Marking After We Have Company Over

[Guest Scoobmom]

We've had Rudy and Randy for only about 2 weeks now and I'm hoping this one particular behavior of Randy's is just him settling in and will soon go away! I've not dealt with this before. They're both doing great, very well-adjusted, they seem to like us and all. Randy is a bit shy - he's already fine with us, snuggles with us, lays with us, etc. But he's scared when people come over. In the two weeks they've been with us, we've had company over 4 times (no more than 3 people at a time and the people actually haven't stayed more than a few minutes) and Randy has peed (marked really) in the house after each time. When people come in, he bark bark barks. He eventually goes to his bed and settles down and even will sleep and seem comfortable. But then the next morning, we find that he has marked somewhere (usually near the couch where the person was sitting). Yesterday we had 2 people in the backyard and this morning he kept sniffing the chairs outside and then just out of nowhere this morning he marked a different couch inside in a room where the people didn't even spend any time! Other than these marking episodes, he's been perfect. We don't crate them and they're free to leave our bedroom at night, but they really don't.

 

So what do I do? Will this behavior eventually subside? Or do we have to break out the crate and start "housetraining" all over? I hate to make Rudy go through anything since he doesn't do any of this behavior. Also, they're both still wearing belly bands when we're not home and all night. This is getting really frustrating and I'm not sure if I just grin and bear it for a while - or never invite people over anymore! aaarrgh

 

Here's the culprit. Why can't he keep all that pee outside??

 

 

[Guest Rhea]

How are you greeting people when they come over? Are these people who are able to just let themselves in, or do you go to the door to let them in? Dane actually growled when the Merry Maids let themselves in, precisely because I had not greeted them and 'welcomed' them into our space. If you've just left the door open for your guests, and they're letting themselves in, that could be a factor.If a dog doesn't see that you actually invited them inside, physically, they might feel threatened or that their space has been violated by some strange interlopers. (Remember, they don't understand our language. Shouting "It's open!" at the front door does not equate to an invitation in their mind.) If they see you open the door and let someone in, they can relax. "Ah, I see that my master has invited these people inside, they are okay."

[a_daerr]

I read an article about something similar in Dog Fancy. The dog was so stressed when company came over, she would be searching around the house for days on end to make sure the people *really* left. The owner said she'd be lurking around furniture trying to make sure people weren't going to pop out and scare her. The concensus was that the dog lacked confidence to deal with the presence of other people in the house. So the suggestion was to do A LOT of confidence building exercises and socialization. I think the same would apply to your boy. A basic obedience class would probably be really beneficial.

[Guest Jacks_Human]

Jack has done this twice, both times with people he did not like (from those incidents I discovered he's a greyt judge of character, but that's another story!). If Randy feels like the guests are intruding on his space, he might be marking to re-assert his smell and reclaim his 'personal bubble'. When I first got Jack and he had his many, many phobias, I made him a safe nest in a low-traffic corner of the house where he could retreat when guests came. Perhaps you can demarcate a space for Randy as he adjusts to having strangers in his new home?