Submissive Urination in Dogs is not About Housetraining
It’s been a long day. You come home from work and your dog runs to greet you, his entire body wagging with his tail. As you pet him you feel a warm, wet mess saturating your shoes or pants. If this is something you deal with regularly, You might be dealing with submissive urination. Your dog is trying to tell you that you are in charge in dog language. While it is exactly WHAT you want to hear albeit not the WAY you want to hear it, you can work with your dog to stop submissive urination.
First, it’s important to understand why your dog is doing it.
Submissive Urination is just that. It’s your dog telling you that you are dominant. You are his master, his leader. You call the shots. If your dog is doing this, being tougher on him by yelling and scolding, rubbing his nose in it, will only make the snowball bigger.
Submissive urination is commonly exhibited in these situations:
- You walk in the door after being out for a few hours you give your dog an excited and emotional greeting.
- You have friends and or other guests in your home. You dog is insecure and is trying to appease everyone.
- There is a loud commotion or heightened emotions in the home.
- When a dog or puppy is scolded.
- If a loud noise frightens your dog such as thunder, fireworks, tire blowout, siren or yelling.
Here are some ways you can put an end to the behavior.
- Watch how you are talking and acting around your puppy. How is your tone of voice , your gesture and body language when you interact with your pooch. You might inconsciously create the behavior. Your dog is just responding to what he is perceiving as being a threat. He loves you to pieces and he is showing submission trying to appease you. If you are not aware of your body language, get a friend or a dog trainer to watch you interact with your pup.
- Compliment your dog for positive behaviors.
- When coming home, ignore your dog for a few minutes. Remove your coat and shoes, do a few things in the house before you say hello to your dog. I know it is hard but try it and you will be amazed with the results. When you are ready to greet your dog, bend down closer to his level to pet him. When you stand up and look down at your dog, it can be intimidating for him. When you are at a lower level, for your dog it is a more friendly move.
- Don’t look your dog in the eye. This can be intimidating to a shy dog and circle back to submissive behaviors.
- Don’t grab, hug, pet or kiss your dog when you walk into a room where submissive urination has occurred. Once again, a bashful pup may see this as an act of dominance and the result will be submissive urination.
Like us dogs display different personalities. In this case your canine friend is probably quite timid and sensitive and could lack some confidence. Patience is going to be your best tool. Observing your dog and what trigger the behavior will help solve the situation in many case. You may want to learn more about dog language and calming signal that dogs send us through their body. There is a whole language where dogs express how they feel throughgh their body. There is a beautiful DVD presented by Turid Rugaas a Norwegian trainer: What Your Dog Tells You. Learning and understanding your dog’s body language is a great tool if you want to solve submissive urination behavior.
This is also where dog classes or activities can be very helpful. Boosting your dog’s confidence while learning agility or tracking or any other activities together will help create a relationship at a different level. With some tender loving care, understanding, time and patience in most cases dog’s submissive urination is an easy behavior to take care of.
