I have got a 2yr old Westie and we have done all the normal toilet training and he is generally good.  However, there are a couple of places inthe house where he will cock his leg (sometimes scenting, sometimes a full wee) - the bathroom and a bedroom bin.  You can tell him no to but he will try to sneak to the spot to do it.  When you catch him, he will instantly look ashamed and sometimes cowers, whether you have said something or not.  We have tried baning from the rooms which is not entirely practical.

He knows he is doing wrong but will not stop.

He does NOT know that he is doing "wrong". Dogs are amoral, and opportunistic, they do not share our values or mores!

Not being rude but to him leg cocking in the bathroom and possibly the bedroom bin would appear to be perfectly normal for him as these areas will have an aroma that, to him, would trigger this reaction. (This does not reflect on your housekeeping abilities).

If you live in a house, I suggest a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs, if you live in a bungalow shut the doors or place a baby gate in the hall.

He may appear "ashamed", he is not; he is just frightened because you have chastised him verbally or with your body language!

It is natural for you to feel annoyed, however it is fairly natural for him to do what he does too................. even if it is unacceptable. 

If you cannot interrupt him and take him outside I would suggest managing the environment is the way to go.

Totally agree with Tohme. Just to add, if you can totally get rid of the smell of urine, it may help break the habit. You may think you've got rid of the smell, but the slightest trace will still be really obvious to the dog. I'd give the bathroom a really good scrub (can't suggest what to use because I don't know what surfaces he's peeing on), chuck the bin out & get a new one. Not forgetting to thoroughly clean the floor where the bin was. Our Akita went through a phase of cocking his leg on the foot of the duvet (definitely not funny!!) We very soon got him out of the habit by temporarily banning him unless accompanied, catching him in the act  - and an awful lot of washing!

Agree with the above posts; reasons for it may vary. Some dogs seem to start marking when things change or there is some sort of upset in the home.

Lindsay
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Ditto what the others have said. Simple thing I would think would be to shut the doors, honestly.    :-)  little sods at times.

Biological washing powder is good for getting the smell out :)

I have to disagree my dogs know when they are being naughty.
First of all they only ever mis behave when i am out of the house - they think i cant see them :-)
Second i have three dogs who all stay in the kitchen when i go out - when i come back they all come to greet me as normal - if one of them has misbehaved they do not greet me they stay back - at this point my behaviour is unaltered because i have not seen the problem.  When this happens i look for the problem - something chewed etc and then i change behaviour and scold - the dogs behaviour changed before mine she knew it was naughty.

It is the same with horses i have had horses who are as good as gold when i ride them - but you put a novice on their back and they mis behave - i had a pony who would deliberately play up - only in a playfull way but he knew - i got on him and he was perfect.

of course animals know right from wrong - thats what we spend all that time teaching them!

I agree with Sharon, Maisie does exactly the same, cowers before i have even noticed what she has done wrong, this allerts me to look around. Why else would she cower unless she knows she has done wrong ?

so do mine ! - I always know if they've done something 'wrong' because the culprit is no where to be seen and Lily my old girl always greets me at the door with a Belgian grin :D

Sorry Sharon you are putting human emotions on to your animals They do not "know"they have done something wrong, If they did "know"they had done something wrong the innocent ones would greet you normally so that they ensure they don't get the blame for the wrong doing. I had a party trick with one of my dogs I used to ask him pointing at nothing"did YOU do that"& he would hang his head & refuse to meet my gaze. He has of course done nothing, but the tone of my voice was different to when I said"did you do that"in a normal voice with no emphasis on any word & he gave no reaction that to wag his tail because I spoke to him. I even used to work one of my dogs telling him what an evil naughty dog he was & he used to wag his tail & was happy simply because the tone of my voice was light & happy

As to your horse "knowing"that they had a novice rider on their back will have come from experience of different riders, An experience rider will sit on the horse & hold the reins etc differently to a novice, even the tone of voice will be different & for example say all the novices that rode your horse were young & smaller than you, then if they don't control your horse in the same manner as you did, then when a smaller younger rider sits on them it will trigger off the memory of less control & hence the misbahaviour. I would like to bet if your horse tried the same with a younger lighter experienced rider your horse would soon stop misbehaving

It is the same with horses i have had horses who are as good as gold when i ride them - but you put a novice on their back and they mis behave - i had a pony who would deliberately play up - only in a playfull way but he knew - i got on him and he was perfect.

Thats interesting... you don't think its down to the fact some horses don't react well to getting unclear aids from novice riders and thats why they "play up"? I honestly don't think horses are "naughty" I think that they simply do not understand sometimes...but maybe thats just me ;)

No my pony knew - he was soooo clever, he would never go far enough to get them off or hurt them just scare them a bit, and the 'novice' rider could be and adult so not lightweight, he was probably the best pony we ever had though and would literally bust a gut to win a show jumping class with me on him - someone else even experienced and he became pertified of the fences lol think monsters must have been behind them.  He definately had a sense of humour!

Also we had a beautiful anglo arab - i broke her in at 3 years and shared her with my mom - who is a bit of a softy with any animal - anyway mom said to me one day after asking where she had gone for a ride 'we went to the park' i asked why she hadn't gone the other way which is much longer nicer ride and she said 'oh Satin won't go under the bridge so we never go that way' now i rode the mare under that bridge every day and she never blinked twice at it.  Just shows....  Also if a dog (red the lurcher) is clever enough to not only open bolts on kennel doors but let all his friends out too, they have a lot more inteligence than we give them credit...

I would have assumed the arab just didn't get the same confidence from your mum - hence she wouldn't go forward. My gelding needs a rider he trusts or he won't go forward - its not him being naughty, he's just worried. My arab mare is a 100% ride for anyone now, despite being a biatch at first because she was a rescue and she was worried and she hadn't been out of the field for years...she didn't know her actions were bad (rearing and napping) just that she was worried and she needed to express it.

Willis often does stuff that he knows gets a reaction - he doesn't know if its wrong or not, just that its rewarding....

Like I said - its JMO and my experience though :D

I agree with you on that Chloe. It's usually about confidence rather than disobedience :)

With the dog and the knowing they are doing wrong idea, it is usually the accepted thought that dogs equate the presence of the owner and say, something chewed with being told off (hence the cower) - but that does not mean they know WHY they are being told off!! :) They can't really, because they have no idea about the value of things.

Lindsay
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It's an interesting point - do dogs know when they are doing wrong or not.

When Purdey was younger (well, until last year or so :D ), if I were daft enough to leave a new pair of leather shoes out, she just HAD to have a chew of them!!!    Obviously, when she started the chewing, as a pup, she was scolded, and maybe it was just associating the chewing with being banished to the utility room, because in later years, SHE would alert me to the chewed shoes - by going and standing at the utility room door, with the "I've been a bad girl" look on her face - then I'd have to find the blessed things!

But as it was my/our fault for leaving temptation in her way, she wasn't told off!

Margot

I didn't used to think they knew right from wrong, but as someone mentioned earlier-why do we spent our time training them? It is wrong to wee in the house so when you want to go you go and stand by the door or whinge at someone! They, veing dogs, don't know the word 'wrong' we use it describe something but they have learned to ask to out when they need to go.
Then Iam sure our older girl Chloe knows when Kayla is 'being naughty', if i'm in another room and Kayla has, say, jumped on the settee or is wripping something up, she will come and either stand right behind me or lay on her haunches and shake. Then I go and look and see Kayla 'being naughty'. We did NOT teach her this it's just something she does because she hardly ever does anything wrong, you could leave her in a room with food and she wouldn't even go near it, it's just her nature to be 'good'.
I'm no expert but I have an interest in this area so if someone has any ideas/explanation then this thread should be a good one!
Emily:)