou
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