Housebreaking older dog
by Molly
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
Help! I just bought a two year old Maltese male, that I had neutered recently. It's confusing to identify if he is not housebroken, or if he is just marking his territory. He will go outside, but we still catch him marking the sofa, etc. And sometimes he will stand in the middle of the room and just hike his leg there. The family that had him before said he was housebroken, but I'm beginning to wonder. He does sleep on my bed at night, and will hold it in until he wakes up and goes outside, thank goodness. For all the experts out there, is this just a lack of housebreaking, or is this from not being neutered, and will this stop now that he is neutered. I tried crating him during the day, but he barks for hours on end. He just HAS to be with someone all the time.... it's almost like he has panick attacks. He's a very sweet loving dog, but I'm really stressed from the constant barking (if I get in the shower, and he can't find me, he barks until I get out.... even if I bring him in the bathroom with me!)... and also from his potty habits. I did get him some doggy diapers, but I don't think that's a long term solution... just a temporary protection of the house. I guess I was spoiled with my first Maltese.... she would go on pads, but preferred to go outside.... even in the rain and bad weather. Any ideas, thoughts or solutions?

DISCUSSION:

Hi Molly, How long have you had him now? If you haven't had him long the barking sounds like separation anxiety. He is in a new home and may be afraid of being taken from you as he was from his last family. Maybe someone else has some ideas for this problem. As to the leg hiking, if he's peeing it should be a large puddle and you will have to go back to step one in house breaking. It sounds more like marking behaviour. Just little puddles everywhere, maybe even just a couple of drops. We had this happen with a 2 year old rescue when we brought him home. He was feeling really insecure and started the marking thing. We had to keep him in the kitchen, where it was easier to clean up, unless we were right there with him to stop him if he started to hike. We had him neutered and that helped alot. Stage 2, after neutering, was to get all the scent out anywhere he had gone. I used a deodorizing cleaner on the whole kitchen floor every day. If i caught him marking anywhere I immediately rushed him outside, mopped it up and sprayed Secret deodorant on the spot. He really didn't like that and had almost completely stopped in 3 weeks. The last time I saw him mark I let out a really loud scream and I think that was the end of it. Scared both of us half to death but I haven't seen him mark since except for outside where it's allowed. Good luck.
Dottie S