[bjh]

All my males have always marked, some worst than other. It is weird how good they can be when no females are in heat but as soon as there is a female in heat in the house the leg hiking starts and the barking, whining and pacing begins. It is not just the males that mark. Intact females are just as bad. I have some that go around peeing everywhere when they are in heat, otherwise they are very good about using the pee pads.

Also, potting training has nothing to do with them becoming fearful to mate. Some males will become fearful to mate when they start humping at a young age and are continually corrected and told 'no'. Sometimes the female will harshly reprimand a young male for humping them and that can also make the male fearful of females. It is not that unusual for a young male to hump a female not in heat or even hump a toy and get an erection with a knot. For these reasons it is best to have a separate area for males and females when the females are in heat.

Also, you cannot tell if a male is breeding quality at 12 weeks. You have to wait until they are older to determine this. For example, if the pup turned out with a bad rear or bad knees you would not want to use him in a breeding program.