Hi All

Well my little westie Robbie is just over 6 months old now and this past week has started to cock his leg in the house, he doesn't always cock his leg when out on a walk but he is doing it up door frames and furniture in the house, i have shouted at him when he does it but any other suggestions how to stop him doing this?

Thanks
Helen

to be honest i wouldn't shout at him when he does this as he may become afraid to wee in front of you, it's always best at this age to ignore it when he wee's in the house but give plenty of praise when he goes in the garden for you.
the best thing to do is start taking him out in the garden alot  more so he empties his bladder more often, also if you catch him going in the house quickly take him outside  and wait for him to finish having a wee their then praise him.
You will need to clean the areas that he's weed on in the house as any smell left will make him want to go back to the same place. you can get special cleaners or use washing powder.
Keep an eye on him at all times in the house and any sign he's sniffing round the door frames etc take him straight out side. apart from getting rid of the smell you need to break this habbit which you can only do by watching him and reacting quickly. Just go back to basics for a while  as if you were toilet training him again.
hope this helps but i'm sure others will give more advise.  

Agree with bear about taking him out FAR MORE FREQUENTLY!!  Go back to basics, as if he's an 8 week old pup, start again.  Out every half hour, don't give him enough opportunity to pee up the furniture.  He is reaching the age that he's thinking Oh I have testosterone! :-)

Thanks for your reply, my dog before Robbie never did this in the house he used to cock his leg outside but never in the house, i didn't know whether this was unusual for a dog to cock his leg in the house but not when he is out on walks, he goes outside to wee and asks to go out but just this last week he has started this in the house and i don't want this becoming a habit for too long.
I suppose once he is castrated this will all stop, or will it continue if it becomes habit forming even when i get him done?

Helen

He is very young to think of getting him castrated, isn't he? He should be allowed to mature fully first. Castrating dogs doesn't stop them cocking their legs--you are much better advised to correct his behaviour now instead. Good luck--I had a bit of this behaviour when I brought a second dog into the home. The roar was followed by greatly increased visits outside to the park--a win-win result for the dogs and me!

Hi helen, gosh Robbie is growing up so fast - where does the time go? I had this problem with Harvey and I can tell you from my experience that when he was neutered at around 8 months old it stopped immediatley  :-)  I know that not all cases are alike but it worked for us. Its very difficult to 'police' in the house isn't it - you need eyes at the back of your head because they are so quick at doing a little cock a leg. People have recommended belly bands which you could use indoors whilst trying to stop the habit - at least the urine won't go onto carpets or furniture  and therefore he won't keep re-marking?? Just a thought.

My Bichon started doing this at around six months old too. All I did was go back to watching him like a hawk and as soon as he raised his leg in the house I would quickly say "ah ah" or make a noise to distract him and take him outside. He did it for a few weeks but has stopped completely after a few weeks.

Thanks for your reply, its only this week that he has started doing it and i would like to stop it ASAP, when out on his walk if you stand talking for somebody he thinks you are a lamppost and cocks his leg up you then aswell you really have to have eyes in the back of your head, he has been clean in the house since Christmas and still asks to go out to wee but you just have to keep you eye on him around the house that the leg doesn't start to go up, did you go back to putting him out every hour to wee or just put him out when he cocked his leg?

This thread has reminded me of the time i rang a breeder to make very initial enquires .
I asked if she would sell me a bitch ( just a personal preference - not for breeding ) and she asked why i didn't want a male . I said that i preffered girls and that i didn't like the way males cock their legs all over the place .
She said that , when a male goes to cock it's leg , kick it up the bum a few times and it will soon prefer to squat !!!!!  I kid you not .
I made my excuses and left it at that .

I really just watched him round the house.........he mostly did it up the bin in the kitchen for some reason so made sure I cleaned that well. He didn't stop overnight, he just did it less and less over a couple of weeks as I kept talling him no. He is almost 10 months now and very occasionally he does it, but only on new things that have been brought into the house and left on the floor, it's pretty rare for him to do it though. Good luck!

Do most male dogs when they reach maturity start cocking their leg in the house? Will this stop when he is castrated or will he always do this if he gets into a habit of doing it at this young age?

Helen ....Ike is well over a year old  now and wouldn't dream of weeing indoors.  He's as clean as any dog could be.
He hasn't cocked his leg on anything; he's very clean and not been neutered either.
Barney. when young. did attempt to pee on some things but we just watched him more and gave him fewer chances and more opportunities to be outside and it stopped and never returned.He was neutered at around 10 months .
This time wer'e holding back as we are'nt convinced about this being the best thing to do ...jury is still out on this one!
Hope this helps :-)

He has tried cocking his leg quite a bit over the weekend and each time i have shouted No to him but at the moment it doesn't seem to be sinking in, at dog training last night he kept on trying to cock and the trainer was of the opinion to nip this in the bud and get him castrated sooner rather than later because she said if i don't he will always mark in the house because he thinks its acceptable she said its okay if you catch him about to do it shouting at him but what if he does it when you are out of the room. She said that castration will not always cure the problem especially if he has been doing this for some time.
I phoned my vets this morning and the vet has advised that we get him done this week rather than leaving him too long he said that he is showing his dominance and he said this is unlikely to settle without him having the op, i am unsure what to do now, i am concerned that being this young it will affect him long term as i am not sure the age that they are usually castrated, everybody has told me that being a small breed it will not affect him at all a larger breed would be different as it could stump their growth.
I am just surprised he is doing this this young, but then he is just being a boy i suppose. Need to decide quite quickly though as he has booked him in for Wednesday!!!

Helen