scared urination

    • Puppy

    scared urination

    My dog Bucket is 1 year old. He never pees in the house, unless he's scared. If I scold him sometimes he pees a little. Today, I told him to get in his kennel so he ran to my bed and when I started to walk towards him, he peed; I wasn't mad at him at all, I didnt even use a mean voice. But he doesnt do it all the time, only occasionally, I've no pattern.
     He's not a very submissive dog. I dont know what to do at all, even if I'm not scolding sometimes him he'll pee because he knows he was bad.

    any solutions? 
    • Gold Top Dog
    Has he been checked by a vet to rule out any underlying medical problem that may be causing/exacerbating this bhvr?
     
    You might not think you are scolding him but he knows you are angry or upset and is interpreting your tone of voice/approach as aggression.  It's not because he "knows he's been bad".  This is a very very human perspective and you need to lose that before you can fix the problem.  It may be that this is submissive urination which he is doing in an attempt to deflect that perceived aggression, or it may be that he's just peeing because he's scared, in which case you have to do everything you can to build his confidence - which to me would mean lots of positive training and stopping scolding him.
     
    What do you "scold" him for?  Can you stop?  Prevent him from doing "bad" things with close supervision or confinement if you can't watch him and praise him up and down if EVER he does something right?  How many times do you scold him, say in one day, vs how many times do you tell him "good boy!" ?  "Scolding"  doesn't really work all that well, if at all and is really quite unnecessary.  If you've had to give him a telling of it's usually because you have done something wrong - given him too much freedom too soon, not supervised him closely enough, not managed his environment effectively, not taught him to respond properly to cues in varying situations etc. etc.
    • Puppy
    I do need to get him checked by the vet. I guess the reason I havent is it's not that big of a problem, it doesn't happen very often at all. Maybe once every few weeks, but the when I posted it, he had peed twice in one day.
    I spend my life with my dog. I take him every where with me, he is very intellegent and has no problem adapting to new situations. I dont scold him often, he doesnt really need it. I talk to my dog a lot, constently giveing him positive renforcement.
    So, from Chuffys responce I suppose I need to build his confidence, but I'd say he's already a confidant dog.     Well, I will do some research and hopfully come up with a solution.
    • Gold Top Dog
    He's not a very submissive dog.

     
    I wouldn't be so sure. A dog can be outgoing, curious, and exuberant, but also "soft" and/or submissive. That describes my dog pretty much to a tee, and he is a submissive urinator. Most people who don't know dogs or my dog well would consider him very bold and confident - but I know he is easily overwhelmed... what appears to be confidence & boldness to others can sometimes actually be a sensitive and reactive dog who is just very "turned on" by all external stimuli.... this could also be a dog who overreacts to scolding or strong posturing in humans by peeing or cowering.
     
    I feel that your dog doesn't necessarily have to "sense" your disapproval or anger to react as though you are angry. He may be just reacting to a pattern of behavior or a conditioned association - so say for example you usually send him to his kennel when you're frustrated with him. Well, this time you're not frustrated but you send him to his kennel for some other reason... he associates the kennel with the usual "upset human" scenario and automatically reacts to that. The same could go for you walking directly at him. There are two ways you can go to prevent his behavior... eliminate the triggers wherever possible (so, no more scolding) and countercondition the triggers you want/need to keep - so, make sure that at least half the time he goes to his kennel it's for something really good like a delicious treat he never gets any other time.