My labrador, Diesel, is 2.5 years old and was completely house trained up until one year ago. We even have a 'dog flap' in the door so he can go in and out of the garden if he needs to. He hasn't been castrated.

One year ago we had new leather settees delivered and he urinates (and sometimes worse) around the settees almost every day. He only does this when we are not in the room or have gone out. We have reprimanded him as soon as we notice what he has done and he seems to know it is wrong but we have never actually caught him in the act of doing it. The fact that he does it when we are not around seems to show that he knows it is wrong.

We have another dog, Dudley, a jack russell/cocker spaniel cross who is also 2.5 years old (we got them at the same time to be company for each other) and they get on well together although Dudley does seem to be the boss.

Would it help if we had the labrador castrated or have we left it too late? Any advice on how to stop this anti social behaviour would be much appreciated.

Many thanks! Rossi

He is just marking his territory and to him it's not an anti social behavior at all.
Did you say u bought leather seats? Perhaps there is a smell on it that triggers this behavior. Have u tried spraying it with another scent or washing it with some kind of detergent etc.. You dog obviously feels threatened by the signals coming from it, and that would explain his response.

As you have found, reprimanding him after the fact doesn't work. Since he has plenty of time when you aren't around, you never will catch him in the act. Even if you did, it still wouldn't teach him not to do it when you aren't around. I am sure there is some scent associated with the leather that is setting him off. Dogs' noses are too sensitive for masking it with anything to hide it.

How do you know it is him and not the other dog or both? I would get them both castrated. There is no reason not to for all but carefully selected breeding stock. It can make a dramatic difference in these marking cases. Anybody that knows much about dogs would insist on it in this case. They will no longer go berserk every time a female up wind comes in season. It will also reduce their chances of cancer later in life.

You also need to give him better leadership. 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

You may have to give up on the flap and crate them. It is only natural that a puppy resists its crate at first. What the puppy
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 puppy 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

Rossi, please listen to labman. Neutering usually does help with the marking. I want to stress that scolding him when you have not caught him in the act is quite confusing to a dog and absolutely the wrong thing to do. All it teaches him is that when you come home, you are angry and he will become fearful of you. You may think he is making the connection with the urine because we all want to think our dogs are smart, but believe me, he isn't making the connection. Dogs live in, and for, the moment. Immediately following his urination, he has already forgotten where he has done it. What you are doing is training him to be unsure of you and your intentions toward him. You are going to create a very unstable dog if you continue this, so please stop. Just walk in, ignore the dogs, and clean up the mess. As labman points out, are you positive that it is that one dog and not the other if you haven't caught him in the act? I would suggest if you cannot be around to monitor the situation, you go back to square one and take labman's suggestion of crating the dogs. Working on your leadership is also a very important he has brought up. If for whatever reason you cannot crate them, and they are fine in all other areas of the house while you are out, you need to make the living room completely off limits to the dogs when you are not home. Buy and install baby gates if you cannot close doors. Or get something that you can completely block the doorways with that you can move and store easily, such as a room divider or screen.