Marking Behavior + Asking For Door

by Gaby
(NYC)

My Australian Shepherd puppy is 5 months old, and he has been great so far. He is crate trained and when out of the crate he now asks for the door. He had only two accidents in the last 6 weeks I would say, and both times it was my fault when I ignored him when he went to the door.

I have two questions now:

1. He asks for the door every 1-2 hours, but we know that in his crate he can hold it for about 8 hours. When he goes outside after 1-2 hours he just wants to go on a walk (usually pulling towards the dog run). He doesn't even pee or poop! Will this behavior stop by itself, or do I have to do something about it? So far I have been firm on going back inside when he doesn't pee or poop outside (after a few minutes of sniffing). I don't know if I should ignore him when he asks for the door and it's been only an hour since he last went, however I'm scared he will then pee on the floor!

2. He started humping other dogs at the dog run, and so we anticipate him starting to mark his territory. We see some other dogs in the neighborhood who mark just about anything - posts, walls, fences, etc. I don't want my dog to do that for many reasons, but I'm wondering if it's right to stop him from marking. Do your male dogs mark, and if not did you do anything about it to stop them at the beginning?

Also FYI - we are planning on neutering him at around 6 months since that's when the vet said it should be done. Will neutering stop him from marking?

Thanks! :)

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