We begin this week’s “RUFF TAILS” featuring a beautiful German Shepherd named Jax.
Jax is our handsome German Shepherd. We brought him into our family when he was 10 weeks old, he is now 2 years old. He is very protective of his family and is always on guard. He loves playing hide and seek with his humans as well as searching for treats we hide throughout the yard for him to find. He loves his long walks as well as playing fetch with his ball.
Jax has been a lot of work, but it is so rewarding to teach him new things and to have him continue to learn new tricks. Such a brilliant breed.
The biggest issue we are having is his reactivity to other dogs. Something we are working on with Paul to help correct.
Welcome to Doggie Dialogue
“Marking” is natural for dogs, but very annoying for us, the owners, especially inside our home.
Marking is not the same as your K9 relieving itself. Marking is when your K9 leaves small amounts of urine on items, such as your couch, a corner of the room, or carpet, etc…. This is your dog staking their claim “this is mine” or leaving a “calling card”.
Most people believe marking happens with male adolescence dogs as they mature. However, female dogs can “urine mark” as well. Dogs mark for many reasons, but the 2 most common reasons are anxiety and to show “ownership” on what they consider their territory.
We recommend ruling out bladder infection or urinary tract infections with your veterinarian first and foremost.
Having your K9 spayed or neutered will help to eliminate marking by 50 to 60% in most dogs.
If you have added a new dog recently, especially if there is another dog already present, the new dog my try to put their territorial “stamp” on anything NEW. Try to place “new” items up off the floor and out of reach from your new dog.
We recommend when your new dog comes home to help prevent “marking” keep a very close eye on them and do not leave them unsupervised. If you catch them “marking” make a loud noise to startle them and take them outside immediately and then reward them for correct behaviour.
If you are unable to watch your dog, then we recommend to crate train them and safely place them into their dog crate so they cannot mark. Most K9’s will not mark inside their crate.
Another idea you can try is to block access, therefore your K9 will not be able to continuously go back to their “favourite” spot to mark.
We recommend to deep clean the spot by using an enzymatic pet stain remover to completely remove the stain and smell, as this may help prevent your K9 from going back to the same spot.
Should you need any assistance with this behaviour, please feel free to reach out to Paul any time.
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