Wheaten Marking Territory in the House???

[whitefam]

I have a 5 1/2 month old Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier that we have had for about two months. We are still having problems with the house breaking but we seem to be making some progress. Though he still doesn't go to the door to indicate that he needs out, we are vigilant enough to keep accidents down to about once a week.

He was neutered at 4 1/2 months and seems to have recovered well. Surprisingly though, in the last three days he seems to be marking territory in the house. He doesn't lift his leg or squat to go. Instead he pees while shaking his tail end and walking around, spraying urine everywhere. He left my eyesight for about a minute this evening while I was changing my son. He went into my bedroom, then quickly walked out and came over to me. I was a little curious as to why he went into the room so I checked things out. I found drops of Pee all over the room and in the hallway. :msnmad:

A few minutes before this happened; I stopped him from pooping in my son's room. I took him out and he pee'd and pooped in the yard. Five minutes later he's spraying pee all over my bedroom. Any thoughts?

 

[sarhaspups]

Most people probably won't like this suggestion and you may not either but the only suggestion I have is to catch him in the act the instant he does it , grab him by the scruff , tell him no and put him in his crate for 5-10 minutes, let him out directly outside to go potty and than praise, play ball , tug... treats when he goes potty outside. I would not let him roam the house, he's still very young so he can't be trusted yet. Use x-pens to block him into one room only so you can keep your eye on him and keep him in the same room you are in always. Do you crate him when you are gone?
Good luck!

 

[whitefam]

Yes, we do crate him when we leave the house.

I have been doing pretty much exactly what you reccomended and things appear to be getting better all around. Hopefully we are moving on to a new stage. My biggest consern is that this was a territory thing. My hope is that was more of an excitement situation. We have also been working on toning down the excitement when he is in the house. We've found that "Sit" is an incredibly important command and it seems to take him out of the mischevious state of minde for a few minutes.

 

[sarhaspups]

whitefarm, that is great! I'm glad that things are going better and this method is working. I have been there with my BC pup and he started at the same age as your pup. (BTW- I know this works b/c my pup hasn't done it in months and months) Even if it is a territory thing, you can make it clear to him that it is a bad thing and he will learn it isn't accpetable. I really believe that keeping the pup confined in the same rooom you are in at all times is a big help to keeping bad habits from forming. It ables you to keep an eye on them and then they are looking for you for attention/ play and not just roaming around to find their own 'play' and it is usually stuff we don't like when they find their own things to do.
Keep doing this, stay consistant and stay firm. He is very young and you can fix this.
Good that you have started to make him sit when he gets too excited in the house, that is great and it does work... if you can break their concentration and give them something 'good' to do, it works well.. Good work and keep us posted.