# Help with marking



## Denigru (Jan 12, 2012)

6 weeks ago I brought home a new mpoo baby into house with 3yr old neutered male mixed bichon and 4 yr old mpoo neutered. The older guys were totally housebroken - never any problems in the house.

BJ, the pup is doing wonderful with housebreaking and we are going to Puppy Pre School for socialization and basics for training and that is going wonderful.

Yesterday, Gizmo, the 3yr old peed in the house for the first time since he was a puppy but it was near where the puppy had an accident the evening before - so I thought OK maybe I didn't do good enough cleaning and it up and recleaned with the Nature's Miracle. No more problem yesterday.

First thing this morning Gizmo lifts his leg and pees on the ottoman and the floor - also in the general area of the room as yesterday's "incident".

What can I do or what have I done wrong??? Help - I cannot tolerate this at all.

My only other thought on this is that the puppy is acting rather dominant at times when they play and spends every evening "humping his bed" - we correct him but other than leaving the room it is difficult to stop this. The pup, BJ is almost 14 wks old. He is schedule to be neutered at about 6 months when we are sure all of his puppy teeth fall out - per the vet's suggestion. Would it make a difference if we got him neutered now?

I have had only male neutered males for over 30+ yrs and have NEVER had one mark furniture - I am so upset right now.

Please help with any ideas or suggestions on how/where to get help for this before it can go any further.

BTW, the 4 yr old poodle just lives in his own world - very easy going and ignoring this entire thing with the new puppy. As long as he gets cuddles and food he is a happy boy.


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## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

Denigru: I am sure there are others, more knowledgeable, with insights here, but wanted to share this. I have an almost 4 year old male mini, which was rehomed to me in September last year. He left a pack of poodles (literally) and now I am his pack -- as it is. I was speaking with his breeder about getting another poodle, since Sunny seems more relaxed and comfortable about more dogs obviously since that's what he was accustomed to. A male toy came available and I was considering since Sunny gets along great with all dogs. She said that although Sunny is not marking in my place, he has established his "new pack" of the 2 of us. Bringing another male in, may cause a jockeying for position, and the young one may mark (or not), but Sunny would mark to show position, etc. --- I am sure you get it. She said she has a boy mini at home who is the "top dog" named Tucker. Says, does not matter if intact, or not, another male comes in and there seems to be this "competition" --- perhaps that's what is going on. Just a guess? My sister has 2 males and a female, and the existing male did that when the new guy came onboard, too. Bellybands maybe? (I don't know how you would deal with it)


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## Denigru (Jan 12, 2012)

liljaker, thank you for your comments. I read a lot today and I am sure it is a threat to Gizmo's status in the pack. I ordered belly bands. I read one article that said I would may not have this problem if they all thought of me as their alpha and I must admit that of all of them Gizmo is the bossiest and I probably am not his alpha but he is mine and therein lies my biggest problem. I have had him tethered to me all day so he can't do anything behind my back and I have been treating/rewarding and training everyone all day. I must admit I am exhausted! I have BJ's last puppy preschool class tonite and I will see what the instructor suggests.


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