Submissive/Excited Peeing

Question
QUESTION: I have a 15 month old female Basset Hound. We had a lot of issues house breaking her and crate training her. But things seem to be doing okay now. The issue I am having with her is submissive peeing. But I don't know that it's necessarily submissive. She never does it with me (I'm her primary care giver) I am married and we have a 3 year old son. She doesn't do it with my son either. She does it about 50% of the time with my husband - depending on how he approaches her. If anyone else comes near her to pet her - she doesn't back away - she pulls and reaches for them and wags her tail - then pees. This is why I think she pees because she's excited. My husband keeps saying we need to socialize her - but I really don't know how to start this without having her pee everywhere! Thanks for any advice you have!

ANSWER: Hi Stacie,

There are a few different terms for this...two being submissive urination or excited urination.  It's most often seen in dogs that are less dominant than others and/or unsure of themselves.

It's also more often seen with men or strangers.  Sounds familiar I'm sure.  :)

The good news is, with a bit of confidence building and age, most dogs outgrow the behavior.  Typically by about 24 months.

Dogs that exhibit this behavior shouldn't be towered over (difficult with a short BH) or greeted in an overly excited manner.

I can give you a couple tips but could you answer me this, first?  Does she exhibit the behavior in both the home and outside or are you seeing it more in one place than the other?  Also...how well socialized IS she at this point?

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QUESTION: She isn't very well socialized. We also have a chocolate lab and we live close to a big park so we do get out and around people a lot - but my husband is training his dog for hunting and in turn a lot has rubbed off on our Bassett (Bailey) With that - he didn't really want anyone coming up to our dogs. She does it everywhere. I would say she does it more at home - but that's probably because we're at home more when she is around other people. It is familiar that she does it more with me and strangers - that's how it started - but it seems to have gotten a bit worse lately - she'll do it with anyone that's not me or my son.

Answer
Ok...thanks :)

It'll be easier to control in your home.  Your husband had to be fairly serious (or has to be) about training his dog for hunting so hopefully he'll be on bored.

You BH should not be touched or greeted.  The easiest thing I've found to remind people is to put a sign at the door 'Dog in training, please ignore'.  It sounds silly but everyone wants to touch a dog...and people seem to especially love the goofy looking BH.

What's happening with her is that because she wasn't socialized properly as a puppy, any person is major excitement.  We tend to think of dogs as adults at a year of age, but in truth, many don't mentally mature until they are about 2 years old.  So you have an immature dog getting over stimulated with people and the result is urination.  Completely normal which is the good news.  :)

Have anyone that comes in ignore her for at least 15 minutes (you'll be able to determine how long it takes her to calm down).  That means no eye contact, no speaking and no touching...even if she approaches.  Teaching her to stay and wait in another room when people enter would be a bonus but isn't necessary.  

After she's settled, if she approaches, they can communicate with her but any talk should be low key...hey there Fluffy...not oh my GOD FLUFFY  how CUUUUTE are YOU!!!!  Things with her need to be very calm.  Eventually she'll see strangers and other people entering your home as a good thing but not a crazily exciting thing.

When you take her out on walks or to the park, you can tell people that she's in training and to please ignore her.  90% of people will abide by it...5% will think you're snooty and 5% will say ohhhh that's okaaaay and pet her anyway.  :)

You can also build her confidence.  Give her jobs to do...your husband is already training the lab to hunt, why not teach the BH to search?  They have great noses and teaching her to track would be a great self esteem builder.  

The NILF method of training at home will also help out.  If you google 'NILF dog training' you'll come up with several sites that explain it.  It stands for Nothing In Life is Free.  In a nutshell, she gets nothing unless she does something for you first.

If you begin to do these things, you should see the behavior diminish.  It will take some time but it WILL help.  :)