Urine

It's important to first distinguish the difference between urine-marking behavior and house soiling because the solutions differ for these two behaviors. Cats generally mark with urine on vertical surfaces.

Marking behavior is not a house-soiling problem and both Male and Female dogs can display marking behaviors. To resolve the issue, you need to address the underlying reason for your dog's need to mark. Your dog may be urine-marking for a variety of reasons. Here we discuss some of the causes and how you can resolve them.

Remember that you and your new dog need some time to learn each other’s signals and routines. Even if he was housetrained in his previous home, if you don’t recognize his “bathroom” signal, which may be nothing more than sniffing or staring at you, you might miss his request to go out, causing him to eliminate indoors. Additionally, scents and odors from other pets in the new home may stimulate some initial urine marking.

First, it is important to understand the difference between spraying (urine marking) and indiscriminate urination. A cat who is not using the litter box, who is urinating outside of the box, is usually motivated by a different set of circumstances. Urination of this kind is found in the form of a puddle on a horizontal surface. A cat who is spraying will usually urine-mark a vertical surface. This cat's urine will be running down a door or the side of a chair.