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"My seven-year-old male Doberman has been marking in the house for several years. He usually picks hard surfaces, except when in the bedroom, where he pees alongside my bed. I decided to be a lot tougher with him by punishing him and then putting him in his crate. But it didn&amp;#039;t work. I don&amp;#039;t want to always keep him in a crate, and I would also like to be able to leave him in a room without worrying about him peeing on things. I am at my wit&amp;#039;s end! Can you help me? Have you had him vetted? It could be a low-grade bladder infection, crystals, drinking more than usual, or any number of medical causes. In elderly dogs, the onset of canine Alzheimer&amp;#039;s can cause dogs to lose their housebreaking. Another possibility: Has there been a trauma in the household (death, illness, or someone moving in/out)? Sometimes depression can be at the heart of an issue like this, and in that case you need to seek the advice of a vet/behaviorist; perhaps pharmacological intervention would be a good adjunct to behavior modification. In the case of a traumatic event, sometimes the dog isn&amp;#039;t depressed, but \u2014 because the supervision level has receded due to whatever circumstances \u2014 getting away with something once or twice is a powerful indicator to a dog that his once-forbidden behavior is now okay.  Also, something about your situation makes me think &amp;quot;separation anxiety.&amp;quot; Now before you say, &amp;quot;No way,&amp;quot; consider this: Sometimes, dogs are so stressed when their owners are even just out of the room they develop marking (or defecating!) behavior. The kicker is that dogs that get punished for this type of behavior often do it more (stress becomes a factor), and things go from bad to worse. I have a golden retriever &amp;quot;student&amp;quot; who&amp;#039;s doing something similar. If the owner leaves the gated area for even five minutes, the dog poops on the floor, even if it has just been walked! I&amp;#039;ve come to the conclusion that this dog has separation anxiety, and we&amp;#039;re working on treatment options for him. Listen, I think this is reparable, but you have to do a few things first: 1. Vet check. Also, is he neutered? Please tell me yes! 2. Find a behaviorist/vet to diagnose separation anxiety and to support your independence training program with (temporary) pharmacological intervention. 3. No more punishment! You&amp;#039;re inadvertently making matters worse.  4. Be sure you do a thorough cleaning of all marked surfaces.  With the proper veterinary intervention, an appropriate plan for changing his behavior, and lots and lots of patience, you&amp;#039;ll have all the tools needed to help your Doberman change his ways. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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