Sir Marks-a-Lot

[Alfreda]

The trouble with garden centers is this:

 

whether they are "inside" (no marking) or "outside" (marking is o.k.) is debatable. Adolescent Otto reviews the evidence:

 

You go in through doors and are under a roof. There are shelves full of "household" items. BUT: there are also lots of plants at leg-lift height, and strawbales, and bags of stuff that smell like bark, and soil, and fertilizer. AND there are even occasional lingering scents of the marks of other dogs! Ah-HA! Otto has proof: garden centers *are* mark-able.

 

We went to a garden center recently because a friend told us there was a dog fair there and an evaluator was giving the CGC test. My mission: intelligence gathering: find out what we need to work on. The CGC test was given outside in the nursery area, and we passed (yay!), but almost didn't because Otto started to lift his leg on a potted tree. The witness let it slide because I moved him along and he didn't actually pee.

 

Do you have techniques/rules you use about where/when to mark?

 

[urge to herd]

I keep a keen eye on my own Mr. Marker whenever we're walking someplace like a garden center, someone's beautifully landscaped yard, or in someone's home. Gibbs responds well to a quiet 'no' or 'leave it'. I also make sure he's taken a recent whizz or two before we go into those situations.

 

On our usual walking paths/neighborhoods my rule is that if it looks well tended, (flower beds along a path) or likely to be touched by human hands, (bicycles, other wheeled toys, tools or vehicles, etc.) he doesn't get to lift a leg.

 

The scads of overgrown juniper, privet and other very hardy stuff that grows here I don't interfere.

 

Ruth and Gibbs

[Alfreda]

Thanks urge-to-herd, I am working on being more pro-active and restrictive about this. Your criteria seems sensible! ;-)

 

...was trying to find the humor in the mundane... I was happy that my guy did well at the busy, distracting dog fair, and that he passed the CGC -even tho the standards aren't that high, there was a lot going on! :-)

 

There was a guy in a dog mascot costume (Goofy?). As we walked inside, he stood up suddenly, and Otto alarm-barked, so we went around another way. Later, we approached him from a different angle. I left Otto about 10 ft away, went to the dog mascot and called Otto over. He was like: wag wag, yeah, o.k. a person in a big pillow with eyes on it. duh. No big deal. :-)

 

The other day, I saw Otto use marking strategically. On an off-leash trail we were approaching a male visla with a bright tennis ball in his mouth. Otto quickly marked on the nearest shrub and gestured with his body: "hey buddy: check it out." The visla dropped the ball to sniff and over-mark, and Otto snuck in and filched the forgotten ball, which he then brought to me. It was so smooth.

 

Cracked me up :-)

[kingfisher7151]

I didn't respond because I don't have a ton of answers, but I can certainly commiserate! I have a pain in the butt marker myself.

 

If it's any comfort, it was REALLY bad around adolescence, maybe 8 months to 14 months. But then he really toned it down. He was awful, he got so sneaky by the end, or he'd just pee and walk since he knew he'd get yelled at. He also was horribly sniffy. But now he's much more reasonable, he only gets corrected for marking excessively or on inappropriate things occasionally. And by inappropriate, I mostly mean hay bales or other outside items at horse shows. Except for the time he peed on kids' toys left out in the arena dirt he never was THAT bad.

 

But I just stayed very firm about no marking on leash. Not everyone has that criteria, but it was mine and I stuck to my guns. I still watch him like a hawk when I take him to new places, especially in feed stores or some place indoors where other dogs have marked. He wasn't allowed anywhere near walls, poles, trash cans, or anything for quite some time. Once he was more managable we started doing heelwork and impulse control exercises.

 

But there was a fair amount of "waiting it out" involved!