We had 2 years without incident. Now the dog will go outside to do his business and just this morning, came right in and lifted his leg on an object in the house and peed. What would cause this shift and how do you train him out of it?
He is neutered and the objects are not new. No major patterns have been changed that I could identify causing me to wonder what might prompt this. Thanks for the answers thus far!
Also, he is a Chihuahua/Terrier Mix.




4 Responses to “2 years post house broken, why is my dog now lifting his leg in the house?”

  1. kadiss17

    He is marking his territory and challenging your authority. You must reprimand him immediately after this behavior ( if you wait too long, then there will be no association in the dog’s mind between his peeing and your reprimand). Reprimand him and put him outside. When he pees outside, encourage him with praise.

    It’s all about reward and punishment. The key is to catch him at it. Punishment must follow three rules, it must be immediate, severe ( do not beat your dog, though), and consistent. Dogs understand instant cause and effect, not prolonged, drawn out grudge holding. When he pees outside, good things happen. When he pees inside, bad things happen.

  2. Weimaraner Mom

    That’s a "marking" behavior. Is this object new? Has it just been recently brought into the house or have you had it for years? If it’s new and it has different smells on it your dog might feel the need to mark this object and make it his.

    What breed is your dog? I know that male Chihuahua’s are terrible for doing stuff like this and it is very difficult to "stop this behavior" if your male isn’t fixed then nows the time to get him done before he gets used to this habit.

  3. Divapom

    If he is not nuetered, he is just reaching his sexual maturity and marking his territory. This is common in unfixed male dogs. Sometimes in fixed males that were nuetered late. In the dogs eyes it is not the same as a "normal" pee, It is Marking his area.
    If he is not fixed, fix him. You will have to go back to house breaking routine and retrain him to not mark.

  4. Anti-vaccine mom

    Sometimes this can happen if they aren’t fixed or marking their territory if your in a new place. Also I had an issue with this after introducing a new animal to our home. It can be behavioral.

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