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Topic Dog Boards / Behaviour / Toileting problems
- By Seaway48 [gb] Date 19.10.07 11:05 UTC
7 months ago we brought a 12 week old border collie from a house where all the puppies were in a cage inside the living room. Here they were messing and urinating and i dont think it had ever been cleaned up. the lady used to spray air freshner to hide the smell.

Since then we have trained him but ocassionally he marks his territory i think, but we have recently had a 8 week old labrador puppy for him to play with.

When the new puppy has an accident in the house the collie decides to urinate over his wee and he also tends to copy and mark his territory.

Does anyone have any ides on how to control this collie as he is absolutely adorable and i dont want to have to shout at him for copying a new puppy?
- By Floradora [gb] Date 19.10.07 11:44 UTC
Your youngster is hitting the teenage stage and his hormones are no doubt raging at the moment. He will mark on top of a pups wee (are they both males) as he is marking his territory.
Puppies (with breeders) do make a lot of mess and smell, the joys of rearing a litter. The last few weeks seem to be spent changing bedding, newspapers etc and no soon as you have done that the process starts over again. When you state that the pups were in a cage, was this not a playpen to keep them secure and hopefully it had enough room for the pups to play and run around? I am sure with perseverance  on your part, catching him doing it and ghiving him a no command and using an odour eliminator will help stop this marking.
- By jackson [gb] Date 19.10.07 13:23 UTC
Sorry, I don't have much constructive to add, but you're going to find it quite hard going withtwo puppies. They need to be trained seperately, so it's double the time for everything. Also hard to toilet train a pup if you have another to take for walks etc.

Also, and sorryt o be so negative, why on earth woudl you buy from abreeder if you weren't happy with how the pups were kept? It just encourages them to breed again.
- By Brainless [gb] Date 19.10.07 13:24 UTC
I need to get something straight her the post says 12 weeks, but your answer is correct for 12 months, what is the situation are we talking about two baby pups one of 8 weeks and one of 12?  If so then expecting any house training from the older one is too soon especially with another pup to contend with too, as they are both babies and will tend to copy each other.
- By Jeangenie [gb] Date 19.10.07 13:28 UTC
I think the collie is now 10 months old (bought at 12 weeks old, 7 months ago) and the lab is 8 weeks.
- By JaniceH [gb] Date 19.10.07 13:29 UTC
I think reading the OP the older pup was bought seven months ago.
- By Floradora [gb] Date 19.10.07 13:41 UTC
Think reading the post the BC was purchased at 12 weeks old making it now approx 10 months old, however buying 2 pups under the age of 1 in my mind is asking for trouble, the deed is now done so hopefully the op will be able to get this sorted before the other problems that may occur with 2 youngsters happens
- By Seaway48 [gb] Date 19.10.07 14:08 UTC
Just to clarify things i asked for some advice not criticism.  The border collie is 10 motnhs old and thanks for the support to all of you who have worked that out. We had travel 300 miles for this dog and by the time we got there it would have been ashame not to come away with one fo the adorable puppies who climber over all the others to get to us. We had already travelled the country and walked away from puppy farms so i dont think you have any right in judging a situation until you know all the facts.

Unless you have any advice then please do not post.

Thanks to all of you who have posted sound advice!

:confused:
- By Floradora [gb] Date 19.10.07 14:32 UTC
:confused: Really don't think anyone is intending to criticise you, just pointing out the pitfalls of owning 2 young puppies together. Both will need 'me' time with you and it would be better to excercise them seperately so they do not come to rely on each other rather than you.
With regard to the scenting/marking, if you can catch your boy in the act give him a stern 'no' command, the areas that he tends to mark in I would use a odour eliminator (pets at home do one) and also use this for the pups accident spots. If you cannot get hold of any equal measures of distilled white vinegar and water on the spot and left to soak in for 30 minutes before cleaning off will do the trick just aswell. Hope you are able to sort this problem out
- By Carrington Date 19.10.07 14:43 UTC
Hi Seaway, :-)

Firstly I don't think that anyone has been rude at all, you yourself are stating the conditions that the pup was bought in, which is going to put forward the question of why buy if it was so unsanitary.:eek:

We always try our best on this site to help those who are not in the know, to not make the same mistakes as many before have and buy from not the best of breeders, so it is a valid point to make, no matter how far one travels. :-) Puppy farmers exist because people feel sorry for the pups so buy them anyway, when they really should just run. ;-)

Anyhow, I hope that has cleared up your worries, we just try to point out that the pups conditions were wrong. You have your lovely pup now.

As an occassional breeder my pups are trained from 5-6 weeks to follow me outside to toilet train and many, many good breeders also do the same so that when our pups new owners collect them most of the hard work has already been done. ;-)

Unfortunately, when a pup is left to sit in it's own urine and solids and hardly cleaned your going to get a pup that will naturally not know what to do, making it so much harder for yourself, as I am sure you have found.

You see the plus side in having a fully trained dog 18months - 2 years and then introducing a pup, is the dog will also help train the pup and when it comes to toilet training the pup will follow the mature dog outside and learn much quicker.

Finally the solution. :-D

Just continue with praise and reward everytime your pup/pups go to the toilet outside. Ignore the indoor toileting and make sure that you use a bicarbonate of soda cleaner this is the only thing that will get rid of the smell, bleach and disinfectants do not cover the scent of urine, although we can not smell them, pups and dogs still can, so will continue to pee over and over again.

Your older pup is marking over the youngers scent, just keep vigilant follow both around and even if you have to pick them up midway do so and let them finish outside with a big load of praise even if they just do a dribble.

It is very hard with two pups together, many here speak from experience of that.  Good luck, just keep on top of them both it is the only way to train.
- By Jeangenie [gb] Date 19.10.07 17:29 UTC
It's important to remember that your 10-month BC is still a youngster; an adolescent boy whose hormones (unless he's already been castrated) will be kicking in. Although he looks grown up, mentally he's still very much a puppy, and is as likely to copy the new puppy's behaviour as the new puppy is to copy him!

Wherever either of them puddle/mess, clear it up using a solution of biological laundry liquid then wipe over with white vinegar or surgical spirit to remove any lingering smell.

Do the usual housetraining routine - taking them out to the garden every hour or so, and after every play, nap and meal. At least you'll be able to give your older pup some one-to-one attention and training on your walks when the baby pup naturally has to stay at home. Of course when s/he's old enough for walks you'll have to take the little one separately from the older one so as not to over-exercise it, but you don't have to worry about that for a few weeks.

Good luck.
- By carbreeze [gb] Date 01.11.07 21:53 UTC
new to this but hope you can help,my dog has started marking his territory all over the house,hes fully house trained so i dont understand why hes just started to do it,my bitch is having a phantom pregnancy could it be related.help!!!!!!!!!!:eek:
- By Brainless [gb] Date 01.11.07 22:10 UTC
This is not a house training issue, but a behaviour issue. 

He is marking territory and needs to learn that it is unacceptable indoors. 

This will mean absolute supervision and crating him when he can't be watched over. 

Any sign of him lifting a leg and a stern no and take him outdoors. 

My friends dog while going through this during late adolescence blew the electrics in the whole house as he peed into a power socket.
Topic Dog Boards / Behaviour / Toileting problems

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