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Submissive wetting or urination is a normal way for dogs and puppies to demonstrate submissive behavior. Even a dog that is otherwise housetrained may leave dribbles and puddles of
urine at your feet and on the floor when greeting you.
Submissive urination occurs
when a puppy feels threatened, such as when he is being punished
or verbally scolded, or when someone is reaching for him from a
dominant posture (direct eye contact, leaning forward over the
puppy, direct head-on approach). Excitement urination occurs most
often during greetings and play.
It may be
submissive/excitement urination if:
- Urination occurs during greetings, when
the puppy is excited, when puppy is being scolded, reached for,
or while playing
- Urination is accompanied by either
submissive or fearful postures (crouching, rolling over on the
back, ears back, tail tucked)
- The puppy is timid or shy
- There is a history of scolding or
punishment after the fact
Submissive and excitement urination may
resolve on their own as the puppy matures, and if they are not
reinforced with inadvertent attention, or become worse through
punishment. Puppies who urinate submissively should be approached
with non-threatening postures, such as avoiding eye contact, not
leaning out over the puppy, not reaching out over puppy’s head,
and presenting the side rather than the front of the person’s body
to the puppy. The puppy can also be reinforced with praise and
treats for coming and sitting without acting submissive. If the
problem occurs during greetings, then these should be kept
low-key. Completely ignoring puppy for the first 5 to 10 minutes
after coming home until puppy is calm may also help to prevent
urination.
To help prevent or stop
submissive/excitement urination:
- Absolutely no punishment or scolding - this will only exacerbate the problem.
- Keep greetings low-key; don’t even look
directly at the puppy - eye contact alone may provoke submissive
urination.
- Do not inadvertently reinforce puppy’s
behavior with attention when you come into the house or room.
- Ignore the puppy until puppy is calm.
- Once puppy is calm, squat down to the
puppy’s level rather than leaning over to pet the puppy, pet
from under the chin, not the top of the head, approach the puppy
from the side rather than head-on.
- Quietly reward happy, alert and
confident postures from the puppy. Use of food and quiet praise
can be helpful.
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