My 3 and 1/2 month old lab/airedale terrier puppy will squat and pee when she gets excited. example: we get home and talk to her in our'happy voices' or we crouch to pet her, or even just pet her. tried distracting her with treats, ignoring her when we get home( even though it broke our hearts), and praising her when she went outside and slightly scolding her when she went inside.
Is anything we have done the right way to approach this? should we continue one of the things we tried? How long will it take to cure it?

I think the fact that she's squating implies that she doesn't have a medical condition, but I'm not sure. You could always get that checked out.

I say that because if it's submissive urination then that should be at least helped, if not eliminated, by ignoring the dog when you get home.

That's really it: Ignore the dog until she's in a calm state. No happy voices, no mean voices. Nothing directed at her at all until she's relaxed, even if it takes half an hour or more. You should let her outside to go after you've been gone for awhile, but without any fanfare at all.

Certainly, NO SCOLDING for it (even though it's annoying). I promise you beyond doubt that will only make it worse. If you get mad, she'll try to be even MORE submissive and guess what? That means more pee! This isn't a housebreaking issue at all. Give it some time.

Most pups will outgrow this. I've dealt with many dogs that do this, and they've all outgrown it except for one...and she wound up having a medical problem.

Good luck.

EDITED: Wanted to add that this is a common problem in young dogs and a search on submissive urination will yeild some results.

 Quote: anita gokstorp

My 3 and 1/2 month old lab/airedale terrier puppy will squat and pee when she gets excited. example: we get home and talk to her in our'happy voices' or we crouch to pet her, or even just pet her. tried distracting her with treats, ignoring her when we get home( even though it broke our hearts), and praising her when she went outside and slightly scolding her when she went inside.
Is anything we have done the right way to approach this? should we continue one of the things we tried? How long will it take to cure it?

Do you see signs that it's submissive peeing? Does she do it when someone is looming or hovering over her or speaking loudly? Is it a new behavior? Does she have indoor accidents when she is alone too? How frequent is this? She actually aquats, and doesn't just pee almost unconsciously (like "wetting her pants")?

Does she hold it in her crate?

While you observe and note whether this might be submissive peeing or whether it might just be that her potty training is not 100% yet, I would take her out more frequently so she has almost no chance of having to go and not having been outside lately, and I'd tone down the greetings so they are happy but quiet-voiced and no touch for the first few minutes ... calm hello with no touch, working slowly up to petting after she has gone outside. I'd avoid looming over her.

I would not scold when she has an accident. If I actually saw it, I'd swoop her out to finish (calmly) and praise when she does it outside. If I didn't see it as it happened, it's too late to scold, whether it's slight scolding or not. It doesn't connect to the act after the act is over...... it just translates to random scolding, once she has peed and moved on.

If it's frequent, more like training accidents than excited-submissive peeing, I'd tether her to me every minute out of the crate so I could actually catch every incident instantly. That method is fast, because it's clear to her very quickly what she should do, if you are catching every single incident and taking her outside to praise her when she goes outside.

If it really is excitement peeing, I think it will stop with less excitement around her and with a little more maturity within her.

I had to answer the phone halfway through my post and didn't realize that Amber had posted in between. I could have saved my typing fingers.

Yep , I think too that she will outgrow it.I have to admit I have always prayed not to have a dog like that (sorry), my parents did with a Dobie pup (I had found her, I was 14, in the desert while horse back riding), she did out grow it, but what a pain that was..I remember my mother screaming at me everytime the dog would pee when anyone would pet her

 Quote: Angelique Cadogan

Yep , I think too that she will outgrow it.I have to admit I have always prayed not to have a dog like that (sorry), my parents did with a Dobie pup (I had found her, I was 14, in the desert while horse back riding), she did out grow it, but what a pain that was..I remember my mother screaming at me everytime the dog would pee when anyone would pet her

I'm afraid your mother was inadvertantly making things worse.

Yes, I agree with you that it's generally outgrown, and that our behavior around it is the key to how quickly it stops.

Yes yelling is not the key to a cure I wish you could have told her that for me)

Thanks for the reply
- yes she squats no ' wetting of the pants'
- she holds it in her crate over night
- even just calm hello will trigger it
- it always happens when we are home, hence we always see it
- we always catch it because it only happens we are around her
- we were also thinking she may not yet know if she knows that she should pee outside yet that maybe we just praised her when she peed so maybe she thinks she should pee whenever she needs to... is that possible?

we yelled at her the first time it happened because it was right after i took her for a walk and when we got back my husband bent down and pet her and she squatted and i thought that she just did it to pee when she had just been outside but that was the only time ... when i look back at it i made a big mistake but we havent yelled again

 Quote: anita gokstorp

maybe she thinks she should pee whenever she needs to... is that possible?

Here is how to make sure of this: When she squats inside you say "no!" and take her right outside, where you praise when she goes.

That gives her a "snapshot" of what she was doing (and where) when you said "no!" and when you said "yes."

She understands the marker ("yes"), right? I mean, you have connected the marker with a reward? And "yes" is in a pleased voice?

And if even a calm hello triggers it, then what others have suggested about coming in with no greeting except to take her out for peeing is probably good. Sloooowly ease into the greeting, and I would let her come to you for petting and hello rather than vice versa.

She really will outgrow it, and it really will be faster if you can lower the excitement level at the times that you have seen trigger it.

I think maybe the biggest thing has been pointed out: No corrections for submission-excitement peeing, because it exacerbates it.

JMO! Lots of experience, but not with puppies. Still, rescues have many of the same issues.