my 2 1/2 year old male has started to pee everywhere since the arrival of our new female puppy

by carmel
(ireland)

we have recently become the proud owners of a 12 week old female rottweiler puppy, our older (3yr) complete male has began peeing everywhere indoors since her arrival. they get on very well otherwise, sharing beds etc..

In the mornings there is an absolute flood in the utility room (where they sleep)including the bedding, prior to her arrival he was fully housetrained. i do not want to spay either of them as i hope to breed one litter of puppies first, any ideas on how to get over this problem?









Hi Carmel
It's most likely that this isn't a housetraining problem, but rather that your male is 'spraying' or 'marking'. Now that there is a new dog in the house he is probably feeling the instinct to make sure she knows that this is HIS home, and the marking is his way of making this clear.

It's also possible he's feeling jealous or upset (if he's been an 'only child' up until now that wouldn't be unusual), and some of the urinating is just a relapse or regression due to stress/anxiety - however at 2 1/2 years old this is more unlikely.

IF both your dogs are show quality dogs, with excellent pedigrees and health-certified parents, and you intend to breed them then spaying/neutering isn't what you want to do right now. However, if they're not being shown or fit these criteria, it's best not to breed them at all, there are plenty of puppies in the world!

Spaying/neutering doesn't just prevent reproduction, but also protects against all sorts of reproductive-order conditions and diseases. Unless there are excellent reasons not to have these procedures done I would recommend them. However, neutering an adult male dog won't necessarily stop the 'marking' he's doing now, the most effective way to do that is to neuter the dog before he's sexually mature.

If you're certain that you don't want to neuter your dog, then you could try the 'belly bands' that you can find in many major pet stores. They're sort of like doggie-diapers and they will catch and absorb the urine released during his spraying. This will protect your home and belongings, but won't actually cure the problem. You'll also need to correct him with a firm "NO" whenever you see him lift his leg to spray and it may take quite some time for him to understand what you want.

This behavior may naturally improve as he becomes used to the new addition as well, so combined with the belly-bands and appropriate corrections, hopefully it will pass given time.

Both your Rotties look gorgeous and I wish you the best of luck with them.