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Submissive urination occurs when a puppy feels threatened, such as when she is being punished or verbally scolded, or when someone is reaching for her from a dominant posture (direct eye contact, leaning forward over the puppy, direct head-on approach). Excitement urination occurs most often during greetings and play.
It may be submissive/excitement urination if.....
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Urination occurs during greetings, when the puppy is excited, when puppy is being scolded, reached for, or while playing
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Urination is accompanied by either submissive or fearful postures (crouching, rolling over on the back, ears back, tail tucked)
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The puppy is timid or shy
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There is a history of scolding or punishment after the fact
Submissive and excitement urination may resolve on their own as the puppy matures, and if they are not reinforced with inadvertent attention, or become worse through punishment. Puppies who urinate submissively should be approached with non-threatening postures, such as avoiding eye contact, not leaning out over the puppy, not reaching out over puppy’s head, and presenting the side rather than the front of the person’s body to the puppy. The puppy can also be reinforced with praise and treats for coming and sitting without acting submissive. If the problem occurs during greetings, then these should be kept low-key. Completely ignoring puppy for the first 5 to 10 minutes after coming home until puppy is calm may also help to prevent urination.
To help prevent or stop submissive/excitement urination.....
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Absolutely no punishment or scolding.
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Keep greetings low-key; don’t even look directly at the puppy - eye contact alone may provoke submissive urination.
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Do not inadvertently reinforce puppy’s behavior with attention when you come into the house or room.
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Ignore the puppy until puppy is calm.
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Once puppy is calm, squat down to the puppy’s level rather than leaning over to pet the puppy, pet from under the chin, not the top of the head, approach the puppy from the side rather than head-on.
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Quietly reward happy, alert and confident postures from the puppy. Use of food and quiet praise can be helpful.
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