I have a male, unspeyed 12 month old dog that is full of energy and constantly wee's everywhere even though he is 'house trained' Can you tell me if having him speyed would calm him down and stop these messes? If so, how long afterwards could we expect to see an improvment or if not, do you have any other suggestions? He is fit and healthy in every other way.

We had him as a rescue dog at five months old. We had a few accidents but put this down to a new environment, being young and not fully house trained but we know he can go all night without doing and also when left during the day in the kitchen he is fine. The problem seems to be if he has the run of the house whilst we are in or if we bring something new in that he has not seen before. Also, the bathroom and one of the bedrooms seem to be a 'hot spot'. We have tried all sorts to clean the spot, eg products bought in pet shops and biological washing powder, white vinegar etc etc (all suggested by other people) We do have a bitch in the house.

Hi,
This can be a very stubborn problem, because it becomes a habit. It is a characteristic of many males to 'mark' anything new, or out of place. I have one who went through a phase of cocking his leg on my husband's side of the bed, if he managed to get upstairs. Whether he has grown out of that or not, I don't know. I have a better stairgate at the bottom of the stairs! The dog never comes upstairs so he never wees on the bed.

He and his brother (both uncastrated) still occasionally wee on my washing when it's on the line (muttermutter) so I solve that by not letting the washing hang so low ... I strongly believe that it is better to prevent the opportunity for bad behaviour occurring than to try to 'cure' it.

Is your bitch spayed? Even spayed bitches sometimes give off hormonal smells (that dogs can detect) and that can make a dog (entire or castrated) more unsettled and likely to mark.

Hi Zozie, think this may just be a training problem, the dog may have been kept in kennels where they can just pee when the urge comes. Try confining him to one room either the kitchen or in the room you are in. It may be that because he 'lives' in the kitchen that when he is let out anywhere else is fair game. The bathroom will to a dog smell like a place to go, so make that out of bounds. Is the bedroom occupied by a male?

Go back to training as if he was 8 weeks old, when you let him out of the kitchen take him out and praise when he goes outside. Then take him out about ever hour or so and again praise if he goes. Try and confine him to one or two rooms and watch him for a few weeks, learn to know if he is about to cock his leg and take him outside, at the moment always go with him and don't forget to praise him if and when he goes in the correct place ie outside.

Guess someone else will offer suggestions and some may suggest that you castrate, I would be inclined to say if you do it may not help in this situation and may make it worse, as I think this dog just does not know what is expected of him, OH by the way do not scold him after the event, if you see him in the act then say no and take him out, scolding may well just make him make sure you are not there when he goes and will not stop the act.