I have a 4 year old St. Bernard (Jackie) who has never once peed in the house since the day he was born. My daughter and son-in-law moved in with their 2 dogs, a 2-yr old small breed mix (Ozzy) and an 8 mo Doxie (Lemmy) in November. Her dogs came over all the time so they all got along just fine. They had a baby in February and all of a sudden Ozzy started acting out intentionally pissing on the baby's things. It is obviously a way of acting out as he was peeing only on the baby's things.
Then he started peeing on other things intentionally basically anything you set down near him. For instance, if I set a laundry basket down to gather clothes he will pee on it. If I take a project outside to work on it he will walk up and pee on it. He also pees on my Saint's dog bed. I wash it and no sooner than I set it down he pees on it. He has been doing this for a while. Ozzy also eats from everyone's bowl except his.
Jackie has a large food stand and doesn't mind the little ones cleaning up the floor of food, but recently Ozzy has been getting up on Jackie's food stand so Jackie will snap at him to get down. The last time Ozzy actually snapped back and all hell broke loose. Now suddenly my Saint has begun to pee around the house as well, but from what I can tell it's always in a place Ozzy has already peed so I can only assume he's marking.
I don't understand why this is all happening now when the changes were all made last year. They weren't even doing this when the Lemmy was being housebroken and still going in the house. It's all happen so much later and all 3 dogs are house broken and the baby is 6 months old. They all get along and play together just fine. So why is this happening now? And how do I stop it?
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I think all of the changes, even if they were last year, have caused this behavior. You are going to have to re-train this dog. You might have to hire a trainer. I would also invest in a crate. Dogs quickly learn that if they want their freedom, they have to go outside to relieve themselves
What a sweet photo! Poor Jackie. It is hard to know what triggers things in those sweet little doggie brains.
Talk to your vet to make sure it isn't something medical first. Things like urinary tract infections, arthritis pain, and teeth/gum issues are just a few of the challenges that can cause behavior changes. We have lived this first hand and it turns a normally perfect pup into a crazy creature over night! Esp. the tooth issues.
Once you rule out something medical, see if your vet can recommend a reasonable and qualified trainer to help.
Be sure everyone in the house is there an onboard with the tips as you all need to keep giving Jackie a consistent message! Consistently is the key to retraining.
Good luck! Let us know how it goes! Prayers for all!! This can be stressful, but can be totally manageable once you know exactly what you are dealing with in the situation!
I second the opinion of seeing the vet pronto. Make sure it's not a health issue first. After that, it sounds like you may have some very anxious dogs that are not handling the changes well. A good obedience trainer can really help with this. Dogs feel better when they know what is expected of them. If they are not crate trained, that is probably your first step.
You have gotten some good advice here. I would also suggest if they are not all neutered, be sure and do that. Even if just one is not neutered it can set the others off.
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