why is my 19 month old rottie now hiking his leg & peeing in my house?

we bought a male rottie when he was 4 months old; it took about 2 wks & a strict schedule to housebreak him, it was like having a baby again.

he's been out of his cage at night at about 5 months. no problems. until now, females come along & the humping begins, & the past week he hikes his leg, anywhere & pees in my house.

why, how can i stop this, there goes replacing my rugs yet.






Hi
This type of urination isn't a housebreaking problem, but a sexual/territorial one. It's very normal, and absolutely instinctive to a maturing male dog.

Your pup is an adolescent male and I would guess that he is probably not neutered because this type of behavior is less likely in a neutered dog. However, even neutered males can mark their territory in this way from time to time.

This behavior is an instinctive way for your dog to tell other males that this is HIS territory, and he's in charge here. It's something you want to discourage with a firm "NO" whenever he does it, and you'll need to be very consistent about correcting him every single time. It's a very instinctive reaction for him though and therefore difficult for him to stop because he doesn't even think about it, it comes naturally.

If he's not been neutered, doing so should help to reduce the frequency of this habit, but once a pup has started to do 'mark' or 'spray' neutering won't necessarily stop it. It's more effective if done early and the pup never starts to behave this way.

There are also 'belly bands' that you can buy (sort of like doggie diapers) that wrap around the pups middle and rear and absorb the urine when it's sprayed. This will protect your furniture and rugs and although it won't stop the behavior by itself, combined with constant corrections it will minimize damage while your pup learns that this behavior isn't acceptable.

Hope this helps some. Best of luck with your pup.