Hi All

I have got a 3 yr old westie called Hamish, i expect you have seen my posts about him before he suffers badly from atopic dermatitis, although at present is a lot better thank goodness, the problem i have got at the moment is that he has started weeing in the house, the past week he has cocked his leg up our dining room table 4 times, i caught him in the act once and shouted at him and threw him in the garden and ignored him for around 1/2 hour, he knew what he had done because he had his head down skulking around the garden, he is not neutered as he has never been a problem but i am wondering whether he needs to be now he has started doing this. He also messed in the kitchen overnight when we got up this morning which is not like him at all.
We have got 2 neutered dogs one side of us and a bitch the other side, would this have anything to do with it?
I was going to have  another westie pup and have contacted a breeder who has got puppies available and did put my name down for 1 last month but i am having 2nd thoughts now especially as Hamish has started doing this because what impression will he give to the new puppy if he is weeing in the house? Should i still have a new puppy or not? I have really set my heart on another dog for companionship for him as he loves other dogs but now he has started doing this i don't know what to do for the best.
Thanks in advance
Helen

Hi Helen,

i caught him in the act once and shouted at him and threw him in the garden and ignored him for around 1/2 hour, he knew what he had done because he had his head down skulking around the garden,

He didn't know what he had done - head down, tail between the legs, skulking etc is appeasement behaviour, he knows from your body language and shouting at him that you are annoyed and is trying with this behaviour to turn off your anger, but he won't be associating this to his weeing, especially not after half an hour in the garden.  If you catch him in the act say in afirm voice but not shouting, no, ahh ahh, what ever you choose, usher him out to the garden and stay out with him until he has finished his wee and then lot of praise.  There is no point in leaving him outside.  Also if you find that he has had an accident when you weren't around then there is no point in telling him off or showing him what he's done as he won't understand.

If he does wee inside make sure it is really well cleaned up as any trace of urine left and it will encourage him to go again.

If this is something that has suddenly started out of the blue and he has been absolutely fine before then it would probably be a good idea to get him a check up at the vets to make sure he doesn't have a urine infection or something.

Hope you get it sorted,

Karen

Hi Helen
Just a thought - the bitch next door hasn't come into season, has she?

Hi Helen

Have just read your post - I have some friends who have recently bought a Rottweiler, he is a lovely dog but going through the puppy stage - house breaking and wot not, my friend asked her dog trainer why she could not stop her dog weeing indoors, it turns out that dogs like the smell of bleach so all the lovely smeeling cleaning products she used was just encouraging him more, I would recommend using a spray if you aren;t already from pet shop designed especially for the job!!  I have bought some for my brothers dog as he is constantly marking his scent in our house and I am trying to perturb my dog from doing the same, it does seem to work!!
Jackie

Hi Jackie,

the most effective (in results and cost) way of dispelling left over urine smells etc is by using a mixture of diluted biological washing powder to remove all the stain and surface smell and then wiping over with surgical spirit or white vinegar to break down the fatty deposits in the urine.

While some OTC sprays are effective, many aren't.  Good old fashioned methods tend to work best in this scenario :)

Over and above ensure that if the dog has actually emptied a significant amount of urine that you blot it up well before using the bio solution and also wipe the underlay over with same and white spirit/vinegar if it has had time to soak through.

regards, Teri