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Peeing in the house. Please help!

Behavioral Issues
  • I've had Brutus, a male neutered basenji, for about four years now. I got him from a shelter and they told me he had been returned by two or three other families. He was pretty rambunctious when I got him (he ate a couch once!) but he has become a pretty good dog except for one issue: He keeps peeing in the house. Everything I have read says I need to catch him in the act in order to train him, but I have never caught him in the act. He is very stealthy and only does the deed when not being observed. I tried crating him when I first got him but I could not get him in the crate, nothing worked. And he peed all over the crate as soon as I wasn't looking. He's gotten better and pees less than he used to but I really need him to stop peeing totally. Does anyone have any suggestions?

  • Try tethering him to you so you know where he is and what he is doing. If he tries peeing tell him "no" and take him outside immediately. There is usually a pattern for when they need to go, as in, first thing in the morning and after meals, but take him outside regularly and praise if he pees. Does he lift his leg or squat? Bottom line, you do need to be more observant until you get this problem sorted. Crating or confining in a small area usually helps, but if he is crate averse that isn't a solution.

  • I should have mentioned that he has a dog door into the back yard that he uses regularly. So he can go out when he wants to. He has never pooped in the house. I don't think he is peeing because he has to pee, he's responding to some issue he has. For example, if the area by my front door is clear he won't pee there, but if I leave a package or something else there, he will pee on it, like he doesn't like there to be any clutter.

  • @mbr77 said in Peeing in the house. Please help!:

    if I leave a package or something else there, he will pee on it, like he doesn't like there to be any clutter.

    O.K. that gives you an opportunity to "set him up" so you are able to correct his behaviour. Deliberately leave something there, be nonchalant but keep an eye on him, and if possible catch him in the act. This sounds to me like some sort of territorial response.

    For what it's worth, I have never bought into the theory that you actually do have to catch them in the act to correct behaviour. I base my opinion on having trained two farm dogs not to defecate or urinate in my barn, despite never having caught either of them "in the act". Expressing my disgust in no uncertain terms upon finding the evidence resulted in the behaviour ceasing in short order. One of my barn trained dogs went to a new home with my sister, where he never disgraced himself in the house, so the behaviour was generalized to indoors.

  • I'm starting to feel like I solve all problems with a walk.... BUT! Take him for a walk. A long one. When he "waters the grass", praise him. "Oh! What a good boy!" (Please do not reach down and pet your dog while they are peeing. Yes, I've seen people do this.) Just use your voice and facial expressions to show how proud you are of your dog doing it outside. Then make daily walks a "thing".

    FWIW: I agree with @eeeefarm. It sounds like your boy is marking his territory. Perhaps Brutus is expressing anxiety over being bounced from home to home. No doubt his other families rejected him over this specific behavioral issue.

  • For a temporary reprieve from all the stealthy peeing you could use a belly band on him. I order mine from Sew Dog (www.sewdog.com or https://www.etsy.com/shop/SewDogStudio) where they are made to measure. If you go this route order the custom insert pads. I found if I used disposable sanitary type pads my dogs would tear them up and consume them.

  • What worked for me was taking my Basenji for a short walk along the road that I live on every hour until she went. After just a couple of days it made a big difference and after that I increased it to 2 hourly, 3 hourly and so on. I think it worked because she became used to going outside and it felt less familiar going inside. Going outside and waiting for her to perform with her getting stressed, wanting to go back inside and not understanding what I was asking didn't get us anywhere and this was much quicker and long lasting. Now she goes for 2 decent walks per day (morning and night) and usually asks to go into the garden once in between (she is 18 months old). My Basenji was a puppy so if you decide to try this you may not want to start at hourly. The other benefit of this is that she doesn't tend to want to poo in the garden unless she has an upset stomach.

7/7

25 Nov 2021, 15:13

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    @basenji_life said in Help please!: Oh and yesterday evening she started peeing on the sofa while looking straight at him... and she normally goes outside to pee... maybe she was upset that he was home? Did you solve this issue? I had a dog who didnt like kids. Someone told me it could be because the previous owner had kids who scared the dog. So it could be a traumatic experience for the dog. And when kids were around, the dog would bark a lot always.
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    i do not crate him. just have the pee pads where he likes to pee. he always has hated being crated and at 16, i'm not going to. I do have 1/2 the hall way blocked off, so he has the den, the kitchen and 1/2 the hall when we're out. Of course we're also looking to scrap this house and build sometime in the near future, so i don't really care too much about the carpets here. if i did, i think i'd try an xpen or limit his area even more. and i don't have 2 legged kids.
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    Excellent, good job of working with him!
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    yikes…....
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    @khanis: Um yeah.. not. You should NOT give her the freedom to display her dominance. There should be only ONE alpha in your house and that is YOU. All those dogs should get along. I am sorry if I was confusing in my original post as the above post obviously indicates that I was. I agree with the above post in that you should be the only one alpha in your house. You should have control over the dominance displays and any other behaviors of all members of your pack. However, between pack members displays also occur and you have the final say over what is tolerable and what is not. Your b should never be allowed to display dominance over you or other humans in the household however even the behavior where adults growl/bark etc at pups to correct them is a dominance behavior - just not dominant over you. I hope that clears up what I was saying. If not, please ask again.
  • Sally Jo Pee'd Help!

    Behavioral Issues 30 Oct 2007, 14:23
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    Another thought on the poop thing…the 100% guaranteed way to get Ruby to poop is to give her exercise. Also, Ruby only goes once a day (in the morning) unless something really excites her (like deer running across the road in front of her or a dog chasing her when we do an evening walk). We have a routine in the morning...first thing after I get up, I take her out...say "Potty Ru", she runs off the step and starts to sniff, I say "potty" a couple more times and she goes. (oh and while she's going, I say "good potty" a few times and follow up with a treat once finished). We have a daylight basement that extends off the porch so there is an overhang that she goes under and will potty no matter how hard it is pouring (takes longer in the rain or when it is windy because of all the noise). After the potty, then I run her on the bike or walk her (walks happen in light to moderate rain) - usually 1 - 2 miles. If I walk her, she sometimes poops on the walk (usually in one spot by a duck pond which is just about the halfway point of the walk). If I run her on the bike, as soon as we are back to the yard, we go in her dog pen, I say "poop Ru" and she starts doing the crazy run/circle thing and poops (again, I say "good poop" while she's going and give a treat to her when finished). I bet if you walked her first and then tried to get her to poop, you might have more success as she will have checked for messages from other dogs :D on her walk and gotten all the new scents from those.