Excitable Urination in Dogs

Biological Cause

• In the wild, while excitedly greeting a returning older dog, a puppy would urinate to show its not attacking and to show submission. In a family pet, this translates into urination during boisterous play or when greeting its owner.

Excitable Urination

• A dog that is urinating out of excitement usually does it during a wild greeting when its owner returns home, or during a rambunctious playtime. As a puppy matures, it will generally grow out of excitable urination, although it may persist if you accidentally reinforce the behavior by petting or soothing the dog when it urinates.

Submissive Urination

• Submissive urination is accompanied by submissive posturing, such as showing the belly or crouching. If your dog uses one of these postures and urinates while being scolded, approached or greeted, or if your dog is normally timid or shy, this is submissive urination.

Considerations

• Before attempting to correct excitable or submissive urination, take your dog to the vet to rule out any possible medical causes.

  If your dog's problem is submissive urination, do not punish or scold it; this will only make it more anxious and make the problem worse.

Correction

• Whatever the reason for your dog's accidents, there are a few things you can do to help reduce their frequency. When returning home, ignore your dog until it calms down, and then greet igt in a low-key manner to keep it from becoming excited again. If it does urinate when you arrive, clean it up calmly and without scolding or punishing. Take your dog outside for play times until the problem is resolved.

  There are a few other things you can try if your dog is urinating out of submission instead of excitement. Reward it for confident behavior like sitting up during greetings instead of crouching. Avoid approaching it in a dominant way; bend at the knees instead of leaning over it and avoid direct eye contact. Pet it under the chin instead of on top of the head, and approach it from the side instead of the front.

  All of these things will make you seem less threatening and build your dog's confidence, reducing the likelihood of excitable or submissive urination.