# Submissive urinating, when will it stop?



## Stacey Granberry (Jan 27, 2017)

My female golden is 10 months old. She has had a habit of urinating when we go to pet her, or if we tell her "no" if she's in trouble, or she will just urinate in her kennel.

We give her extra time outside before she eats, a good 20 minutes, but then she will come in to eat and start peeing when I tell her to "sit" for her food.

It's constant. There's no UTI. She just lets her entire bladder out without a second thought. We've told her no a million times but she doesn't seem to get it.

Any thoughts?


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## WI12345 (Dec 31, 2016)

Stacey Granberry said:


> My female golden is 10 months old. She has had a habit of urinating when we go to pet her, or if we tell her "no" if she's in trouble, or she will just urinate in her kennel.
> 
> We give her extra time outside before she eats, a good 20 minutes, but then she will come in to eat and start peeing when I tell her to "sit" for her food.
> 
> ...


Our male golden used to "sprinkle" when he would get excited. He did it till he got to be around 10 years old. If my husband was out of town I would always make sure to bring the dog outside when my husband pulled in the driveway, because as soon as my husband came near him he would pee without even knowing it. He also would do that if someone came in the front door. He never emptied his bladder, but just peed enough to make a mess. I wish I had an answer for you. All I can do is empathize. Hopefully yours will grow out of it. The hard part for us was that he had no idea he was even doing it. He could go all day without going outside if he had to.


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## Stacey Granberry (Jan 27, 2017)

WI12345 said:


> Our male golden used to "sprinkle" when he would get excited. He did it till he got to be around 10 years old. If my husband was out of town I would always make sure to bring the dog outside when my husband pulled in the driveway, because as soon as my husband came near him he would pee without even knowing it. He also would do that if someone came in the front door. He never emptied his bladder, but just peed enough to make a mess. I wish I had an answer for you. All I can do is empathize. Hopefully yours will grow out of it. The hard part for us was that he had no idea he was even doing it. He could go all day without going outside if he had to.


She seems to pee a lot more when my husband yells or comes around because he is loud. He will be really upset about something else and Akila thinks she's in trouble and will start peeing. She seems to pee more when he pets her, not so much me.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

Submissive peeing has more to do with anxiety or the feeling of being overwhelmed. Truth is from your post she sounds terrified.

Maybe you could work on building her self esteem and building her confidence. IMHO you should never raise your voice to a puppy and "no" should be used sparingly. Reward the good times and try to ignore the bad.

If you have a good training facility, not petsmart but a good training group they could help you learn how to work with your pup with better results. It also might help to actually walk her on a leash before bringing her in, this way you can see that her bladder is empty. Not all pups understand being left in the yard is their time to do their business, this is a learned skill.. like potty training children. If class isn't possible at least google positive reinforcement training. Give her a chance to learn what you do want vs. being corrected for what you don't want.

Hope things improve for her.


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

Submissive (or excitement) peeing is not under a dog's control. Your girl is telling you that she is feeling scared, unsure, 'threatened' by what is happening, it would be very helpful to her if you stopped telling her 'No', and take a softer approach ie: lowered voices, moving a bit slower, finding non-threatening (from her perspective) ways of encouraging physical contact, encouraging her to come to you, instead of reaching, or approaching her, in your interactions with her. In dogs 'submissive peeing' is the ultimate 'Don't hurt me, I didn't mean to upset you.' signal. When we yell, get upset, angry, our dogs do not know that we are not upset with them, so we need to be aware that they assume that we are upset with them and they try to appease us - lowered body posture, peeing, turning on their backs. 

Take the time to try to understand what life is like through your dog's eyes, how she is perceiving her world right now.

Ways to help her. Reward based training methods, focus on confidence building, avoid using 'corrections'/punishment. Being aware of how you make contact with her, moving slowly, petting, scratching under the chin, instead of reaching over and petting on the head or shoulders. Allowing her to choose to approach and rewarding her for doing it, when you approach her understand that the 'human' approach - eye contact, moving directly towards the dog, bending forward, reaching for the dog, can be perceived as 'threatening' especially for a timid , anxious dog.

Consider getting/reading the book: On Talking Terms with Dogs - by Turid Rugaas, it can help you to better understand your dog's signals, what her body language is telling you about how she is feeling and how to respond appropriately to her.


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

Charliethree said:


> Submissive (or excitement) peeing is not under a dog's control. Your girl is telling you that she is feeling scared, unsure, 'threatened' by what is happening, it would be very helpful to her if you stopped telling her 'No', and take a softer approach ie: lowered voices, moving a bit slower, finding non-threatening (from her perspective) ways of encouraging physical contact, encouraging her to come to you, instead of reaching, or approaching her, in your interactions with her. In dogs 'submissive peeing' is the ultimate 'Don't hurt me, I didn't mean to upset you.' signal. When we yell, get upset, angry, our dogs do not know that we are not upset with them, so we need to be aware that they assume that we are upset with them and they try to appease us - lowered body posture, peeing, turning on their backs.
> 
> Take the time to try to understand what life is like through your dog's eyes, how she is perceiving her world right now.
> 
> ...


This is spot on. The more you yell at an anxious dog for submissive peeing, the worse it will get. 

I had a very anxious dog many years ago, and the following system worked well for me, to such an extent that I've always used it with every dog I've owned since:
Try eliminating the word "no" from your dog-related vocabulary, since it's clearly making your pup anxious. Choose a new word or verbal cue to use instead of "no". I use "ah-ah" (said gently, in an upbeat tone) to signal something I don't like, and I follow it up immediately with a request for the behaviour I DO want. For example, if my dog brings a stick into the house: "ah-ah, drop it". If he gets onto the couch when I don't want him there: "ah-ah, down". If he jumps up at me: "ah-ah, sit". With this method, you're signalling to the dog that you don't like what he's doing, but more importantly, you're telling him what you DO want. The problem with yelling "no" is that the dog doesn't know what you want. I'd be anxious too, if someone kept telling me "no" without any indication as to what I should be doing instead.

Good luck!


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

I'd consider asking your husband to temper his voice. Voice has a huge impact on animals. When I am correctly my dogs I lower my voice and make it very firm. If I'm loud also, my dogs know they better pay attention. But they also know what I will do next because they have history with me. Sounds like your husband doesn't connect well with your dog and your dog doesn't have any idea why your husband is upset and doesn't know what he will do. I'd ask him to take a step back, lower his voice, and calm himself. I'd say he's more of the problem than your dog.

Sometimes submissive urination never goes away. Since your dog has been fearful of your husband for such a large part of her puppyhood, it may never be completely eliminated. Essentially your husband has imprinted this on her.

As a side note, many dogs submissively pee when they are happy or excited. Like when they see someone they really like and they haven't seen that person in a long time. That is a completely different reason for submissive urination.


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## WI12345 (Dec 31, 2016)

Alaska7133 said:


> I'd consider asking your husband to temper his voice. Voice has a huge impact on animals. When I am correctly my dogs I lower my voice and make it very firm. If I'm loud also, my dogs know they better pay attention. But they also know what I will do next because they have history with me. Sounds like your husband doesn't connect well with your dog and your dog doesn't have any idea why your husband is upset and doesn't know what he will do. I'd ask him to take a step back, lower his voice, and calm himself. I'd say he's more of the problem than your dog.
> 
> Sometimes submissive urination never goes away. Since your dog has been fearful of your husband for such a large part of her puppyhood, it may never be completely eliminated. Essentially your husband has imprinted this on her.
> 
> As a side note, many dogs submissively pee when they are happy or excited. Like when they see someone they really like and they haven't seen that person in a long time. That is a completely different reason for submissive urination.



Exactly! That was our dog. He peed when he was so happy and excited that he couldn't contain himself!


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## Kalhayd (May 4, 2016)

Charliethree said:


> Submissive (or excitement) peeing is not under a dog's control. Your girl is telling you that she is feeling scared, unsure, 'threatened' by what is happening, it would be very helpful to her if you stopped telling her 'No', and take a softer approach ie: lowered voices, moving a bit slower, finding non-threatening (from her perspective) ways of encouraging physical contact, encouraging her to come to you, instead of reaching, or approaching her, in your interactions with her. In dogs 'submissive peeing' is the ultimate 'Don't hurt me, I didn't mean to upset you.' signal. When we yell, get upset, angry, our dogs do not know that we are not upset with them, so we need to be aware that they assume that we are upset with them and they try to appease us - lowered body posture, peeing, turning on their backs.
> 
> Take the time to try to understand what life is like through your dog's eyes, how she is perceiving her world right now.
> 
> ...




This is amazing advice!


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## Stacey Granberry (Jan 27, 2017)

Akila seems to pee for both reasons. When I get home if I talk to her excitedly she instantly starts squatting, so I have to completely ignore her and motion with my hands to get her to go outside to use the bathroom.

If you go to pet her she will get overly excited and pee as well.

The main problem is my husband though as he is doing the yelling, not so much myself. I keep telling him to lower his voice and that she cannot handle it. He does not seem to understand no matter how many times I've tried to explain myself. It's completely frustrating.

Thank you all for your replies and insight. It was very helpful.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

Totally understand, I had one like that myself. You can't change other people, they have to be ready to change. But you can help your pup, just means you need to work doubly hard. Just work on building her trust in you.

Don't just put her out in the yard. She needs to know she is doing something right when she does her business. Go with her.
Walking on a leash will help reduce her stress and empty her bladder. Do it often, even if it's just 10 minutes at a time.
Work at spending more time saying yes so she can learn what you want from her and feel good about what she does right.
Find a class to help you. Usually a 6 wk course of positive training will help you learn how to communicate with her better. 
Google some clicker training youtube videos. She is confused and feels like everything she does is wrong. 
Lots of cuddles when she is doing ANYTHING right... finishing her dinner, going potty when you take her out on a leash, laying quietly and being good, anything!

Once you start to see improvement you could try to get your husband on board but if he is anything like mine was he is quite sure his way is the best way. But you never know, he just might surprise you and enjoy it. I have faith in you, give it a try.
Come back often, there are a lot of good trainers on this forum willing to provide support.


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## smp (Apr 27, 2016)

I'll just echo the really good advice above. I had the same thought when I read that you've tried "no" a million times. It's a normal thing for us humans to do, but remember, they don't speak english. They speak emotions. And goldens are some of the most keen. She knows you are mad/upset/angry/frustrated, but probably doesn't understand. A submissive urination is a natural instinct that dogs do to tell other dogs they are not a threat. I would add to all the good advice above, that it's not WHAT you do that is critical, it's HOW you do it. Do it with love and respect, and you'll probably get further along. Think of any bad behavior like a reading disability in a child. If that child was getting their reading homework wrong, we wouldn't yell at them, put them in time-out, etc. We would encourage them and focus our attention on how we can teach them the positive behavior we would rather see. Best of luck! She'll get better at it if you help her out.


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## LdyTlfrd (Jan 11, 2017)

When Luna was a few months younger, she would get excited and tinkle i.e. when people came to the house, when family menbers came home, etc. We found that training her to sit still and to wait for a head pat/rub seemed to have calmed that excitement tinkle. She hasn't excited peed in a few months now that we get her to sit and wait until she's calm. 

Now whenever anyone comes through the door, she will run to them, sits and waits for a head pat.


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