"Submissive urination" refers to the behavior in which a person or animal involuntarily urinates (pees) as a sign of showing extreme submission or fear.
Full definition
As much as
submissive urination in dogs may sound like a big problem, the good news is that most puppies outgrow this behavior as they mature and build confidence.
Treatment of
dog submissive urination or incontinence should include a visit to your veterinarian to eliminate the possibility of a health problem.
You can identify the issue
as submissive urination if your dog urinates when somebody approaches, stands tall over them or starts to verbally or physically punish them.
These and all other medical causes should be ruled out before evaluating or treating a dog
for submissive urination problems.
Dogs usually grow out
of submissive urination by the time they reach one year of age, even if their pet parents do nothing about it.
Besides the reasons explained in the video above, obedience training will also help your dog be more confident, which will prevent
submissive urination on the future.
Puppies wetting isn't always about house training because they use a wide range of communication signals to show deference behavior,
including submissive urination.
Dogs For Life offers eight tips to
stop submissive urination, and the dog obedience training review has an article to help you understand the problem more fully.
Even youngsters that have been properly potty trained can
display submissive urination during greeting displays or when they feel stressed around older dogs or strangers.
Urine marking is generally directed at vertical surfaces such as posts on a staircase handrail,
while submissive urination is generally done on the floor.
These adults can put on quite a show, even if no injury is intended, and the pup's
submissive urination helps stop the adult dog's schooling.
Like submissive urination, this behavior often occurs during greetings and sometimes during stressful social interactions with people.)
Why this happy housetraining plan will work Life in the dog den Crate training - how to set it up Should you paper train or not Establishing a regular eating routine How to begin a regular feeding schedule Controlling the flow of water Selecting the right schedule according to your lifestyle How to use the power of praise How & why you need to get rid of odors thoroughly & promptly Identifying submissive urination
Once calmer, you can
diminish submissive urination in dogs by greeting your puppy in a non-confrontational manner: simply crouch down sideways to his level and talk to him in a calm tone of voice.
Marking: Dachshunds have strong personalities, and they will express these personalities sometimes through their urination habits (
see Submissive Urination).
This is also
what submissive urination is all about... it is done to say, «I'm intimidated, I know you are about to hurt me, please don't.»
In some
ways submissive urination can be thought of as an opposite to territorial marking, because it occurs out of fear and submissiveness rather than aggressiveness and dominance.
When in a situation that seems to
trigger submissive urination, a dog will tend to display submissive postures, such as cowering, lowering the body, raising the front paws, tucking the tail, flattening the ears back, licking the lips or displaying a submissive grin.
He may be coming from a situation where his desire to please has been misunderstood; behaviours such
as submissive urination have resulted in punishment.