Marking in the house

Mac came to me at 18 months old, with very little training of any kind. He is a Scottie-Westie cross. He wee'd in the house a lot to begin with...but took him for lots of walks and gave easy access to the garden, hoping this would stop after time. He is now over two, and still marks in the house, especially if we have had guests! I've tried everything I can think of. I'm sure he knows its wrong, cause never does it if anyone is watching.

He had 'the chop' when he was 6 month old...but still excessivly marks when on walks too. I say 'excessively', as he stops every few seconds to sniff then mark. His 'marking' is different than when he actually needs a wee...he'll just cock his leg and do a big wee then...but he will continually try to mark though, even if nothing comes out anymore!

Also, while I have your attention (!). Any advice for training a dog not to snap/bite when he grabs something and you need to retrieve it. I have trained puppies so that you can get them to 'drop' or 'give' or 'leave' toys/chewies/socks/whatever...but how do you train a dog that has obviously never been trained to not be aggressive if he wants his own way? Mac recently bit me when I just moved (to change the tv channel!) my arm near him while he was chewing a rawhide bone (No more of them for a while!)... he also bit my leg when I pulled him away (on lead) from a dog that was aggressively to bite him while we were in the park. The bites were not worth stitches, but had huge painful bruises and he did break the skin.

I think its time to call in a trainer...but just wondered if anyone has any advice in the meantime please?

Hi,
you've certainly got a few problems there, but don't give up hope, with persistence you will be able to sort this.

House training.
It could be that the areas he is soiling still smell, despite having been cleaned. Try a biological washing powder which should hopefully remove the smells.

Does he have a crate? If not, it may be worth introducing one (you would need to read all the advice about crate training) so that he is in the crate when you are out (providing it is not for overlong periods).

When you've had visitors, I would not let him in the areas where they have been unless you are with him.

Although it sounds like he can control his bladder, I would go back and treat him like he is a pup - take him out in the garden regularly (every couple of hours during the day) and praise him and treat him when he's pees outside.

Possessiveness
The biting is much more serious and something we really can't give you advice for on here, you are better to find someone locally who can help (preferably someone who uses positive training methods). I'm not sure whether your dog came from a rescue, but if so, contact them, they may be able to help.

What I would say is that my 5 year old bc came with similar problems - though she never actually bit me , she was very possessive over all treats/food etc.

I worked on 3 main things
(1) building trust/respect. This was things like swapping - if I wanted to take something off her, I would give her something even better in its place. With her food bowl, I would go up to it when she was eating and add nice bits.

It was also things like impossing rules/discipline and sticking to them. Things like she was not allowed on the furniture, she wouldn't get petted unless she was calm etc. (once I felt she understood our relationship, I did relent on some of these, but they did serve their purpose in the short term and would have been reintroduced if I felt she was starting to be too pushy again)
(2) the leave command - she had to wait after I put her food down until I told her she could have it. Starting off for very short periods of time and working up
(3) she had to earn all her treats e.g. doing a trick, good behaviour etc, but she never got anything for nothing.

Now she makes me smile because she will bring her kong to me for me to help her get the last bit out - something she would never have done to start with.

I do hope you can get things sorted

Thankyou sooo much for your reply, it has been very helpful...(this is a VERY VERY delayed respose, due to severe computer malfunction!).

Mac is STILL weeing in the house, nearly every day (3+ times). Mostly the kitchen, but sometimes upstairs. He is a very good, crate trained boy...and is hardly ever at home alone. Just in the crate overnight or when I go to Tescos!). Mac spends oodles of time in the garden and has 3 walks every day. He cocks his leg six billion times when we are out! he sniffs every blade of grass!

I never thought I'd even think of this, but someone has recommended a doggy band/ nappy type thingy to help with training to stop weeing in the house or at friends houses. have you ever heard of this? What is your opinion? I never take him to other peoples houses anymore, he goes on a pee frenzy!

To tell you the truth, I am soooo fed up of wiping up wee every day...I never see him do it, so can not shout "NO" at the appropriate moment. Its getting rather depressing, all these pools of wee. He can hold it all night. he can hold it for hours...its not a medical problem.

The snappy stuff is slowly improving ...the weeing stuff is not....

Does anyone out there have any experience of the dog diaper/doggy band type thing? All opinions are welcome!

I had this problem with Lennon who came to me at 6 months old. A very trusted and experienced member on here (no longer with us, sadly) recommended using bands. I would have happily given them a try, but had my lad neutered instead - it was on the cards anyway - and this solved the problem. I know you've been down that route and still have the problem, so I would say try the bands.
Let us know how you get on, and well done for persevering with him - he sounds a little treasure

Frankie my terrier mix has a few of the issues you describe. He was neutered early but it hasn't solved any of his issues. He has always been possessive of his toys, bones etc. but he is like it with the other dogs, he's never been like it with people. I won't tolerate it at all, when they have bones they have them together and if he starts he is told to pack it in, in no uncertain terms. He has improved immensely and can now be trusted to behave 95% of the time. I used to stand over him with a broom or mop and block his way if he went to attack, while telling him to "back off" He may be small but he drew blood on more than one occassion. These days my voice is enough to stop him.
He was also into marking inside although only the kitchen and conservatory which are both tiled. I've managed to catch him in the act a few times and he was improving although when Milan my newest dog arrived a few weeks ago Frankie stepped it up again.
Although the other day I was hoovering in the lounge while the dogs were in the conservatory and caught Frankie about to lift his leg. What followed was unplanned and not recommended but seems to have cured him for now at least. I threw the french doors from the lounge open and yelled "Outside" at Frank. He stopped but in my haste I tripped over the hoover and sent it clattering onto the tiled floor of the conservatory which made Frankie and Diesel leg it across the room. They in turn knocked a chair flying which the cat was sitting on asleep. The cat took offence and gave chase into the garden, round the patio several times and generally gave them a right telling off. While I wouldn't recommend it, Domino the cat has achieved more in minutes than I managed in months. So far not one piddle anywhere inside.
If you can confine the area he piddles in it is easier to deal with and try not to let it stress you out, failing that I could hire Domino my cat out for a nominal fee

Sounds good to me!!!!!

I'll have a word with him, he'll work for food He's the boss here at the best of times and is usually really easy going but they all know not to mess with him. I couldn't have planned that chain of events if I'd tried but clearly shock tactics sometimes work