A: We have a 4 year old neutered male Cocker who was housebroken. My in-laws used to live next door and then they moved. Our dog, Toby, formerly had the run of their yard and ours, now he only has our yard -- and now only on a leash.
The new neighbor has a female Chow and a male German Shepherd, both of which pretty much stay in their yard, are not aggressive and seem to be trying to ignore Toby. If Toby gets loose, he will immediately run over to the neighbor's dogs and get right in their face and growl and bark. The last time he did this, 1 of the dogs took a big chomp out of Toby's hindquarters (and our wallet for a big vet bill).
Toby always had the run of the house but now we have to keep him in our sight or put him in the utility room, because he has begun marking the furniture all over the house and barking loud and long whenever he sees the dogs out the window. What do we do? Thanks very much.
Q: So there is no fence? Building a fence could help this enormously. It sounds like he is so worried about the other dogs that he's completely freaking out. If he is on a tie-out when outdoors, that can increase his defensiveness, too--any tight leash does this. You wouldn't have to fence a large area, just enough space around your backdoor area that he could relieve himself. My fence is only 30'x30'.
Can you cover the window so he can't see the dogs out there, or baby-gate off that room, so he can't go in there to look at the dogs and to mark? Whenever he barks at the other dogs, call him to you immediately. Praise him for coming, and then give him some sort of reward, depending on what he likes. Then release him, and if he goes back to barking, repeat the whole thing. Don't get mad, just keep interrupting his barking by having him come to you. You might have to do it 7 times in a row at first, but soon you'll only have to call him once.
He feels his territory has been invaded by these dogs. He's both scared of them and bravely trying to defend against them. A fence would help give him a new concept of his own territory. If his marks are kept to within that fence--not the rest of your yard, or the other yard he used to be able to mark--hopefully he will regain his confidence, and stop feeling the need to mark in the house.
Be sure to treat the spots in the house properly too, so scent does not draw him back to use them again. The proper treatment is a bacterial enzyme odor eliminator product such as Nature's Miracle. White vinegar will work, too, but only if used while the spot is still wet. Either product must soak very deeply into the carpet and pad.
I hope you can work through this problem. I really think a fence is the key.