Cocking His Leg...

[♪♫LMBC♫♪]

My 8 year old male BC has been cocking his leg on everything. We can no longer leave him alone for five minutes without him cocking his leg on something. He never used to do this, at least not to the extent he does now. He used to know not to pee in certain places (such as on the back veranda) and now its like he thinks everything is fair game.

He has not been doing number 2's anywhere he's not supposed to, but he cocks his leg on everything, including his own kennel.

Someone suggested putting black pepper around the places where he does it, but that didn't work. We clean everything to try to remove the smell, but he still does it. I don't know what else to do, we can't be there to watch him 24 hours a day.

[sas]

So to confirm....you're saying that you're 8 year old has only just recently developed this?

Have you moved house recently or had another dog in your yard?

Na, pepper won't work.

[♪♫LMBC♫♪]

Actually yes, my sister's dogs stayed with us for a few days. So this could because of that maybe?

And to clarify, when I say 'only just started' I mean, he always cocked his leg, but never before on our verandah. He always knew he wasn't allowed to pee there. And its gotten to the point where if you leave something outside on the verandah, I can guarantee you that it will get pee'd on.

Dad is convinced that if we desex him, he will stop. I don't think this sounds right though...

[Staranais]

Sorry this is a late reply, didn't see this thread.

I only have one experience with owning an entire male dog, but I can tell you that when I desexed him, the amount of time he spent marking decreased markedly (no pun intended!) He still sometimes likes to mark where other dogs have recently marked, but he doesn't try to mark the garden constantly and randomly like he did in the years before being desexed.

So no guarantees but IMO, your Dad might be on to something. If you don't want to desex, you could consider the contraceptive implant suprelorin, which does pretty much the same thing but is temporary.

However, having said that, I see no reason why you couldn't train the dog not to mark the veranda. Can you restrict his access to it when you're not there to supervise him? Similar principals as housetraining a puppy - don't give the dog a chance to make a mess unless you're there to interrupt/redirect/correct him the instant he starts to lift his leg. My entire male dog never marked in the house after the first few months I owned him, since I supervised his house time till I was sure he had got the message that marking my house was simply unacceptable to me.

[BC]

When my 5 year old dog was desexed the cocking of the leg decreased by 90%. He now only does it when he actually needs to go to the toilet, or occasionally on walks. It did definately work in my case and it was within a couple of weeks, but I have heard that it does not work on all dogs immediately. I think it can take some dogs a little while before the testosterone levels decrease ?? (please correct me if I'm wrong) But it does reduce the need to scent everything.

In your case the change would most likely be becuse the other dog was there so he is prob making sure evrything smells like him again. You may want to think about desexing if it is really becoming a problem and it is an option for you.

[♪♫LMBC♫♪]

Not allowing him access to the verandah is not really an option. he is an outside dog, and it is the only place where he has shade and protection from the wind when its cold.

The only concern I have about desexing is that he is getting old. Would putting him under cause him unneccesary risk at his age? He is 8 years old.

[Muttly]

takes about 6 weeks to flatten out to what it will be. Aside from the benefit of reduced leg cocking, the pee is less stinky (significantly) and his chances of prostate and testicular cancer also reduced.

My boy who is on another thread pissing on dinner bowl used to pee on everything, it was greatly reduced after desexing, still a big marker but not as much. Now I just have to eliminate the dinner bowl episodes.

This sounds like a middle aged male asserting himself after the visitors.

8 is not old for desexing, for your peace of mind you could have blood tests done to check. The vet will be able to advise. I would be much more concerned about cancer rates as an intact male, they are significantly higher

[BC]

Not allowing him access to the verandah is not really an option. he is an outside dog, and it is the only place where he has shade and protection from the wind when its cold.

The only concern I have about desexing is that he is getting old. Would putting him under cause him unneccesary risk at his age? He is 8 years old.

As long as he is fit and healthy it will not be a problem. It's a standard procedure and most dogs are back to normal within a day or 2. And as ARF said, reduced risk of prostate and testicular cancer.