Submissive Urination

[fisheral87]

I have a ten month old Golden Retriever/Australian Cattle dog that we purchase from the shelter. We have him potty trained fairly well at this point but he still pees when we come home or when someone comes to visit. Even when I have him sit and stay before I will pet him as soon as I touch him he pees.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Al

[TheFewTheProud]

Good luck with that. Try to ignore him when you first get home and have him come up to you and get all his excitment out. Dont pet him. Let him do his thing for awhile before you pet him. That is the only thing that has worked with my dog. I also will take him outside to go to the bathroom when I get home.

[singleshot12]

You must scare the piss outa him He is only ten months old but if it continues much longer you got problems. Goldens tend to be very sensitive and I won't get another one just for that reason

[ghosthunter]

I would also get him around a lot ore people.

[dallygirl]

There is a bit of a difference between excited urination and submissive urination.  As he is only 10 months old, he probably has been doing this for quite some time and it may be the reason why he ended up in the shelter in the first place - (just taking a guess here...)   Most puppies who have "excited" urination outgrow with time but if it is a submissive issue, then you will have a bit more work cut out for you.   We had a Australian Shepard female who had the "excited" version of this annoying ailment...then she started doing it again when she was about 3 years old after suffering a shoulder injury and was laid up for several months.

Here is what worked for us in either case:

Don't talk to them in high pitched "sweetie pie" voices.  You or anyone else in the household including visitors.  Keep verbal volume low.

Don't punish him for peeing.  Ignore it.  Hard to do but necessary.  If he pees, get him outside and then clean up the mess.   Don't try to reassure him either by using a sweetie pie voice telling him it's ok or anything like that either.  That will reinforce what he is doing...

Don't hover over him in a dominant posture for anything - training, feeding, letting him out of the crate, play time etc.  Get down to his level. 

If he is crated in the house, don't  go to the crate right away when you get home.  Let him settle a bit and be patient.   Then take him outside right away to do his business.  Also, don't talk to him!  Just go get him quietly & take him outside.  After he has done his business, then give him high fives and be excited. 
 
Get him out and about around people, new situations.  Don't overwhelm him but gradually introduce him to the world to build up his confidence. 

When you train, make it fun and give him opportunities to build his confidence.  End on a good note, praise and then quiet time.

Ask visitors to not acknowledge him or talk to him until he sits and is quiet.  (In addition to not talking to him like a baby...)

Hope he works his way out of this stage for you.  Good luck! 

[vandeman17]

Our puppy had a similar problem and she still has a few issues but not as bad as it was. We are hoping she grows out of it but we will see as she is only 8 months old. Like others have said, what helped us was to try and limit her excitement chances until after she was able to get out and pee. I would try having only one person greet him when you get home and do it in very calm manner and only after giving him a bit to settle down. Ours will still pee a bit if she is overwhelmed with a bunch of people and attention but she is pretty good if it is just one on one.

[Kola16]

They can't pee when they are sitting, so before a guest comes in, make the dog sit. And what others have said, kind of ignore the dog when walking into the house. It works

[fisheral87]

They can't pee when they are sitting

Not sure this is true.

It is really only when we come home, he does not do it all the time when he is excited. Fairly sure it is submissive.

I have introduced him to what I consider to be a lot in the time we have had him.

We will just stick to being calm when coming home.

Thanks.

[KFhunter]

They can't pee when they are sitting, so before a guest comes in, make the dog sit. And what others have said, kind of ignore the dog when walking into the house. It works

I also heard a skunk can't spray if you hold it's tail with back feet off the ground

[bearpaw]

I think the dog is scared of humans because someone has abused him, be his best friend and over time he will learn to not be afraid of you. If you need to punish him let a training collar do the punishment then praise him when he comes to you after being stimulated, that way you aren't reinforcing his fear of people. 

[SpringerFan]

My 4 year old Springer used to be that way. He just got too excited. It was not submissive urination.

When he was younger I would just walk in the house and kind of ignore him. Said hi. Went about my business.

Prior to that I would get him to wound up because I was so excited to see him.

Just relax. Say hey. Walk away. Then go play in the yard for a bit.