dog urination

Question
I have a 1 year female puggle.  I adopted her when she was about 8 months old.  She is house trained, but when she is excited or scared she will cower and urinate on the floor.  I don't like to assume, but from the evidence I have gathered I think she was abused as a puppy.  This probably plays into her lack of bladder control.  She is terrified of new people to the point that she will crawl on her belly and use whatever path she can to avoid them.  Do you have any suggestions on how to help her overcome her fears.  I try to introduce new people to her slowly so she gets accustomed to them.  I think part of it is that she is an emotional dog, because when she is used to people she is the most excited dog I have ever seen.  It may just be something I will have to work on so she can gradually get better.

Thanks!

Answer
This dog is extremely fortunate to have found you since you have such a strong intuitive sense of what's going on here.  Not all fearful behavior is the result of abuse. In the case of your dog, she appears to be highly excitable (as you describe her interaction with people she has come to know) and subdominant.  This combination may have contributed to her extreme fearful behavior if she experienced even one frightening encounter, especially in her early puppyhood.  If she came from a municipal kill shelter, it's quite a common result (rescue organizations call this a "slug puppy" because of their freeze response when frightened.)  Of course she may have suffered from abuse but her ability to overcome her fear indicates that it was most likely not persistent.

You've had this dog barely three months.  What you describe is submissive urination and/or loss of bladder control due to fear.  She's emotionally immature (age related) and is, as you say, very excitable.  Providing this dog with a consistent, safe and patient environment will help to calm her and she will eventually most likely overcome her fear to some extent; but it's not likely she will ever be a very confident dog for some time.

You're already introducing people very, very slowly and she seems to be getting accustomed to some of them; this has allowed you to see the underlying temperament of this dog (basically friendly, very subdominant, and unsure how to focus her behavior.)  It will take her several more months to fully habituate to your household and learn to trust you.  Meanwhile, you need to learn how to read her body signals so you can offer calming signals to her and teach your visitors to do the same.  This will facilitate her socialization and allow her to be more relaxed.  I suggest you read Turid Rugaas' book, "On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals".  When you begin using this "language" you will see an immediate response in your dog.  Crawling on the belly and apparently "avoiding" new people is actually a strong signal of submission, not necessarily true avoidance behavior.  If your visitors can offer the dog calming signals that she can easily identify, she'll be more and more confident about having such visitors in her environment; but this will take time.

I also suggest you introduce some positive reinforcement training but DO NOT USE A CLICKER: it's far too startling a sound for a dog like this.  Instead, use a visual cue: your forefinger to the tip of your nose.  Teach her one or two behaviors, very slowly and with patience; this isn't about controlling her behavior but more about boosting her confidence (dogs who can offer behaviors to please and be rewarded for them grow in confidence), increase her cognitive abilities (problem solving skills) and enhance her bond of trust with you.  Paul Owens' book "The Dog Whisperer: A Compassionate, Non violent Approach to Dog Training" is an excellent resource.

Proceed as you have been doing: patience, reward for positive interaction (while ignoring fear responses), some positive reinforcement training and very, very slow socialization is the way to go.  Please repost with any further problems and questions; don't rush this dog.  She has what appears to be the makings of a fine companion.  If she appears scattered, over excited and unable to control her interaction with visitors once she has become comfortable with them, ask her for a trained behavior (use unique words for these behaviors, one never knows who messed around with the original ones).  Once she has become more confident, even putting her on leash will help her to be more psychologically and emotionally controlled but you don't want to confine her in this way until her fear of the "new" person is extinguished.