Dominance marking

you should get your dog nuetered if he isnt already. that stops testosterone from influencing his actions

I am very familiar with this question, as my dog, Riley, likes to mark sometimes. Not always, but sometimes. (One of my nicknames for him is the Marking Bandit because he can do it lickety-split.) Mostly it's times where he is feeling stressed/insecure. So I've done a fair amount of research on trying to help 'fix' the problem. Here's some of my suggestions:

1) Try to figure out the times that your dog is marking, ie, what is stressing out your dog. Like I said, Riley marks when he's stressed. He's even done it in the middle of the living room at a friend's house because her new dog wouldn't stop bugging him. Most of what I've read is consistent in that it's your dog trying to do what he can to make his pack's territory secure. Not so much dominance as security. With this in mind,

2) Work on establishing yourself as the leader in your pack. If he feel secure in the fact that you're the leader and he's the follower, he will be less likely to mark, because it's not his job. Some easy things that you can do to do this: eat (so that he can see you) before you feed him (because the leader eats first); when you come home wait until he's calm to interact with him (because the leader has the right to demand attention). Don't give him rewards unless he's earned them. Only give affection/attention on your terms.

3) Don't yell at him/scold him for marking, unless you catch him in the act. Dogs brains don't connect things the same way and he won't understand what you're upset about. Even if he's got his supplecation face on, it's because of your body language, not because 'he knows he did something wrong.'

4) Clean well with an enxymatic cleaner to remove the smell.

5) Leave some of your dirty laundry in spots where he is marking. This will help your dog connect the area with you and to realize that it's a no-pee zone.

6) Sometimes dogs will mark on the unfamiliar - like grocery bags, new things brought into the house. Try to keep these things off the floor. Again I think this just goes back to a security thing.

7) Do things to build your dog's confidence. Beyond establishing yourself as pack leader, work on training your dog. Knowing commands, ie what pleases you, is a great way to help your dog feel confident. Too, praise him when he does things right.

8) Have a consistent routine. Every morning, the first thing that I do when I get up is let Riley out. Then I do my morning bathroom stuff and he’s ready to come in. He eats while I get dressed. I say good bye and go to work. When I get home, I let him out. Then we play ball a bit. He eats after I do. And at night, before we go to bed, he goes “out ‘fore go night-night.” Consistent routine will help him to feel stable and secure.

The dog we found was wanting to mark in the house too. We would take him outside right away and sat with him. When the others would go out to take care of business, we would take him, praise the other dogs and let him see them get praise for going outside. Once he would go outside, we would praise him, love on him, give him a treat. When he mark inside, we would have him go outside and tell him “bathroom” and walk him to the yard. We crate them during the day while we are gone, but they like going in there because we make it their happy place. They get their food, water, toys, treats, pillows, etc in there. When they get tired, the stand and wait for you to open the door for them to go in. This took close to a month, and then finally one day it stopped. Good luck.

My dog is neutered but he still had the same problem. I started to spray him with a water bottle each time I caught him. Not a whole lot, just one spray was enough to irritate him. After a while if I saw him start to sniff around, just grabbing the water bottle would make him run away from whatever spot he was about to mark. After about 2 months he no longer tried to mark in the house, and I didn't have to have my ugly water spray bottle out on the kitchen table for everyone to see anymore!

definitely neuter your pet if he isn't already. otherwise I would just go back to the beginning and do things like put him outside or in the crate immediately after he marks, making sure he knows that's not okay. but punish him no more then 10 minutes, and only right after marking, otherwise he won't know what he is being punished for

Neuter your dog. COMPLETELY clean up every spot he has made in the past. You can use urine removing enzymes to do this. You may want to get a black light to make sure there are no remaining traces of urine. You may also want to consider retraining your dog using crate training. Good luck!

tell your dog that he owns the house and he will stop