Urinating at inappropriate times

Here we are not concerned about urination as it relates to housebreaking problems. Nor are we concerned about territorial urination-urine marking.

The two most common forms of urination at inappropriate times are excitement urination and submissive urination.

Excitement urination most commonly occurs with puppies who, like children, do not have complete control of their bladders. The scene is usually one in which you arrive home after being gone a while and your puppy or young dog twists and turns in happiness to see you, and you respond with animated speech and lots of petting. At the same time, he inadvertently releases a few squirts of urine. It is especially important that you do not get upset over this occurrence. This is an involuntary reaction, and any form of punishment, including scolding, will confuse and bewilder your pup. The best thing to do is to tone down your greetings. Walk in the house saying nothing to your pup. In fact, ignore him altogether. This gives him a chance to calm down. Once he has calmed down, you can then verbally greet him with something like, "Hi, Pup." Wait a few more minutes and then reach down and give him more time to get used to the idea that his friend and companion is home once again. After several sessions of quiet, calm greetings, he will learn to hold it because he will realize that he only gets attention when he does. It should not take much time to correct this problem.

Submissive urination is a natural response by a dog who is trying to tell you that you are the boss and he accepts his submissive role. Dogs who roll over on their backs and urinate when approached are signaling an extreme submissive position. Quite often a dog who has been physically punished—hit, kicked, slapped or verbally reprimanded in an abusive way—will exhibit this behavior. If you just adopted this dog and have not been the abuser but he is submissively urinating, then you must rebuild his trust in humans. If you are physically or verbally abusing him, stop it!

To rebuild trust or re-establish a bond with your dog, do the following. Teach him what it is you want and reward him with praise and a food treat for complying. This will take time. First, as soon as your dog starts to cower or roll over or begins to look like he is submitting, do not approach him. Wait and let him approach you. Then give him lots of praise. If he does cower or roll over and urinate, back off, say nothing, clean it up and try again. The important thing here is for you not to forcibly approach this dog. Let him approach you and reinforce his non-urination behavior by giving him a ton of praise. Eventually, he will learn that you are different from his last carelessgiver, and that you are not going to scold or hit him. Once he figures this out, the submissive urination will disappear, and a bond will be built between you that will be strong and will last forever.