I have two neutered males. One I have had for two years and he was neutered at a few months old and never had an accident in the house. Second dog was rescued three days ago, is three years old, and neutered 10 days ago. In the time I have had him, he has not peed anywhere but outside.

Give your dog enough exercise and outside stimulation and train it regularly and properly and your dog should never mark or pee in the house.

I think the breed and temperament of the dog has something to do with it. Aggressive and assertive breeds may still retain some tendency to mark after being neutered.

My min pin was neutered at five months of age, but when he was nine years old, my other male began having accidents in the house due to kidney and heart problems. The min pin began to mark in the house even though he had been well housebroken since he was a puppy. My other dog died several years ago and the min pin has been fine since unless another male dog comes into our house. Then he begins to mark again. I have two female dogs and he has no problem with them, even though one is a puppy who has occasional accidents. He has always been rather aggressive towards males, except for the one he grew up with, and I think that's why their presence causes a problem.

My son has a male terrier who does the same thing around other males, although he was a rescue and wasn't neutered until he was three years old.

I would say if the dog you're getting is not a terrier or other breed that tends to be dog aggressive or if there won't be other dogs in the house, there probably won't be a problem.

I have owned male dogs all my life. As a child we owned 2 un-neutered male labs, and as an adult I have had 2 neutered male labs. NONE of them ever marked a thing. This may open up a can of worms, but I think this is a little dog thing...........
good luck with your choice :)

We've always had good luck with our dogs. Our previous dog was a Retriever-Terrier mix, male, and the current 2 are male labs, all neutered.
Crate-training might help. Barring illness, most dogs will not soil where they sleep (their "den").
We've found that being consistent with the times we take them out to relieve themselves helps, too. I first take them out at 6 AM during the week, and I'll tell ya, if I don't get up on time on the weekend, they wake me up at 6, give or take 10 minutes.
I don't know what effect neutering has, as all our dogs were alrady neutered when we got them. Unless you're breeding or showing them, of course, neutering is prudent. Likewise, I do no know if gender has anything to do with it.

No real answer to your question as my boy beagle/jack russell mix WILL mark if something is brand new in the house.
I have learned to gradually introduce him to any new decorating object like a new magazine basket on the floor.
But, other than that, he doesn't lift his leg inside. And he is the sweetest, most precious dog I have ever known.

I find the wiener thing gross when it pops out but I love his personality and just ignore it. He has never ever humped anything but he is fixed and very submissive.

I would like a female dog that had his personality.

Neither of my two male dogs marked territory or humped a leg (lol) and they were neutered at the appropriate time. I heard that once a dog starts marking even neutering won't stop it because he's already learned the habit. No idea if there's any truth to that.

I have an unneutered male who was raised by a family who could not handle him. I have no idea how he acted(in the areas of marking/leg humping/etc) as his primary problem was excessive aggression. He has never marked(indoors) after the end of the second month I had him. That was when I totally asserted dominance.

He has never exhibited any other unwanted behavior.

I had two spayed females who humped legs. I had a male neutered poodle mix who humped legs.

None of the four unneutered male guard dogs I have had marked inside or leg humped.

That tells me those behaviors are dependent on the individual dog and the environment, not any time reasons or gender or neuter reason.

My two year old Boston Terrier mix was neutered at a few months old and pees like a girl. I've only seen him lift his leg a few times. However Mr Macho, the standard dachshund I adopted 10 days ago just a few days after he was neutered, lifts his leg at every pole on our two mile walk.

There are other issues associated with the gender of pets, not just marking and humping. I'm thinking things like dominance or submission, ease of housebreaking, eagerness to please etc. What are your thoughts on there being gender differences?

My new dog, Rocky, is 1 to 1.5 and will be neutered next week. He tried to mark the first day in my house, but quickly learned that behavior was not allowed.

My spayed female, humps other dogs she needs to show dominance over. Rocky is submissive to her, and she has yet to hump him ... that I've seen.

I am in the same camp as Sueby53. I also prefer female dogs for the reason that I have an extensive garden and I don't want any marking going on on my plants. I have lost several plants in the front garden because people walking their dogs let them pee on my plants and are killing them. This is just my preference but I also find my female dogs more receptive to small children. We have a golden and we now have a 9 week old yorkie who is a nightmare to potty train.

As an owner of 6 dogs I can truly say that by far female dogs are the best. Once spade they do are not bothered by male dogs, they are more obedient, more family and child caring and affectionate. They are also far less demanding of time. Of course these things come with time and your love and affection to the dog. Of our 6, two are mini Schnauzers one male one female. They are brother and sister and once the stopped the chewing stage they are great. We also rescued 4 puppies over the past 2 years (all now 1 to 1 1/2 yrs old) Lucky a mix ??? female, Boots a doberman rottweiller mix female, Blue a golden spaniel mix male and Tux a black Irish setter male. These dogs are outside on a couple of acres of land. The males are always into something. Fence fighting with other dogs, tearing up plants, digging etc where as the females are at the door or being the best of guards at the gate. Of all when Boots the Doberman Rot mix barks I am concerned! As she is the best watch dog too.

Good luck

Puppies all have unique personalities, whatever their gender. It's best to see a puppy in person before you decide on which to bring home.

As far as housebreaking, your commitment in training your puppy to eliminate outdoors is key. There are many videos and books explaining how to do this.

Of course, neutering and spaying are best for any dog's health, but neutering also lessens a dog's hormonal urges to mark territory with urine. That can make housebreaking easier.

I have always felt spayed female dogs are most family oriented. I also feel neutered male cats make more affectionate pets than female cats. Females are definitely better mousers though!

Right Dominant type males can tend to mark in the house.
I had it with one male. I put him on a short lead and tied him to the couch foot. I slowly lengthened it to where he could get around the entire LR. After awhile of that I took him off the leash and he was AOK after that. He had a large yard to run in so exercise was not the reason he marked. The other male who lived in a separate part of the house never marked. They were both stud dogs.
Small dogs and hounds, with SOME exceptions are harder to housebreak. The pup you get will grow up to have the traits that pro breeders breed for if you bought from a pro person. If you bought from a pet shop, pet farm or backyard breeder than since they practice NO quality control you have NO idea what traits are latent in the genes. You get a pig in a poke. Most pro breeders choose for stable and outgoing personality. ONE growl or snap or bite at a judge and that dog can never be shown again. Still, some breeds can be trained to behave in the ring and still not be friendly to strangers elsewhere. Know thyself equals know thy dog. Temperament problems can come from even 4 generations behind your pup, especially in the more aggressive types. There are no small problems with big dogs. Friendly pups do not always grow up to be friendly adults. Adult personality can easily be very different from puppy personality. If you are adopting I think a grown dog is the better choice as then you are quite sure of what you are going to live with. Personally I always choose an adult if possible, unless it is a really rare breed with few puppies bred and available in the market sense. In the rarer breeds adults are seldom available as they are usually not impulse buys since there is usually a waiting time for a puppy. Impulse buyers usually don't wait. They just buy another breed. Seeing the parents and other family members is a good idea. I would often have 3 or 4 generations living when I was breeding regularly, so buyers could see the dam, granddam and sometimes great granddam. Sometimes grown ups from previous litters out of the pups dam and/or sire. Sometimes sisters of the dam. It all makes for a fuller understanding of the objectives of the breeder and the range of type, size and personality in the bloodline ( which of course most sellers of dogs do not have). A bloodline is the breeding of one person for 7 or more generations. That can lead to distinct qualities that are prominent throughout the line : ie good toplines, heavy muscles, strong movement, deep and wide chests, small ears, dark eyes, and so on. This happens because the breeder chooses what to keep or breed to that have those qualities. THAT makes a real breeder. People who only do random breedings with no intention of aiming for producing correct dogs ought to take up another hobby. They only flood the market with inferior puppies with no benefit to the long term advance of the breed. That is a MINUS for the dogs and the...

All you have to do is look at people and their offspring. You never know what you will get --- good intelligent people can make bad stupid kids and visa-versa. Dogs are the same. As far as I am concerned, the whole thing about 'proper breeding' is a fantasy. You have the same chance of getting a great dog with a mixed breed as a pure-bred dog.

Now, with puppy mills where there is lots of in-breeding, you have a better chance of getting some really bad or really good traits, so let's leave those out of the mix here.

Professional breeding is way over-rated, IMHO.

I have 4 little dogs all fixed. The male Maltese dog never lifts his leg and never marks. The smallest female Maltese dog has a heart murmur so I could not spay her right away and she starting the marking habit right before her 2nd heat. That was when I paid extra for an EKG to spay her as soon as it was safe to do so but by then she had the habit of marking and can lift her little leg as high as any male that I have seen on walks marking. My other two females were spayed before their first heat and they squat and do not mark.

From my experience, each of my "furkidz" has a different personality that is not influenced by their gender so if I ever have no doggies, I will sit on the floor and play with the dogs or puppies I am considering and pick the one that has the personality that I like as well as health.

Not sure whether this is a concern for you, but I do appreciate that my dog (spayed 2 yo female terrier) only pees once when we go for a walk. I think it is harder to train a dog to walk nicely when it has the instinct to mark every 10 feet!