Puppy Forum and Dog Forums banner

We need HELP!

1215 Views 11 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  Rescued
When my puppy gets excited or knows/thinks he is in trouble he tends to pee everywhere.
How can I prevent this from happening, or stop it.
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
What do you mean by "in trouble"? What do you do?
Like if he does something he's not suppost to do, we usually just pop him on the butt and tell him "No." He's a really smart/great pup, but he just pees when he's super excited. And he barks at people. We are trying to get him to be a "people's dog."
He's peeing because you're frightening him. He can't help it, he's losing control of his bladder. Hitting your dog and scolding him have made this problem escalate.
There is never any reason to smack your dog. It doesn't teach them anything except to not trust you. If he is chewing on something he shouldn't, pick up items arpund your home and supervise him better. If you catch him chewing on something, give him something he SHOULD chew on instead. If he has an accident, interrupt him, and take him out. Slap yourself for not supervising him better. Clean accident with an enzyme cleaner. You should be taking him out after eating, when he wakes up and after playing. use a cue word to tell him to go potty, and reward with a high value treat (like cut up hot dog) and lots of praise, when he goes. If he doesn't go after 10 min or so, go back in and keep him tethered to you and try again in 15 min. Walking can help make them go.

Search "Submissive Urination" on this forum. That is what your puppy is doing. They can't help it. You can help prevent it by staying low key when you come home, and not speaking to him then, just clip on a leash and take him out, then greet him outside. Scolding a dog will make SU worse. Most dogs outgrow SU. Unless you keep intimidating/scaring him.
See less See more
Great advice from spotted nikes, I will just add that "getting him to be a people's dog" (from the OP) isn't going to work well if you keep popping him on the butt. He will start to think people are scary, not cool.
Well for one, I "supervise" my dog correctly. And it doesn't help if I take things away from him he's not suppost to chew. Popping is the only thing, that has actually worked. I don't hurt him, I don't abuse him. So I surely hope none of you think that. And when I pop him for doing bad things, I have soo much more respect from him. If he didn't like me, then he wouldn't respect me, he wouldn't want to be in my lap or my fiance's lap constantly. So I don't know where exactly you get your information at but it's not something I will do to my animal. He's spoiled rotten, gets things that he wants. And when we go walking. I DON'T pop him when he goes to someone barking. I just simply say "No" and "Be Nice". Yesterday we went to the park and I held his collar so that an old man could pet him to show that humans won't hurt him and the rest of the day, he was fine went up to people wagging his tail and being playful. So please don't tell me i"m doing something wrong when clearly I'm not. But thanks for the advice.
See less See more
If you're not doing anything wrong, then why even come here asking for advice? Because clearly what you're doing is working really well.
Well for one, I "supervise" my dog correctly. And it doesn't help if I take things away from him he's not suppost to chew.
It would if you prevent him having access to those items and you swap inappropriate items for ones he is supposed to chew. Popping is the only thing, that has actually worked. I don't hurt him, I don't abuse him. So I surely hope none of you think that. And when I pop him for doing bad things, I have soo much more respect from him.

What you have from him is fear. Dogs don't learn what you think they do. If he is chewing on something, and jumps up on a couch with it, and you pop him, he might think jumping on a couch is wrong, but the chewing is ok, or vice versa. Or being next to whoever was sitting on the couch is wrong. Or when you approach him you are unpredictable. It doesn't teach him what TO DO, or even what NOT to do. And what you are perceiving as respect is fear...hence the submissive urination.

If he didn't like me, then he wouldn't respect me, he wouldn't want to be in my lap or my fiance's lap constantly.

Insecure dogs will often gravitate to their owners. Even dogs that have been severely abused for years will go to their owners. Fearful dogs will go to their owners. You are not correctly interpretting what respect from a dog means.

So I don't know where exactly you get your information at but it's not something I will do to my animal. He's spoiled rotten, gets things that he wants. And when we go walking. I DON'T pop him when he goes to someone barking. I just simply say "No" and "Be Nice". Yesterday we went to the park and I held his collar so that an old man could pet him to show that humans won't hurt him and the rest of the day, he was fine went up to people wagging his tail and being playful. So please don't tell me i"m doing something wrong when clearly I'm not. But thanks for the advice.
So if you aren't open to suggestions from people that may be more experienced than you, (and lets face it...you posted on the First time owners forum, about a pretty simple issue, using a training method that is ineffective and will cause more problems), then what exactly are you wanting from forum members? You can continue to use your methods, and when the dog gets larger and is still having SU problems, and starts to bite when you raise a hand to it, then we'll see you back here with a thread titled "help! My dog is growling and biting us".
Is what you're doing really working? No, because the dog is peeing all over when he's worried that he might be in trouble.

I will second something that spotted nikes said: dogs don't learn what you think they do. And, to add to that, dogs don't THINK the way people think; their cognitive process is different. So, if you think that it must be OBVIOUS to your dog, and that he definitely understands what you're trying to teach him, he probably isn't getting what you want him to get. It doesn't mean he's not getting anything at all out of it, just that the connections he draws are DIFFERENT from the connections a person would draw from the same info.

I don't think you're abusing your dog. I don't think you're a bad owner, a bad person, whatever. I am just saying that, since dogs don't make the same connections as we do, maybe you need to rethink the way you're dealing with this issue.

Some dogs are what we call "soft", meaning that even harsh words or raised voices can scare them. Dogs that are submissively peeing can't usually handle verbal reprimands without peeing, so it should also follow that physical reprimands probably won't work either.

As for respect vs fear: how do you know it's respect? Quite often dogs show appeasement behaviors. Appeasement behaviors are behaviors that portray the dog as easy, not a threat, submissive, like saying "please leave me alone, I mean no harm, I'm really very nice."
Sometimes we humans misinterpret these appeasement behaviors. So, for many of us, what you're describing is a dog that wants to be near you in order to show you that "you really don't have to get angry and pop me, I am a nice dog."

With a dog like this that seems fearful enough to pee all over, maybe you should try the "honey catches more flies than vinegar" approach.

And, really, no one said you were beating your dog, we just don't agree with popping.
See less See more
First off, he is a puppy. You don't punish babies for peeing in their diapers, you don't punish puppies for having accidents.
He IS peeing because he's afraid of you. Even a little pop is making your puppy fear you, not respect you. They are two totally different things. If someone slapped you for a reason unknown to you, would you respect them or fear them after that? It's not really abuse, per say, but it's not helping.
He doesn't know what he's doing. The best way to correct a puppy is to edit the situation. If he chews something he's not supposed to, a simple 'no' and replacing the object with a toy will do it. If he has an accident, just clean it up, then take him outside. Praise him for his outdoor pottying.
As for peeing because he's excited, is he doing this when you come home? There's a real simple solution to that and it's not making a fuss when you come home. Really, don't make that much of a fuss any time. Be calm with him.

This is real simple stuff to follow. It's friendly advice we're giving here and advice that will wind you up with a happier dog in the future. If you think what you're doing is right, why did you ask for advice?
See less See more
All I have to add is that you need to stop popping the dog NOW. Submissive urination is very hard to stop once its a learned, "reinforced behavior."
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top