Need help!

[lilboxerbaby]

Not sure where to put this... I also put it under rescue but I think it may be better under this topic?
So our neighbor came over today (he has a boxer and a couple little dogs) and said there was a boxer down at the vet near us that they found and are treating for heart worms but cannot keep. So we went and checked him out and decided we'd take him home because we do not want him to go to the pound. The only thing is that we already have 2 boxers. So far, they are all getting along very well. We told the vet we'd take him for now to see if he gets along with our boxers and in our home and the vet said we can bring him back if he does not fit it. He's doing great BUT he's not neutered and he is marking up our house!!!!! He's figuring out the doggie door but he doesn't go out to pee... he marks our house and it's driving me to where I don't want to keep him. He is such a good dog, very well behaved (but doesn't know any commands like sit, which can be taught). He's also trying to hump our dogs (boy and girl) but then again my male tries to hump him too??? Is this a dominance thing? What should we do? I'd hate to have to bring him back but we don't want him peeing all over our house. We will be getting him fixed as soon as he's done with heart worm treatment and cleared by the vet to do so (since the treatments can cause emboli and heart/lung issues). He said other than the heart worms this dog is healthy, his x-rays, blood work, teeth, all look great. Will he stop marking soon? Will he stop humping when he's fixed? The vet said he's about 2-3 years old. We kind of think he may not be a full breed boxer as he's shorter/squattier than ours, but he sure is cute and so sweet.

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

The marking may or may not stop once he's neutered, it helps but once they start doing it neutering may not elminate it entirely. I had a foster that was neutered but marked inside and out constantly. It was about catching him in the act (same as peeing in the house) and letting him know that was not okay to do. As with potty training it takes time. By the time he left my house for his forever home he was about 85% better. Crating when you cannot watch him and 100% watching him when he is out (until he can be trusted) is about all you can do.

On the humping yes it's dominance. My neutered GSD will sometimes do that to my male Boxer. I shake a soda can that has 5-6 pennies in it and tell him no and he stops. He doesn't do it very often but it's dominance related, so as with anything else you just have to let him know that that is not okay behavior by you and he will learn over time.

Everything is a work in progress and both habits will take a lot of watchfulness on your end and just general time in the long run. But both can definitely be curbed. They may not be eliminated 100% but you could get to a decent point where things can not be so stressful for sure.

Good luck!

 

[TwoDogs]

Marking can be a displacement behavior due to anxiety, and humping can simply be a fixed action pattern resulting from excitement or general arousal. The point I'm trying to make is that this dog is being forced to very quickly learn to deal with, get used to, and figure out the expectations of your home, your dogs, and you. For anyone to automatically assume that he is try to exert "dominance" over you or the dogs, is rediculous. His actions may be his way of testing some social boundaries but they are likely his attempts to learn how things work in this new situation with these new people and dogs.

If it were my new dog, he would not have free roam of the house, nor would he have the opportunity of uncontrolled or unsupervised interaction with my dogs or family members. It would be my job to directly facilitate all this new dog's interactions in my home for a good long while. I recommend utilizing a crate or a series of baby gates to rotate which dogs are allowed where. This allows you to supervise the new dog at all times, but more importantly, it allows you to control the rate at which he is immersed in your household. If you make his transition a slower, more controlled one where he isn't faced with making all the decisions himself all at once, you will likely find that he doesn't engage in the behaviors nearly as much.

One additional thought: Do you have a history on this dog at all? Could you be dealing with a non-housebroken dog rather than a marking dog?

 

[lilboxerbaby]

Thanks to both of you for the reply! I do not have any history on this poor pup except that he was found by the vet's family and he took him to work to check him out. He did not have any tags or chip for ID. The vet found a lady who agreed to take him in (one of the assistants at the office's friends) that lady brought him home for a couple days, then brought him back. All his blood work, teeth, and x-rays look great, all except the heart worms which he started treating him for. We are to bring him back at the beginning of Jan for his last 2 treatments. He's doing much better today. My dogs are accepting him well and he accepts them. My husband and I have been keeping an eye on him completely and taking him out to pee, even in the night as if we were potty training a puppy. He uses the doggie door on his own too but we did have one accident in the house today when I was cooking. He hasn't tried humping today as my dogs do not allow him to do so. He is somewhat passive so if they growl at him he backs off and they definitely growl when he tries to hump. I think he's finding his place in the family. He and my other male are play buddies for sure, they play non-stop! He's learning how to sit and he's even starting to learn his new name (Harley). However, now I have another question... he licks my dogs to death! Like their backs, faces, legs, and genitals. What's this about? Is he just begging for affection and showing he loves them or does that mean something totally different in dog? haha