[Alanna817]

Hi!
I have a little mini long haired dapple boy named Frankie it’s about a year and half old. Recently in past few months he’s being “marking” our dining room chairs, couch etc and I wanted to reach out and see if neutering is an option (which I would rather not do)
I had a dachshund before him and although he never did this he did have the typical dachshund attitude and would go in certain areas of the house if he was mad or being stubborn.
We don’t currently have any other animals in our home so I’m not sure why he’d be marking. My husband wants to neuter him in hopes that’ll stop the behavior but I wanted to reach out to the dachshund community and see what other people did or suggest!

 

[LeoRose]

Neutering probably won't help. Instead, treat it like a housetraining issue, and go back to square one of crating when you can't supervise, frequent trips outside, and a firm interruption when you see him starting to think about it and then a quick hustle outside.

 

[Alanna817]

Neutering probably won't help. Instead, treat it like a housetraining issue, and go back to square one of crating when you can't supervise, frequent trips outside, and a firm interruption when you see him starting to think about it and then a quick hustle outside.

that’s what I was thinking but he’ll just lift his leg and pee just a little. So it’s 100% marking but I don’t know why..maybe because he just started to lift his leg? It’s not that he has to really go he’ll just lift his leg pee a drop then walk away

 

[RonE]

Dachshunds can be notoriously difficult to house-train. It's possible he can smell your previous dachshund, so be sure and thoroughly clean-up with a good enzymatic cleaner. A blacklight can be helpful (though a little alarming) for finding those sometimes invisible spots.

Franklin, our male mix, has never marked at home but has to wear a "diaper" at doggy daycare, where he is overwhelmed by the smells of other markers.

 

[Alanna817]

There hasn’t been any other animal ever in our apartment we just moved here when we got home. I know they can be difficult is the nice word lol. I just don’t think neutering would help bc or their personality so I was hoping someone with similar issue could let me know what they’ve done

 

[DaySleepers]

Marking indoors may or may not be a testosterone driven behavior, but even if it is, neutering doesn't reliably fix it. Treating it like a housebreaking problem by having more frequent potty breaks, being really consistent with rewarding for pottying in appropriate spots - this may mean going out with him so you can reward immediately when he finishes, even if you normally just let him outside on his own - and interrupting marking behavior as LeoRose suggested will be your best bet for teaching him that marking is an outside-only sport. My own adolescent (~1.5 years now) has had to go back to potty training basics a couple times for backsliding, but he's very reliable now so hang in there!

 

[RonE]

Neutering is definitely not the answer to marking. It only prevents unwanted pregnancies (which is no small thing in itself.) The markers that I've had experience with were all neutered, and they tended to mark where other males (even non-marking males) were present or had been present.

 

[LeoRose]

My worst marker ever is a spayed bitch.... At least she confines herself to only marking outside.