Boy Dog Behavior On Dog Agility Course

You think you have done everything right, neutered at an early age, crate trained, house broke, leash trained and on and on. Then one day your precious little boy figures out how to lift his leg. And while many dog owners could care less, it is a different matter when your little boy has to learn there is a time and a place for marking and the agility course is not it.

We poised the question to you earlier on how to avoid this situation and got some really great ideas on how to be sure your blossoming stud steers clear of this social fupah.

Sabrina suggested:

Teach your dog not to mark when off the course. Be consistent. When he lefts his leg, say “no mark” each time, with leash correction. When it’s time and okay to potty, ok to mark, slack leash, let him go. Make sure he’s had plenty of time to pee before entering agility area. Transfer same procedure to course. If he mark’s use a pee cleanser such a simple green, repeating no mark. He’ll get it fairly quickly. Most people clean up “marks” in agility area so this problem doesn’t get out of hand. It’s agility courtesy.

Mango Momma shared:

Both of them (my dogs) have let loose on the tunnel. For some reason that seems to be the most appealing bit of apparatus. However, neither did it during an actual run, but either when I was walking the course with them or listening to my trainer post run. Both cases in which I was not actively working them.

Note there is a big difference between marking and pee’ing, right? My boys will “mark” even when they are empty. Personally, I don’t see the need to curtail this as long as they learn appropriate marking spots. Make the agility course off limits by going back to initial housebreaking rules for marking on the course. No! Bad! Whatever. I’ve been in classes where a dog will pee and one of my boys goes up to it and gets that look on his face and I just tell him “NO! Not here!” and he clamps right up.

And don’t think this is just a male dog problem, there are many female dogs that feel the need to cover old scents with their own mark.

Michelle commented:

I have no suggestions for getting them to stop, but I just wanted to say that I have one of those female dogs who marks. We got her at 2 years old (spayed at that time) and she always found and peed over places other dogs had peed on before. But then in the past year or so she started lifting her leg to pee. Now she does that regularly, especially if she wants to mark a tree.

She has not ever even looked to mark in agility class. I think the excitement and fun and focusing aspects of it have kept her away from even contemplating it.

If you have any helpful advice for others with “marking” dogs, please feel free to add your advice in the comments section below. It is good to know we are not alone and a fresh idea may just be the answer someone needs to fix an issue like this.