You walk your dog and he comes home and hikes on the corner of the couch.
Cause
This is more an attitude problem than a housebreaking one. What he is doing is marking your house as his territory. This little emperor needs a reality check.
Less frequently, the leg lifter is an insecure dog in a new situation - such as a recent rescue. But either way, the treatment is essentially the same.
How Hard is this Problem to Resolve?
5 Paws
Tools You'll Need
- One Neutered Male Dog - Not optional. If you want this problem to stop, you need to neuter your dog, regardless of his age.
- Patience
- Perseverance
- Belly band/Scarf
- Crate (If he lifts his leg in his wire crate, change to a plastic crate with more solid sides.)
- Lead and collar
- Odor Neutralizer
- Plastic Sheeting Tape. Apply plastic sheeting (or tin foil) on favorite spots to prevent further damage.
- An Eagle Eye
Diet/Water
Feed and water as usual.
Confinement
Unless he is on lead with you (or supervised with a bellyband on), he should be crated during the retraining period. Part of the solution is simply stopping the behavior from happening.
Many dogs will lift their legs through the bars of a wire crate, so for that reason we recommend using a plastic airline type crate.
Supervision
When you are home, keep him on lead with you. Not only will this control his habit but it also puts you instantly and easily in a leadership position.
Use a bellyband or tie a scarf around him. This will stop the behavior in its tracks. However, without neutering and retraining, you have just prevented the problem; you have not changed the attitude that caused it.
Schedule
Nothing special, as long as the dog is getting walked four times a day or has access to his papers.
Corrections
Emotional or physical corrections when a dog lifts are not helpful. (If it did, he'd have stopped by now, right?) Yelling, scolding, spanking etc, will not stop him from lifting. What they will do is teach him to lift out of your sight - not what you want.
Common Mistakes
Spanking, yelling, rubbing his face in it will only teach him to lift out of sight. It may also encourage aggression.
Further Advice
Since this is behavior is usually based on an attitude problem you must change his attitude first than the behavior will be easier to change. Until then, attacking the behavior is useless.
Furniture and bed rights are revoked
You quite literally need to lower his opinion of himself and raise yours, keeping him on the floor will help do just that.
Demanding your attention stops
Nose nudging, pawing and intense stares are now met with a "down" command. You are not his love slave.
Constant attention ends today
Ten minutes of attention an hour is plenty. This includes looking at and casually speaking to the dog. Ignore him, it works wonders.
This is a lot of change so be sure to up his exercise and give him plenty of praise when he obeys you. Life has to be some fun.