# Marking on people



## Melissa_DT (Jan 9, 2013)

I have a just over 9 month old intact male and have started experiencing some major marking issues and an seeking some advice. I have searched the forum on this but didn't see anything about what to do when they mark on people.

Today I had Bentley off leash at a park and he was running around doing his thing until he for some unknown reason ran up to a stranger and lifted his leg and peed on her!! This is the first time he has ever marked on someone. He has marked in the house a couple times, but mostly he just marks on bushes and trees outside. It was SOO embarrassing to say the least. Why would he do that?? Given his increasing age I start to get a lot of negative comments from people that I should have him neutered and get a less than supportive reply when I explain I'm waiting until he has had a chance to mature. Even my dog trainer has repeatedly suggest I neuter to correct behaviours before they "become habit" (he has also started humping other dogs- also embarrassing). 

How should I handle this? I feel like seeking advise outside of this forum just leads to the "cut the nuts" comments as if it's a quick fix.


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## Rudy (Oct 12, 2012)

I would try for age 2 for the ball chopper 

100 reasons why and the health and growth of the mate

We support Nuts 

Rudy's are of Legend Cobs 

mine are corn" TMI why  :

Rudy never lifts on folks but about 4 days ago he did pee on a pimp out Jag. :

The guy went a tad froggy

I told him I can hand clean your tire and wheels?

Or you can visit a near by care center ;D

I cleaned his tire with pride 

Rudy on Birds 3 months old


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I would get a different trainer.
A sideways tug on the leash will make a dog on three legs be off balance. With the command Leave it said at the same time.
My male was intact until 3 years old, and only tried to mark a person one time. I yanked him sideways and he almost when to the ground. He never tried it again.


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Basic obedience never failed us. Although, this is our first intact male we never had any trouble with marking or aggression. 
Our dog will not mark because he knows I am the one who marks 
EVERYTHING first ;D ... unless it is a bush or a fire hydrant, LOL

Answer is basic obedience, IMO.


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## abatt (Jul 10, 2012)

Btw, our 15 month old pup is neutered, but he still humps other dogs. Neutering did not change the behavior.


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## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

Miles marked on people and dogs. He no longer marks people, he does lift his leg to pee though, and he is neutered now.... but I think it was more an adolescent phase because his overall behavior has improved once he hit 18 months. 

During his people marking phase his recall was also terrible and he was not enjoyable to dine with at restaurants because he was so fearful. We did a solid 3-4 months of daily training and he is so good now. I attribute the improvements to the training, the neutering at 14 months just happened to coincide. Haven't hear of neutering improving a dog's recall


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## Melissa_DT (Jan 9, 2013)

Thanks for the replies everyone. Sounds like it's time to put him back on leash until his behaviour improves and go back to basics. 

Milesmom- he is also terrible with recall now all of a sudden. He was doing so well before and has reverted back to pretending he doesn't hear my command. I think this is the packages results of him entering his adolescence!

It's just tough to handle all the criticism I get for leaving him intact. I get the "looks" and comments when people see he is not neutered. I know people think that it would be the solution to his behaviour but I know that neutering him won't be the quick fix and that I would regret it if I did it early and nothing changed. 

Luckily I have found an agility training class that allows intact males and it will hopefully help to get him better at focusing on my commands and at the same time give him some good brain and body exercise! We started it last night and so far he did pretty well!


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## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

I totally understand. 

I am a bit ashamed to admit that part of the reason we didn't wait the full 18 months is from social pressure :-[ We did 14 which is better than it could have been. But Miles was getting attacked from dogs and they owners would blame me bc he was not neutered (not at dog parks, this happened everywhere), any form of bad behavior was blamed on him being intact, we would get lectured when we were out from walks and runs.... it was exhausting and so irritating. Even our friends would constantly comment on it and Miles could never catch a break. 

I hope we have learned more now and we will be tougher with the public when waiting to neuter Chase. 

I was apprehensive... but we got an E collar and it really helped us with his recall. I can walk Miles anywhere off lead now.


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

There's no point in paying any attention to the criticism of those without the facts. Every time it happens just imagine that they're trying to convince you the earth is the center of the universe. Explaining all the research as to why it's best to wait will be no more effective than when Copernicus explained that the earth orbits the sun.


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## marathonman (Jan 15, 2013)

When my boy was around 8 months, I was out for a walk and we were waiting at a stoplight to cross. The little bugger nailed me on my leg (my fault for not paying attention). It must have just been instinct. We were standing in grass and I was the only vertical thing near. There were a couple other close calls around that time, but it seems like he may have grown out of it (or the corrections we gave worked). We still keep a close eye on him when he's on and off lead just to be sure.


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## stefanessa (May 12, 2013)

Melissa_DT- I'm going through this exact same thing with my 10 month old Jax. 

It has happened a total of 3 times now. The first 2 times he marked on people who were holding their dogs' poo bags and I assumed he tried to mark on the poo bags and hit the people's legs by accident. However, today at the dog park he peed on a mans leg for absolutely no reason. I was soooo embarrassed.

Has your dog's marking behaviour improved since your post? Or if you have had him neutered have you noticed an improvement? 

This behaviour only started last week and I am already frustrated


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## Melissa_DT (Jan 9, 2013)

Well he hasn't marked on a person since then, however he definitely still marks when he is somewhere new, or if I bring him into a pet store I have to watch him very closely because there's been a few times he's marked on something there...

He is still intact (he's about 16 months now) but will be getting neutered in May. So at this point, it's anyone's guess if that marking behaviour will stop or not! Basically I've just learned the signs that show up right before he does it and quickly swoop in and correct and distract as fast as I can. Usually I can catch it in time


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