This is a page to share with you all what we are going through right now; what we are learning, and what we are struggling through, in hopes that we can inspire some of you to research new ways to work through the issues in your own lives.  

New Anti Marking Protocol For Adult Male Dogs

Posted by Amanda Beasley on Tuesday, November 9, 2010 Under: Dog Training
Our new foster dog is such a sweetie, but we figured out very quickly that there was a little problem that needed immediate attention: he was peeing on EVERYTHING. He literally did not want to play with Riley, he just wanted to walk around and find more things to mark. I was nervous to bring him in the house, but I knew I had to do it sometime. I waited until I thought that surely he had gotten everything out, and then took him inside on leash. I followed him around like a hawk, waiting for him to lift his leg...and sure enough, he did. Thankfully it was not on the carpet or rug, so no biggie to clean up. We had one other accident when we were going out first thing the next morning, I was running to the door, expecting him to follow, but did he? NO! He went straight away to something he must have been watching all night and wanting to lift his leg on, and of course peed on it. So now not only is he not trust worthy to walk around the house not on leash, he cannot even walk from one side of the house to the oher on leash and not mark.

So I thought to myself; "is is really surprising that he marks in the house, when when he is outside, all he does is mark? It was probably one of his only moments of satisfaction when he was in the shelter, to mark on top of some other dog's scent. So how are we going to overcome this issue? By doing some radical dog training that is not going to be easy, but have a really big payoff in the end, I hope. We decided that he was never again going to be allowed to pee on anything other than grass. This meant that he could only be in his crate, or being highly supervised on leash, at all times. When he is outside, he must be kept on a long lead and walked/ played with in the grass only areas (no trees, bushes, or anything else he could mark).  

Day one of  AMP (anti-marking protocol)
am: would not urinate
noon: would not urinate
afternoon: one 1/2 second stream
evening: one 1 second stream
late: one 2 second stream

Day two of AMP
am: one 2 second stream
noon: one 3 second stream
afternoon: one 4 second stream
early evening: one 5 second stream!
Once he had a good urination, I was able to take him inside for some "bed training", rather than having to just put him back in his crate.

Bed Training
Bed training is when you train the dog to stay in the bed beside you, even if you are moving around. Use bed training when you cannot trust a dog without supervision, but you have other things to do than just sit there and watch the dog. 
I spent about 20min cleaning the kitchen, with max in the bed at my feet when I was at the sink, and about 2ft away when I was putting the dishes in the dish washer. I kept ahold of the leash at first, to pull him back in the bed should he start to get back, and also had treats to reward him for staying in the bed. By the end of that 20 minutes, max was staying in his bed no matter where I walked around in the kitchen, even when I bent down to put something in the bottom shelf. I then moved into the living room to watch a movie with the rest of the family, and Max was able to join us in his bed beside me.

Day 3 of AMP
Max is now urinating in good 5 sec streams, and then wanting to run back to the house when he is finished.

More updates on the AMP coming soon!

In : Dog Training 


Tags: marking 
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