obviously spiteful peeing

Question
QUESTION: My yorkie/chihuahua mix is 6yrs old. Never had an accident (other than excited submissive peeing) since 1 purposeful pee during housebreaking period (she saw we were getting ready to leave - picked her up by scruff, scolded til she looked away, never another problem) Until now.  In the last week, she has peed 3 times - no infection. She is actually piddle-pad broke in her own little piddle pad try. Which brings me to share my theory on why she is peeing, but I don't know how to stop it. . . We travel a lot, and she has also been left on occasion with someone, and has never had an accident. However, when we were camping, she gets to go outside a lot. I take her for walks and she shows signs of dominance marking, like a mail, as there are many dogs in the campground. She very much enjoys it. At home, it is difficult to let her outside because there is no direct access to grass, and because of her size, there are many hawks/coyotes, etc, very near(we obviously live in the country). Well, since we came home, I have been taking her out when I could watch her to let her get fresh air and do her 'thing'. When it rains or is cold, I do not take her out. Never needed to before. I can see she wants me to take her out when I go, but many times I do not. A week ago, she peed for the first time, which I caught right after the incident. Took her to the spot, and it was quite a while of holding her by the scruff before she broke eye contact (I was told this was the correct method for dominance behavior?). Put her in her crate and ignored her a while.The next day, she put a tiny spot on the linoleum, which would have been pretty close to the time of the incidence as I began to watch her wondering what could have caused the 'accident'. Repeated my actions, harsher scolding, longer time in crate - took her out of crate after and made her go to the piddle pad and pee on command(since she was trained to do that), which she did but reluctantly). No accidents for several days. I went out and she tried to get my attention to go out, but since I believed this was the dominance issue that she was going to demand her preference (it is not feasible to let her out at just any time because of dangers and then weather - she weighs 5lbs and is cold intolerant in MI) When I came back in, within the half hour, she peed on the floor, but this time right in front of her piddle pad - a large amount. Is this hopeless or is there some other way to handle this? Or keep on? Please let me know. She is in her crate right now, and I will ignore her for a few hours this time, and will again make her pee in the proper place before releasing her. Any suggestions?

ANSWER: Hi Lisa, As an animal behaviorist, I doubt it is spiteful. The crate should never be used as a place of punishment, it is a place of safety, like a den for a dog. If you catch her or not, show it to her, do not yell at her, or shake her down, simply take her outside. If it is cold, give her a blanket to keep her warm. Be patient and wait until she will to, even if a little bit, for you. Sometimes they do miss the piddle pad a bit. But at least they are trying. Taking her for frequent walks at the heel will help, especially after drinking and/or eating. Release her from the heel and give her the "take a break", or "go potty" command outside in any kind of grassy situation. She may be simply going through some anxiety or has something going on which you cannot see. Have your vet check for a UTI and have a look at her bladder and kidneys. She is trying to tell you something and you should give her the time she needs to let her tell you what is going on which is causing a new bad behavior. New pets, new people in the home...all can cause behavior problems. Trust her and as soon as she drinks, take her out and wait as long as you must to keep her from going when she gets inside. Sometimes even a kidney stone can cause these issues. So please check her out with the vet. Long walks, several times a day if possible, will do well to exercise her mind and body. Leave me some feedback, and follow-up to let me know how things are going. Thanks for writing. Warm Regards, Susan

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QUESTION: I must not have explained very well. She has been 'indoor' broke since puppyhood.The only time she goes "out" is when we travel or when the weather is right here in MI. She has been using her piddle pad in the tray(she cannot 'miss' when she is in the tray). She is 6 years old, and since this problem has only occurred 3 times, she otherwise uses the piddle pad as usual even during this time of accidents. She is definitely a dominant alpha female, which I did not realize since she has always been submissive to me since the beginning, until she was exposed to other dogs and did the sniffing and almost 'marking' thing like a male. She shows no difficulty urinating, so signs of stones, urine is clear (I am an RN), so no signs of any urinary problems, although she has always had some GI problems. Her accidents have occurred when I have not taken her 'out' on 'her' command, but she has her piddle pad and has been using it otherwise. I still believe she is doing this for spite since she now feels she is entitled to go out... that sounds strange, because she should be able to, but in our situation, it is not feasible nor safe except on occasion.(We get many coyotes right in our front yard every night) So I do not want to reinforce that 'outside' is where she goes, because on the norm it is not, and I believe that allowing the 'abnorm' so much is what has caused this spite problem. In a wonderful world, she could be a normal outdoor-broken dog, but that cannot be while we live here. By the way, the crate has always been her safe haven and a treat awaits her in the crate when we leave. Even when I have used the crate for punishment, she does not hesitate to use it normally, but I don't want to ruin that either. So how or where do you punish a dog? Is shaking her by the scruff (5lb dog) and using the eye contact until she breaks it a proper scolding?  Please let me know if your answer is different with this extra information.

Answer
Hi Lisa, Thank you for the clarification. Absolutely, taking a small dog to the ground by the scruff with eye contact is a good punishment. My little Toy Fox Terrier, knows that if mum even touches her scruff in an abrupt manor, she is in trouble and drops to her side looking away. Mother dogs handle their small pups this way, so it is not harsh unless we make it harsh. You don't have to shake them down, most of the time, they usually will submit as soon as they feel your hand softly "bite" their scruff.
Now, as far as her urinating problem, it sounds like she wants to be outside and you know better for her. So when she  tells you that she needs to go out, simply pick her up and take her to her piddle pad and say "take a break" or whatever command you use. Do not let her leave until she obeys. She may not really need to go potty, but just wants out. If that is the case, maybe you can set up a good exercise routine for her during the daylight hours. If you take her for walks at the heel in the morning and again before dusk, it will exercise her mind and body, thus establishing you as pack leader and getting her exercise. Even the smallest of dogs need to take walks or go for jogs as playing in a house or yard simply does not stimulate the mind enough to provide good mental exercise. I do hope this helps. I did not mean to mislead you about spite, it is just that dogs can be very demanding and argumentative, but they do not have the emotion of spite or getting even with us for something we have done wrong. Your dog is simply being demanding and trying to get you to do things her way. Leave me some feedback and again, follow-up to let me know how things go for the two of you. Thank you. Warm Regards, Susan