Hello,
I have a three year old male dauschund who is still not potty trained. At one year old he was trained and than we adopted two more dauschunds. It seemed to be not to long after that he began to have more and more accidents. He knows how to go to the bathroom outside, but seems to be spraying more and more inside the house. I'm at my wits end and don't know what to do. I have moved quite a bit in the last three years and was wondering if this could have affected my dog or not. Please help as any advice will be better than none. Thanks, Ann

You can read through the sticky on housebreaking at https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/i...tml#post251809 but I am afraid little there will help. It sounds like it is deliberate, which with a dog, we call it marking. Since it is about claiming territory, I am sure the moves have made it worse. The first step is to neuter the dog if not already. With a 3 year old dog, this will be a tough problem to solve. The dog must accept you as leader.

The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete For more on being top dog, see Establishing and Keeping Alpha Position, Letting your dog know you are the boss

Use closed doors or gates to keep it in the same room as you are, and perhaps as I do, a short chain fastened to the computer desk. If you catch it in the act, give it a sharp ''Ah, ah, ah!'' and take it out. When you can't watch it, crate it.

It is only natural that dog resists its crate at first. What the dog
Wants more than anything else is to be others, you, anyone else in the
Household, and any other pets. In our modern society, even if we are home,
Other things distract us from the attention an uncrated dog must have. The
Only real solution is to crate the dog when you aren't around. The dog may be
Happier in its den than loose in the house. It relaxes, it feels safe in its
Den. It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving
Its self. Dogs that have been crated all along do very well. Many of them
Will rest in their crates even when the door is open. I think the plastic
Ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling. Metal ones can be put
In a corner or covered with something the dog can't pull in and chew. Select
A crate just big enough for the full grown dog to stretch out in.

Leave it some toys. Perhaps a Kong filled with peanut butter. Don't leave
Anything in the crate the dog might chew up. It will do fine without even any
Bedding. You will come home to a safe dog and a house you can enjoy.

A dog that has not been crated since it was little, may take some work.
Start just putting its toys and treats in the crate. Praise it for going
in. Feed it in the crate. This is also an easy way to maintain order at
Feeding time for more than one dog.

The "shut the puppy in a safe room" is a fallacy. Very few houses even have a
Safe room. How many of us have a room with a hard surfaced floor and nothing
Else? Most rooms have electrical cords to chew if nothing else. In addition
To destroying anything a bored puppy finds to chew, it may choke or have
Intestinal blockage from the pieces. I had a friend that left her dog in a
"safe" room. It ate a hole in the floor covering. The safe rooms fail to
Give the dog the comfort of the enclosed space their instinct requires. Nor
Do they restrict activity extending the time the dog can go without relieving
Itself.

The reason that a dog does not urinate in the house, is the very same reason that they do not urinate in a crate.. They have a natural instinct to not deficate or urinate in their den... Me thinks that you are fighting two battles with your Dats.. and the first of which is that you have adopted other dats.. and their could be some territrorial marking going on, as well as with the multiple moves that you described he may need a refresher course on crate training... and positive reinforcement to use the restroom outside..