I have a Rat terrier who we love and adore and is a huge part of our family. A couple years ago we bought a couch from a friend who had cats. He started marking (he is neutered) the couch. We had them cleaned. Over the past 2 years he has pretty much marked the whole house. I have pulled carpets out of the kids room. He has gone in and marked again. I am at the end of my rope and need to get rid of him. I can not afford to keep pulling out carpets and getting couches cleaned. I have tried to give him to people. No one wants a dog with this habit. Any ideas? I have read the posts and tried most everything. My parents won't dog sit for us anymore because he marked their furniture. Any ideas on how to go about giving him away without giving him to the pound. We are heart broken and are not taking this matter lightly. We truly just need to find a good home for him. We live in AZ.

Have you thought about seeing a behaviourist? I don't have any tips on how to give him away, but maybe a behaviourist could help you out with the marking situation. Have you talked to your vet? A lot of times vets can give you great tips on to handle issues like that. It definily sounds like a behavioural issue to me, but just on the off chance have you had him to the vet for a physical to rule out anything medical?

I'm sorry you are in that sitation, I hope you can get some help for him!

You live in Arizona, make him an outdoor dog.:)

If everything has failed, maybe you need to up your punishments.

Remote trainers are a wonderful slap upside the head when the dog is out of range of you being able to correct the problem as its happening.

I would highly advise you to seek assitance from a professional trainer who has worked with remote trainers. Remote trainers (Zapper collars) are only abusive when used incorrectly.

I work with hunting dogs. Most hunters will not neuter their males. But I can guarantee you those hunting dogs will never mark a bush, poll or anything else. Why? One trainer said it very clearly while working with a young, very full of himself, intact male... These dogs don't have time to mark their territory while they are working for me. That dog wore a remote trainer. He only marked his territory twice before he learned within 15 minutes that its not acceptable.

I know that if my dogs continued to pee in my house over the span of 2 years I would be getting tired of it too. And I would definitely purchase a remote trainer. And I would set him up to fail... and I would send in the calvery when he decided to lift his leg and mark in my house. Give him a consequence that he will remember. The key to the consequence is to catch him in the act.

Don't give up on your pooch. His behaviors are totally trainable. Just depends on how you want to do it.