Cutter wrote on Apr 12, 2017, 14:23:
Well as someone who's had several dogs, and just about everyone I know has had them or still does, I've NEVER heard of this problem from any of them. I've NEVER heard of it at all in fact. The beauty of learned behavior is it can be unlearned. It's called operant conditioning. Sounds like you got bad advice. Seek elsewhere.

Here's the thing though, you aren't the center of the universe. There are a whole suite of things that happen all of the time regardless of your presence or awareness. Instead of pretending like things can't happen just because you haven't seen them occur, perhaps you should educate yourself on the subject.

I dated a woman who bred retrievers and sometimes the males will just mark the house regardless. The females wear a diaper for obvious reasons and the males often needed them too when they were acting out territorial/mating behavior. A male will often assert himself through marking as well and if there is uncertainty (moves, change of role, etc) this stuff manifests due to anxiety. You can't fix all animal behavioral problems with rewards and reinforcement by the way. Doggie diapers are often used in transition cycles of reinforcement by the way.