Housebreaking Dogs with Submissive or Excited Urination Tendencies

If there is one area of owning a dog that's the most frustrating, misunderstood, and confusing its housebreaking dogs. For the new dog owner this can be twice as aggravating because they have little to no experience with house training. Most dogs have problems learning this most important of skills because of two primary reasons.

• Submissive and/or excited urination
• Scent marking – Click here for more information on this problem

We'll look at the submissive and/or excited urination problem in this article. A dog that urinates when stressful or exciting situations happen suffers from this problem. Chances are he goes all over himself, the floor, or you or your guests when he gets overly excited like when you come home from work or is being reprimanded for doing something he isn't supposed to do.

This condition affects puppies most of all because they still have not learned to control their bladders. Fortunately they soon grow out of this phase. There are adult dogs that can suffer from this problem as well. They are often sensitive, timid, and have come from a shelter which rescued them from an abusive past.

There are any number of situations that can trigger this urinating problem including returning home from work, play time, guests arriving, family arguments at home, reprimands for bad behavior, or loud noises such as thunder or fireworks.

There are ways to fix this problem but the first thing you will need to do is have your dog checked by your veterinarian to make sure there isn't a medical problem causing the problem. Bladder infections and canine diabetes can both lead to this type of behavior. If it is not a medical problem here are ways to get control of the problem.

• While you don't want to restrict your dog's water intake over a long period of time you can limit the amount he drinks before situations you know normally cause the problem. If you take his water bowl away an hour or so before the activity or situation is to occur he will find it easier to control his bladder

• Be calm greeting your dog when you return home from work or other activities which kept you away. This will help keep him calm and give him better control of his bladder. You do not want to get him all worked up the moment he sees you.

• Bad behavior must not be harshly punished or corrected. He is not purposely urinating; it is something he can't control. If you catch him in the act interrupt him with a firm "No!" and then praise when he stops. Punishing him will only make the situation worse.

• Many times submissive dogs will urinate when afraid or when being scolded. Try to keep an authoritative tone to your voice when reprimanding him but do not get angry. He needs to know what he is doing is wrong but in such a way that you don't worsen the problem.

For more information on how to successfully house train your dog (as well as a whole bunch of in-depth information on house training troubleshooting and related issues) you will want to check out The Ultimate House Training Guide. For more information about this complete housebreaking dogs guide Click Here.