*Mini Aussie* Sudden Marking?

[Lil Misfit]

I'm curious if anyone has experienced their dog suddenly marking new stuff in the house? Recently we got rid of our old couches and bought new ones, and in my bedroom I set up a new booth. My mini Aussie potty trained very quickly and I thought we were past that phase, but now it seems he's peed on the new couch and my booth. I've never seen him pee on these things but he's the only possible culprit. He is 17mos old and intact but I've never seen him mark anything in the house before. He also doesn't really tell me he needs to go outside, he doesn't scratch, bark, whine or walk to the door, he just stays glued to me all day and goes out whenever the other little dogs go out.
I have a belly band and will probably use that from this point on and I will hang a bell from the door and teach an outside signal. It's just a very confusing situation for me as my marking males have always marked and my house trained males have never marked something out of nowhere. Do males sometimes mark new things or should I consider him a marker and keep the bands on forever?

 

[GennyB]

Any signs of a UTI? If there's a clean bill of health I would start fresh with potty training. Take him out and praise when he goes. You may need to tether him to you just so you don't miss something.
And of course clean the area where he has gone inside with an enzyme cleaner like Nature's Mircle to make sure you got all of the smell.

 

[JanS]

It is sort of odd to start marking at that age if he hasn't before. Has there been a female dog in heat in the neighborhood? I also wonder if there was some sort of scent on your new furniture that triggered it.
I remember when we built this house that our GSP marked as soon as we moved in. He only did it the one time and I can only assume it was because of all of the outside smells as it was being built.

 

[Ravenbird]

Marking and needing to pee are two entirely different things. If he's completely potty trained and needs to pee he will try to let you know somehow. If he is marking territory he will not ask you first, he'll just go do it, and probably actually try to be discreet about it.

 

[MyBuddy]

I also wonder if there was some sort of scent on your new furniture that triggered it

Me too. I remember taking a piece of exercise equipment from my sister's house. She had it in her basement with her dogs. God knows if they marked it too. But I'll never forget Buddy marking it! He was fairly young. Under 2 years for sure. As soon as I saw that he was marking it I knew it was because of her dogs. I got rid of it right away LOL and that was the only thing he ever marked in the house.

 

[Lil Misfit]

Update: he's worn the bands for a while but then I just quit putting them on because he never peed in one and for the past several months he hasn't marked anything. A couple newer pieces were moved into the house but he didn't pay attention to them, I think the big thing for him is the other-dog smell, he's quick to notice if I've interacted with another dog and those pieces of furniture were from dog owners so he was probably "fixing" the smell
I'll probably band him whenever I put something new in the house just to be safe.

 

[JanS]

I'm glad things have improved!