# Boy troubles... Marking!



## Monomni (Jan 26, 2015)

OK, I really need help from people who have had male poodles!!

I've always had female dogs, and now I'm fostering a 3-4 yr old unaltered male mini, name Darryl. He's VERY sweet and seems pretty smart, but he was previously never trained anything - including housebreaking. Now, I'm getting frustrated with his slow/inconsistent learning progress/reliability in housebreaking. 

I've previously posted about trying to get him to eliminate on pads (instead of grass) - which is making slow progress. He'll now squat & pee in one place on a pad, but he's still pooping only on the grass. I've been trying to teach him the command "do you chores," but he doesn't seem to recognize/act on it very well yet.

NOW, I have questions about a fundamental problem... How do I teach a male mini to NEVER ever pee/mark inside? I just caught him again the other day, and it seemed that he was just doing it to "mark" a spot - and not because he really needed to go. BTW, I previously had a female Toy Fox Terrier, who undoubtedly left her scents everywhere (and even a few very old accidental pee spots of her own). 

Luckily, since Darryl wears a belly band inside, my carpet was spared. However, when I immediately picked him up and took him outside, he just stood there "daydreaming" and watching the outdoors for over 20 minutes without doing anything! He doesn't seem to care, much be learning that peeing = grass/pad only and that he should NOT mark ANYWHERE else. 
How do I teach him this (quickly & reliably)???

Thank you!


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## Scully (Sep 30, 2014)

tbh i would use either the ad or outside not both. one minute hes allowed to toilet inside the next hes not, it just makes things confusing. 

I would be doing as you are and taking him out when he goes to mark [on lead] for a chance to pee if he doesn't in the crate for 10 mins let him out and keep an eye on him. It might be worth having him teatherd to you to start with so he has no chances to mark anything, and make sure anything he has has been cleaned with and enzyme cleaner so he does not repeat mark. 

Its not that he doesn't care its that he doesn't know.


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## N2Mischief (Dec 3, 2012)

When in the house he needs to earn his freedom. Until he is reliable he should either be crated, gated in a very small area, or tethered to you. Always. No exceptions.


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## Monomni (Jan 26, 2015)

*always outside*

Just to clarify... Both the pad and section of grass are outside on my balcony. I'm not (willingly) letting Darryl eliminate anywhere indoors. 

First, he wouldn't use the pad at all, and he peed while walking around on just his front paws... hilarious, but messy! I've now gotten him to start peeing on the pad while squatting in one spot. Hooray! However, he still goes onto the grass section and even waddles & turns while pooping. Sigh... Getting him to poop on the pad and keep everything ON the pad is the goal.

So, are ya'll thinking that I should NOT put the belly band on him and just watch him like a hawk and/or keep him tethered? My concern is that he WILL try and pee inside, and even if I run him straight outside, he won't care or make the connection. 

When I took him outside, before he just stood there, clueless. It wasn't that he needed to pee and was allowed the opportunity outside... It was that he wanted to mark a spot inside and taking him outside was just a different (and already marked) location. 

How do I get him to understand that peeing/marking inside is BAD when I'm not supposed to yell/punish for accidents??


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

Would you use a belly band on a puppy? He should be treated like a puppy and confined or watched at all times so that if he does pee/mark inside, you are there to yell something like No! And take him out immediately. If he is peeing into the belly band and you are not telling him it is bad, then he doesn't understand inside is a no no.

I am house training a puppy right now, a male. We take him out every 1-2 hours if he is walking around. He is confined to the kitchen or sunroom or on a leash in the rest of the house or in a crate. It is a lot of work. I also get up in the middle of the night. He is doing pretty good, especially since I caught him peeing in the kitchen twice and yelled at him and took him outside. Sometimes they need to be corrected to know it is wrong.


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## FireStorm (Nov 9, 2013)

Marking is really just a housebreaking issue IMO. I personally wouldn't use a belly band because if they mark with the belly band they are still marking inside. I would either keep the dog tethered to you or crated/confined in a small space when he can't be tethered. My experience with males has been that they can be housebroken as puppies, no different than females, and then you may have to revisit the issue when they are older if they attempt to mark indoors (or anywhere else you don't want them to). Whenever I caught Hans marking where he shouldn't (I don't let him mark concrete, buildings, etc even if they are outside) I would abruptly pick him up and say "No, outside!" I didn't yell, but I was definitely firm. It didn't take much for him to catch on and he is totally reliable now (18 months and intact).


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## N2Mischief (Dec 3, 2012)

Don't forget when he gets it right to praise praise praise!!! Throw a party. Make your neighbors think you are nuts!!!!


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## Monomni (Jan 26, 2015)

*schedule*

Yep, part of what makes this hard is that I do work full-time. (When I get a puppy, my plan is to take at least a week off, REALLY focus on housebreaking and learning to use a pad inside for when I'm not home, etc.) Luckily, Darryl is already old enough to "hold it," but I still try to come home & walk him during my lunch break some days. He's not pad-trained and I'm crate-training him, so he stays in the crate when I'm not home and when we're sleeping at night. 

When I AM home, he's pretty much always sticking close naturally, so it's fairly easy to keep an eye on him. He does sometimes run back & forth somewhere, out of sight to get a toy, etc. That's what I thought he was doing, when he had the poop accident the other day. :^(
If I take him out in the AM and he doesn't do both chores, then I keep him on leash/tether until we go back out and he does do both. I always give him lots of praise for "good chores!" and he seems to get the overall concepts. 

I think part of the problem is bad habits and him previously being allowed to either mark/potty inside (with or without belly band). As I mentioned previously, when I've caught him marking inside, hollered no, and took him straight outside, he just stood outside and didn't seem to understand the connection. He didn't need to pee, so when I got him outside, he just stood there and looked around. Who knows... maybe it takes several times before he'll realize that marking (and getting caught) at least equals getting yelled at...


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Monomni said:


> Yep, part of what makes this hard is that I do work full-time. (When I get a puppy, my plan is to take at least a week off, REALLY focus on housebreaking and learning to use a pad inside for when I'm not home, etc.) Luckily, Darryl is already old enough to "hold it," but I still try to come home & walk him during my lunch break some days. He's not pad-trained and I'm crate-training him, so he stays in the crate when I'm not home and when we're sleeping at night.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I am not a fan of chastising for the accident, and then immediately taking him to the appropriate spot - - sort of like the appropriate spot is part of the punishment. I would interrupt him, firmly express my displeasure in his behavior, drop it, and then maybe 10-15 minutes later take him to the appropriate spot, and be ready with a wonderful treat if he does eliminate there.


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## N2Mischief (Dec 3, 2012)

Monomni said:


> Yep, part of what makes this hard is that I do work full-time. (When I get a puppy, my plan is to take at least a week off, REALLY focus on housebreaking and learning to use a pad inside for when I'm not home, etc.) Luckily, Darryl is already old enough to "hold it," but I still try to come home & walk him during my lunch break some days. He's not pad-trained and I'm crate-training him, so he stays in the crate when I'm not home and when we're sleeping at night.
> 
> When I AM home, he's pretty much always sticking close naturally, so it's fairly easy to keep an eye on him. He does sometimes run back & forth somewhere, out of sight to get a toy, etc. That's what I thought he was doing, when he had the poop accident the other day. :^(
> If I take him out in the AM and he doesn't do both chores, then I keep him on leash/tether until we go back out and he does do both. I always give him lots of praise for "good chores!" and he seems to get the overall concepts.
> ...



Problem I see with this way of thinking is that if he does realize that marking and getting caught equals getting yelled at, then he might just resort to making sure to be more sneaky, and making sure you don't see him do it.

Really tethering IMHO works much better, set him up for success and prevent him from failing, which means you HAVE to keep your eyes on him every second when he is out. The easiest way to do this is the tether. If he is allowed to sneak of even for a couple of seconds it is setting him up for failure.

I get this from fostering many, many dogs. A pain, but once you get it done, I have found it is indeed done.


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## Scully (Sep 30, 2014)

I agree with others you need to learn his signs and then when it looks like he is going to go interrupt him and take him outside. When he goes outside you need to make a big deal with loads of praise and a tasty treat. You need to make him learn going outside is better than inside as you get a big fuss and tasty treats. 

He should not be allowed to run around indoors at all unless you know he is completely empty. Until then he needs to be crated or attached to you to avoid further mistakes or it turning into habbit. 

The reason he wont go outside when you take him is he doesn't know what you want. start attaching a que like 'go toilet' while hes going outside and again big fuss. The he can learn those words = peeing/pooping outside. You also need to wait it out, if hes looked like hes gonna go inside you need to wait outside till he does. I had many a days where i spend a hour outside waiting it out but its worth it. 

No telling him off for accidents, this leads to sneaking off to pee or poop and not being able to get him to go in the garden as he will be frightened to go in front of you.


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## PoodleFoster (May 25, 2013)

Monomni said:


> OK, I really need help from people who have had male poodles!!
> I'm fostering a 3-4 yr old unaltered male mini, name Darryl. He's VERY sweet and seems pretty smart, but he was previously never trained anything - including housebreaking.
> NOW, I have questions about a fundamental problem... How do I teach a male mini to NEVER ever pee/mark inside?
> 
> ...


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