You come home from work and your dog greets you by rolling onto its back and urinating on itself. It is a messy problem, and it could make your worry about your dog's health. While your dog probably does not have a physical problem causing incontinence, it does have a behavioral problem known as submissive urination.
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Submissive Urination
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Submissive urination occurs when your dog urinates while displaying submissive behavior. It is usually not a true form of incontinence because the dog is not accidentally leaking urine and is able to urinate normally in other circumstances. While it is often seen in puppies, dogs of any age can experience submissive urination. It can occur in both male and female dogs.
Symptoms
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Symptoms of submissive urination include submissive body language in a dog while it dribbles urine. Submissive behavior includes flattening its ears and avoiding making eye contact with you or other people. Your dog could tuck its tail between its legs, cower away from you or keep its head and neck lowered to the ground. Your dog also could roll over onto its back and expose its belly in a display of submissiveness, all while urinating.
Causes
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Your dog could have a genetic predisposition to urinate submissively. Other causes of submissive urination include a traumatic event while a dog was a puppy or separation anxiety. Some dogs that submissively urinate do have some kind of physical urinary dysfunction that exacerbates the problem. A dog that is punished often by an owner is more likely to develop submissive urination, according to UC Davis Veterinary Medicine.
Treatment
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Treatment for a dog with submissive urination begins with eliminating the possibility of a physical cause for urinary dysfunction. According to Washington State University, drugs and surgery are available to treat most physical causes of incontinence. Changing your behavior when you interact with your dog can help eliminate submissive urination. Approach your dog calmly and from the side; when you reach it, crouch down to its level so you do not appear threatening or dominant. Teaching your dog tricks with plenty of rewards can help eliminate overly submissive behavior.
Considerations
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If you scold or punish your dog when it submissively urinates, you could make the situation worse. Your dog could urinate more right then or begin urinating sooner in the future to try to avoid being punished again. If you praise your dog while it urinates you probably will confuse it. The best course to take is to ignore the fact that the dog is submissively urinating while it is happening.
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