My suggestions & thoughts are based on having both male & female doggies in my life - I’m not an expert on dog behavior modification. My first thought is how great for this little dog that you are taking a chance on giving him a good life and that you’re being so patient with this challenge of acclimating him into your household pack.You said he’s been thoroughly checked by Vet - for urinary issues I assume - with urine tests etc. That’s the first logical step. My second thought is NO! to drugs - especially gabapentin. The only time I’ve used that on a dog is when it was prescribed for post surgery pain relief. Drugging him will only make him sleepy. I hope a Vet wouldn’t prescribe gabapentin for anything other than pain relief & short term use. My third thought is that I would be wrapping a towel around his middle to use as a diaper 100% of the time he’s in the house. From reading your description of the problem it sounds like food is the common theme. He’s marking on your bed where you’ve fed him & he’s marking on the mat where you feed him. Is he guarding his food? Was he starved in his prior situations? I would pick up the food mat & not feed him on your bed anymore. Maybe each dog needs to be fed on their own mat & in their own space? I’d leave only water dishes down for the 3 dogs & wrap a diaper / towel around this guy until the 3 of them figure out who is alpha in their new family.

I don’t think food is the issue, my description may not have been very clear. The marking started on the bed, and feeding there was my attempt to associate his meals with that area in hopes of preventing further marking. This morning was the first time he marked where he eats, on a mat in the kitchen. The female eats on the other side of the kitchen on her own mat, and the other male eats in the dining room. I supervise mealtime to prevent any conflicts.

I used to sew belly bands by the dozens when I was volunteering for rescue. I can make or buy some. All three of them are rescues.

When Cooper was removed from his situation, he was treated for heartworm. He was adopted right off the transport from TX to CT by a family who returned him after two weeks, spent two days in a temp foster, and then I picked him up 4 weeks ago. He was lethargic, coughing, not eating or drinking, and had diarrhea. I took him to the ER and he spent the night, EKG, US, Xrays, IV fluids, bloodwork. Nothing was found, but my regular vet gave him doxycycline and cough tablets and he improved in a couple of days. I’m not sure if any urine tests were done, I’d assume they were but will have to check.

His housetraining is pretty good. He goes out willingly and does his potty, and uses a pad inside if necessary in between, so I’m thinking no problems there. My other male dog had very extreme anxiety when he arrived, and the Vet Behaviorist I took him to gave him prozac and gabapentin. I weaned him off when there was no improvement.

I’ve reached out to a local trainer and can take him there, but I’m waiting to hear back about cost, etc. Not sure this is the way to go.

You’ve certainly tried the logical things. Separating their food areas is really important at this stage. Thinking about the trainer option - a trainer with experience in rehabbing rescues or dogs with behavior problems sounds like a great plan. In my mind that’s different than a person who ’only’ trains dogs for obedience. It sounds like Cooper has had a really hard time so it’s no surprise he’s got some baggage! I wonder if the family that only gave him 2 weeks trial returned him because of inappropriate urination issues? I would absolutely revisit the urine test - might be something like bladder stones. Based on your prior negative or not helpful situation with prozac & gabapentin I wouldn’t put Cooper through being drugged. I don’t see how that would change the reason for marking except make him too sleepy or drugged to do anything. My vote is still diaper, behaviour help & Urine test confirmation. Maybe he needs to be attached to you with a leash while in house so he’s not unsupervised ever & you can stop him when he looks like he’s going to mark anything? Hard to do that but it is a process when trying to get a dog to adjust to many different things - that is - physically attaching them to their human.

thanks. yes, definitely belly band, I'm washing sheets, pillows, and blankets almost daily and have two comforters that I'll probably have to take to a laundromat. ugh. Yeah, I don't need to train him to do agility, I just want him to be a good boy. The trainer I emailed sounds like she is on the same page, just waiting to hear back. Another trainer in my area charges thousands of dollars for training, probably have Cooper scaling 12 foot walls and doing parkour or something.

Cooper Sophie and Pete

Great photo! Sophie looks like queen of the pack since she’s in the middle. I’m hoping @Ninapearl will chime in here with advice for you. I’ve just tagged her here so maybe she’ll see your post. I think she’s in a area hard hit by the current snow & ice though so may be outside with a shovel.

thanks for tagging me! @KW PNW Z8 has given you every piece of advice i would have so i can only echo what she has already said. i wholeheartedly agree with tethering him to you as you go about your daily chores. he must NOT be out of your sight. i know this can be an inconvenience but it doesn't last forever. as i'm sure you already know, any dog MUST be caught in the act, even waiting 10 seconds to address the issue is too long and the dog won't understand what he is being reprimanded for.

i also agree, you need to have his urine tested for a possible infection. although this is low on my list of issues since he isn't full on emptying his bladder in the house, it's still a good idea to rule it out. you may be able to do this by simply catching his first morning pee and getting it to the vet asap. if you can't get to the vet right away, refrigerate the urine until you can but do it as soon as possible. this will avoid a charge for an office visit with your pup so you would only be charged for the urinalysis.

i get where you're coming from, peeing in the house makes us work 100 times harder. i know this so well because i have great danes. the only time it's ever been an issue was when my female had a raging UTI that took 3 courses of 3 different antibiotics over a period of 2 months to finally clear up. i'm telling you, when a dane empties their bladder, you don't just launder stuff, you end up throwing out couches and mattresses!!

wishing you luck with your pup and thank you for taking him in. it does sound like he had an awful life before he landed with you but once you get this problem under control, i bet he'll be a perfect little dog. 💖

thanks. A former neighbor had a Great Dane and used to come back from his walks with a shopping bag. yikes. I’ll stick with the littles and their tootsie rolls.

Thank you Nina for popping in here so quickly! @Joanne - I don’t know if you’ve seen any of Nina’s posts to know that she does have lots of large animal & small dog world experiences in addition to the Great Danes she mentioned here. In your picture - Cooper is the white poodle type on the left of Sophie & not the terrier looking guy on right, correct? I’m asking because I think behavior wise terriers might present more training challenges than some other breeds. I’m basing that only on hearsay not experience. Just checking that it’s the little white color coated guy who is Cooper. They all look so innocent! I think it’s a great sign that they already will snuggle so closely together!

Yes, Cooper is a poodle mix. Sophie is half Chi, half Peke, and Pete is 40% Chi and a bit of Poodle, rat terrier, and super mutt. She was starting to initiate play with him earlier today and he had some serious zoomies. So happy to see him settling in.

that's great!

i've had danes for 19 years. my 2 current danes will be my last. i'll soon be 75, i am riddled with arthritis and some days can be challenging. if/when the time comes, my plan is to go to the shelter and ask for the small dog that's been there the longest. that'll be the one that comes home with me. :)

Just noticed that my username is switched to an old account. not sure why that sometimes happens.

Thanks for explaining that Joanne! I could see that you must also be Saypoint & wondered if it was something about signing in on two different devices. It’s a quirky site glitch that has happened to others with updated usernames.

I used the saypoint account for years, especially when I was very active on the Landscape Design forum.

@Joanne it's been a few days, we'd love an update about how it's going!

@Ninapearl thanks for asking. I’ve been heading off the marking by keeping the bedroom doors shut and not letting him out of my sight when he is in there. I actually take him to the bathroom with me to brush my teeth. I have an appointment in two days with a trainer, maybe she can give me some insight into how to best manage the situation.

I’ve also been vigilant about my female being mean to him, and that’s getting better as well. The trainer suggested that I might bring her along too to assess the guarding. I’m not sure how that will work, as the strange environment may prevent any of their usual behaviors. I should, however, bring Pete, dog number 3, to try to get a handle on his extreme fear of everything, but that’s another post.

I’ll update with any news.

i think it would be best for you to take them one at a time. it would be hard to concentrate on one dog with both of them in unfamiliar surroundings. i'd at least ask the trainer what her thoughts are on this.

something else that hasn't been mentioned is this...

this is a general rule and i have found it to be pretty accurate over the years. i've brought in danes that integrated perfectly fine within a very few days but i've had others that took up to 3-4 months to become 100% comfortable.

Joanne - I’d love to hear what the trainer has to say. Sounds like Sophie is alpha in your pack if she’s still being ”mean” to Cooper. We had a situation like that with 2 female Yorikies. We’d had both since puppies & neither were rescues. They were 1 year apart in age. Our Vet told us that I needed to establish myself as the alpha over the oldest Yorkie who was defiinitely being mean to the younger Yorkie. It was a long process of how to to that.

I like the chart Ninapearl posted. Our current doggie went through those phases while adapting to our home & to my DH & me. She’s not a rescue & was certainly never mistreated. She came to us at 5 years old & is a retired show dog. It really did take more than 3 months for her total personality to come out. If only they could talk to us & tell us what’s going on from their perspective!!

I’ve fostered quite a few dogs in the past, many of them puppy mill survivors, and found that they were very resilient and usually came around fairly quickly with lots of love and patience. It was always so gratifying to see them go off to their forever homes happy and secure.

I’m seeing the trainer tomorrow. I’ve been managing things by preventing opportunities for confrontation. Cooper has claimed the area on top of the sofa back as his favorite place, and Sophie is fine with that because it means she can sit right next to me. I’ve kept the bedroom doors closed to prevent unsupervised access for Cooper, so no marking incidents for a while.

I also made Cooper a spot in the big bed where he’s happy and Sophie can snuggle with me if she wants to. Will update after meeting with trainer.

Pete has been with me for 3.5 years and still hasn’t come around. He was pulled from a hoarder at just under a year old. He was practically feral but submissive with Sophie. He still sometimes won’t come to me for a treat and I have to toss it.

I have to corner him to pick him up but he will snuggle up against me on the couch or in the big bed. He needs to be covered at all times. Plays with Sophie and likes nylabones. He’s my next candidate for the trainer.

A vet behaviorist just put him on medication that didn’t really help so I took him off.

The saypoint post is me Joanne. Ugh

Pete is such a cutie! I wonder if his fear of being picked up has to do with a human hovering over him? In his awful former life maybe that meant abuse? My little Whisper already knew the command ”Pick Up” when she came to us. When I say pick up she comes to me & stands by my side facing the same direction as I am. She’s in the position for me to lean down & pick her up. Very handy that she knew that. Maybe Pete could learn that command & then he’d know what to expect when you say that. Much less threatening for him to be in control by coming to you instead of you having to corner him to be able to pick him up. I do make sure I’m not going to do something Whisper doesn’t like when I use the pick up command. I mean that if I’m going to brush teeth or dremel nails I always go get her. I want to make sure she associates Pick Up with happy results!

I have to say that I can’t imagine using medications to fix behavioral problems unless it’s only a very temporary one to calm the dog that suffers from anxiety or fear. I say this with no credentials or training experience - it’s just my gut reaction. And, maybe that’s exactly the kind of meds the behaviorist had Pete on?