Stop Dog Marking

When your dog marks around the house, it can become a very frustrating thing. Fortunately, there are many products that have proven to be effective in helping you stop dog marking.

It is important that you only use sprays that are meant to clean up dog urine, otherwise you may be doing more damage than you realize. By using the common household cleaners that you have lying about, you might be encouraging your dog to mark in that spot again.

The first step to take when you want to stop dog marking is to locate all the urine stains. This is a very important aspect because if you accidentally leave a spot behind, they will continue trying to leave their scent there.

After you have found all the stains, clean them up with an odor eliminating formula that specifically says it will get rid of the pheromones. It is important to do this even to old stains. Odor Destroyer is a particularly good product for this.

Once you have thoroughly cleaned up all the urine stains, you can proceed with the next step to stop dog marking. Go back through to all the spots that you just cleaned and spray them with something that repels dogs from marking in that particular place.

Repellant sprays, combined with the initial cleaning formula, will generally do the trick to keep a dog from going back to the same spot. Unfortunately, this will only prevent him from marking in already established places.

If you still find him urinating throughout the house, you will have to take further action. Sometimes, behavior modification to stop dog marking is necessary. This involves making it so your dog cannot free roam around the house anymore.

Try sectioning off a portion of the kitchen or laundry room- preferably somewhere that has a hard floor. Baby gates work well for this. It’s important that you confine him in an area that you are frequently around because in order to stop dog marking, you have to be able to catch him in the act of doing it.

When you see him start to lift his leg, take and make a startling noise. Clapping is often effective for this, as is saying, “No,” in a firm voice. Regardless of what noise you choose to use, make sure that you remain consistent.

Most dogs learn very quickly that marking inside the house is not a desired behavior, although for some it may take several weeks of training to see any results.

Rather than having to fix it later, it’s recommended to just be pro-active about the situation. One of your best bets to avoid having to try to stop dog marking after it has become a habit is to invest in neutering your dog from the beginning.

It may seem expensive to you now, but after you spend hundreds of dollars replacing ruined rugs and furniture you’ll wish you had made the appointment. Trying to stop an already established behavior can be a very difficult task to undertake.