Submissive Urination
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Submissive Urination





Submissive or nervous urination is a spontaneous reaction to excitement or to another more dominant figure. Usually submissive urination occurs when a young dog becomes excited, such as when greeting a master, family member or another dog, which is considered to be dominant. The pup will spontaneously urinate and usually will exhibit a submissive posture, such as exposing his abdomen, lowering his head and crouching or belly crawling.

Not all dogs will exhibit this behavior and there are several accepted theories for this phenomenon. One theory concludes that this problem is caused by a lack of neuromuscular control in the individual dog’s bladder. Another theory believes that the problem is due to an earlier experience where a more dominant creature frightened the young dog. A more plausible hypothesis may be due to the nature of dog’s pack mentality, where only one member is the "Alpha." The urination and submissive posturing behavior may be a show of subordination.

Submissive urination does not mean that the dog has forgotten or lost his housebreaking skills, most experts believe the dog has no control over it and might not even know he has urinated. Correcting the problem is possible; however, it usually requires a good amount of patience on the owner’s part. Several medications are also available from your veterinarian, however, they usually have little effect and often times worsen the problem. The best approach is to evaluate the problem on an individual basis. Examine when and why the problem occurs. Dogs that exhibit this problem are usually "soft" or sensitive dogs; so scolding, yelling or other disciplinary measures often worsen the problem.

Most experts advise that by reevaluating when the problem occurs, such as upon greeting, you can modify your behavior to eliminate such things as quick sudden movements, direct eye contact with the pup, loud boisterous greetings, physically handling the dog, etc. Remain quiet and still, command him to "hup" (sit) and distract him with a treat or take him out immediately.

Remember most young dogs will outgrow the problem, be patient and try to understand the reason why the dog is exhibiting the behavior.
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