Urine marking is a normal, instinctive dog behavior, mostly in males but also sometimes in females.
Dogs do not consider elimination to be an insult. On the contrary, the dog who urine marks may well be stepping up to offer his life if necessary to protect his pack.
If you have a male and one or more female dogs, watch how he urinates along the fence, outside the marks of all the girls. Likely you'll occasionally see him go over and urinate over the spot where she has just urinated or, oops, hasn't quite finished!
People often get small dogs because they want a cleaner house. If easy housetraining and minimal indoor elimination is a priority with you, a tiny male dog is not a good adoption choice.
Like most dog behavior, urine marking has to be taken in context to get some idea of the cause in any given situation. We never know everything about the cause. Dogs are complex, with some behaviors strongly instinctive and some learned.
The intact male, whether or not he has been mated, may have great difficulty refraining from urine marking in the house. He may be so disturbed that he can't even eat.
Probably the single most effective thing you can do to help your dog resist urine marking inside your home is to have your veterinarian neuter him prior to his forming this habit.
Larger male dogs are instinctively inhibited against hurting female dogs and against hurting smaller dogs, as well as being less tempted to urine mark than small males. When adding a second dog to a home with a small female dog, consider the advantages of making that second dog a larger male.
Dogs who are punished in housetraining learn to hide from people to eliminate, which makes training even harder.
Some tiny males will never be able to handle the whole house. Baby gates, closed doors, and playpen arrangements such as exercise pens can be used as lifelong management tools if needed.
Life with a male dog can be great. Housetraining does not have to cost dogs their homes. It's something we need to educate ourselves about, preferably before getting a dog.
