Schnauzer Urinating Inappropriately

[Ravie]

I have a male 2½ year old Miniature Schnauzer, by the name of Kaiser (pronounced Ky-zer). I have owned him since he was 9 weeks old. We lived in country NSW until he was 1 year old then we moved to the suburbs in TAS. I toilet trained him from the age of 9 weeks til he stopped having accidents in the house when he was about 5 months old. When we moved to TAS he had a few accidents in the new house, only urine, and it only happened about 5 or so times in 5 months.

We then moved to another place where he lived completely outside for 11 months, so no accidents could have happened. One month ago we moved again, into a house with a cat and he now lives inside and is taken on a daily walk & is let out into a small paved backyard mornings & evenings to do his business.

The cat (who he’s now friends with) gave him a lot of trouble for the first week or two, chasing him and such. The first week of living there he had no accidents at all but then one night Kaiser urinated whilst possibly running from the cat, we didn't see what happened but didn't know why he was running and urinating so we figured the cat had chased him.

Since then he's urinated in the house over 10 times (despite having been taken out shortly prior to the incidents). The first two times we thought it was as a result of an interaction with the cat, however, on the third occasion the cat was no where near, but he didn’t lift his leg and ended up getting urine on himself. The fourth time, he randomly went into my flat mate’s room and urinated.

Following these occurrences I took him to the vet, who concluded that there was nothing wrong with his urine sample.

One day when I had not walked him, I was standing in the kitchen and he lifted his leg and urinated on me.

He's a neat little guard dog, no one comes to our door without us knowing. He LOVES other animals and can play for hours and hours, but he's not so fond of people, he loves me to death and a few select people but strangers are not welcome in our house according to him.

When we had a male visitor, Kaiser was very wary and afraid of him, and urinated out of fear during a playful interaction. After this, he returned and attempted to urinate on the guest.

More recently, he urinated on me again when I returned home very early in the morning very drunk. He had also urinated in the house, despite being taken out before I’d gone out 5 hours earlier.

I have been trying to do the Triangle of Temptation with him, but don’t appear to be getting any results.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

[Erny]

Wow! That's a lot of moves (I feel for you - it's a lot of work!) and quite often when we move, we don't pay attention to whether or not we are exhibiting our leadership attributes. I think we tend to take it for granted that the dog will understand we're the same leaders as we were back in the old place. But quite often, we're really busy with what we are doing when we are in the throws of moving house (eg. packing and upacking - which are also things that are not 'routine' to the dog, so in themselves can be unsettling) and we might leave the dog to its own devices to a certain extent (if not completely) when we arrive at our new destination. This can weaken our leadership status as perceived by our dog/s - assuming that we had "leadership" status in the first place.

It sounds very much to me as if, with every move you made, Kaiser became more and more uncertain of your heirarchy status and has taken it upon himself to fit the bill (as any dog WILL do when it perceives a leadership void). Not to mention the fact that one moment he's part of your indoor pack and then things change to him being left outside .... and then back in again. I don't think Kaiser knows where he fits in and is trying to establish his position - in this case, 'leader'. Not that he necessarily wants to be there, but if he doesn't think you're doing the job, he's got no choice other than to fill this role.

I'd recommend you begin acting as Kaiser's leader - in ways that Kaiser will recognise. What you should do, how and when, might be best described, explained and demonstrated by a behaviourist - however for one, following the NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free) program will be a good start. A search of this forum will bring up tonnes of references to it, but basically it is about Kaiser not receiving anything Kaiser likes from you for free.

Other things like not on the beds or couches and through doorways after you (not before) as part of the program will also help.

You might also like to reflect on how much exercise Kaiser receives with you on a daily basis as well as what training he receives.

ETA: I'm sorry - I re-read your post and realise you mention about Kaiser being fearful of unfamiliar people. I would certainly recommend you consult a behaviourist who will be able to confirm your diagnosis and help you develop a program to work on building his confidence in this area.

Edited July 20, 2007 by Erny

[Ravie]

Thankyou very much for taking the time to reply!

i'll look into talking to a behaviourist.

[Erny]

You're welcome Ravie - will look forward to hearing how you get on.

In the meantime, be sure to avoid using substances containing ammonia when you clean up after Kaiser - otherwise Kaiser is likely to be attracted back to those areas.

Also, deny Kaiser free access to the house - keep him where you can monitor him. When you see him begin behaviour that indicates he's thinking about urinating inside, a firm "NO" or "aagh" and send him outside.