Our Finkie has started major excitement peeing when I come home from work or if anyone that she has not seen in a while comes in the house. She is 7 months old now and I thought this would be over by 6 months. Actually she was great for the last month or so, then all of a sudden its even worst than before. Prior, it was minor trickles, now its a flood. She barks like crazy and pees everywhere. It isn't submission peeing either, since she only does it when she hasn't seen someone for a while. Just a note, she was spayed over a month ago, but like I said up until a week ago we thought this problem was over. I haven't been correcting when it happens. I wanted to get some feedback first.

What can I do to curb this behavior? Will this stop on its own?

Thanks
-David C

There are different kinds of submission urination, and it's sounds like that's what you have. She's just overly excited and admitting you are the boss when you come home. IGNORING her for about 5 to 10 minutes when you come home should help alot (yes, it is hard).

http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/lib-prob.htm#su has a bunch of articles that should help.

Thanks for the reply! I'm a bit dumbfounded.

From what I understand submission peeing and excitement peeing are two different symptoms of the same root cause.

I've read that they are different in their expression. For instance, a classic submission pee will have a submissive dog come over (while holding it) and then pee when they get closer. They actually get right into the pee position.

I see this differently than what I have. She "excitement" pees. Which is expressed as a surge of excitement and peeing. In this case, the dog loses control and doesn't mean to pee, but does out of a lack of control.

The distinction is that one is voluntary, while the other is not.

I've also been told (I can't remember, I might have been reading one of Lee's old posts), that both of these still stem from the same root cause, which is a lack of confidence . A confident dog will not pee for either reason. It would neither pee because of submission, nor would it get overly excited. Because of this same root cause, many experts group these two into the same problem.

So I guess my real question is "How do I instill more confidence in my dog?" Especially surrounding new people. Will ignoring her really give her more confidence? Are there better ways?

- Thanks!
David C

You need to read up on that site I posted for some specifics. It's great that you are looking into it.

Ignoring her will give you a way to MANAGE this for the time being. Specially because you don't want it to develope into a habit over time. I believe it's common for wolf pack members to do this when the Alpha comes home. But when you are in the great outdoors it's not such a problem.

Think I would actually do the ignoring for any inital meetings. And when you do say 'hey' be VERY calm, very quiet and matter-of-fact. She sounds just like she gets overly excited and stimulated and then 'whoops'. So if you can manage and calm things, she should also calm and be more in control.

I'd work on socializing her tons and ton outside the house for the time being so the peeing won't be a big thing if it occurs. And she will start gaining the confidence with all the new people/dogs/sites and sounds without you having to stop everything to clean up the mess!

The following sites are two I think have some great information.

http://www.doberman.org/articles/puppy.htm

http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/lib-Puppy.htm#soc

PS - The link is very good!

David,
They will grow out of it eventually. My current Mal puppy was the worst pee-pee pants that I've ever had but he's finally stopped doing that now - and it makes him a whole lot easier to live with!

*Will puts his gallon jug of "Nature's Miracle" away...*

Will? How long did it take Mal ?? What breed?

- DHC

Do you think that her muscles are still recovering from the spay?

DHC

I've had 2 females spayed and 'muscle recovery' from the spay was never an issue. My older dog had a 'new' vet spay her (my first dog, how could I know) and he mucked up something so about 4 months after the spay I noticed a puddle under her after she'd be fast asleep for awhile. Turns out this is a hormonal thing for some dogs and she's been on meds her entire life for it, and does fine.

BUT her incontinence has NOTHING to do with meeting and greeting when I come home. Only happens when she's absolutely fast asleep and has no control of her muscles. http://www.cah.com/library/urinincont.html talks about this.

David,
Mal = Belgian Malinois, a popular work dog for SchH and Police Work.

He stopped submission peeing between 7 and 8 months of age, thankfully....