QuestionQUESTION: We have an 18 month old collie bitch. She is quite sensitive and sometimes rolls over and urinates when husband comes home from work. He has been ignoring her and this has helped but our worry is that when we take her out on lead (with haltie attached) she does not wee at all. She will come home and do it all in back garden. At weekend we took her to my mum's house and she did not wee at all. She would not even go out through the conservatory out into the garden on this occasion to wee. It was as if she was afraid to go out and do her business in their garden. We took her out for a long walk one evening on lead and she never went at all and then the next morning I opened conservatory door to let her out into their back garden and she just rolled over and did a huge wee on their carpet. We did not shout at her, all we did was to get her out into their conservatory and shut her out of the lounge. It is the first time she has ever stayed overnight in a different house, but the main worry I have is why won't she wee on walks? She doesn't even go off lead - she will only do it in our back garden. Any suggestions?
ANSWER: Hello Jennifer,
I have a few of questions...has your collie been vet checked for this problem to determine if there is a health reason behind this, how long have you owned your collie, has she been socialized, and I just reread your paragraph to reveal another question...what form of consistent training are you offering her with this behavior?
Often when a dog has not been socialized or is left alone for periods of time this overexcitement and submissive urination will occur. You are correct in having your husband ignore her, however as for the accident on the carpet or wherever it happens, you need to establish better communication with her. To do this you need to better understand dog behavior and use some problem solving to your special circumstance as you know the most regarding your family and your collie. Let me share a few articles with you that will give you some of the basics in dog behavior, training, and addressing the issue of submissive urination.
Here is an article on submissive urination:
http://www.usask.ca/wcvm/herdmed/applied-ethology/behaviourproblems/suburine.htm
This is an excellent site to better understand a dogs body language:
http://www.pawsacrossamerica.com/interpret.html
I believe after you make certain that your collie girl does not have a health problem with this urinating, then you can try to resolve the problem before it happens...for instance: greeting at the door and submissively urinating confine the dog to a room or crate where the door can still be seen but contact is not made, or friends walking up to you with your dog can be work on by asking everyone to ignore your dog and not to make eye contact or any gesture toward the dog. You will find that omitting the little things like that and providing positive reinforcement will provide a much better environment for both you and your collie. How would you like to learn by force or by enjoying what you are doing? With a submissive dog you will generally get no where by force, but instead use indirect training techniques that YOU can devise to alleviate the problem from occurring.
I hope this has given you a better understanding of the problem. And do feel free to contact me should you continue to have problems and with more specific information, would be able to better assist you.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Hello, thanks for advice. Yes, she has been socialized, both with adults and other dogs since she was very tiny, but she will not go to the toilet when out on lead - why do you think this is? We have had her since she was a puppy and have taken her out for regular walks both on and off lead but she comes home and goes to the toilet in the back garden. She is fine with other dogs and people whilst out but just will not wee outside of the garden.
AnswerHi Jennifer,
That is so difficult to know what the cause is without actually seeing the dogs behavior. Generally, I would make sure you take her out to the same area for a while (where you want her to go). Prompt her needing to go by perhaps feeding her and giving her water just prior to her walk. Then plan on a continued walk and even rest spots as long as you can handle being outside or until she urinates or defecates. When she does, make sure you praise her using the same voice tones, body movements, and words. By doing this, you will get her associating a word for going outside. Also find something she enjoys doing outside (that is acceptable) and make a game of it so she enjoys going outside for her "potty time". I use the term "potty outside" so when any of the dogs show more movement than normal I say those words "potty outside" and they are ready to go out for their walk. On the same note when the dog finally does urinate or defecate where you want...say good "potty outside" or whatever word/s you plan on using. Soon the dog will associate this activity as a good thing rather than something to be fearful of.
As for why she might be fearful...that a loaded question, lol! Just guessing it could be from an experience outside while with the mother and litter, could be from one simple experience outside that really scarred the pup, or who knows? A question does come to mind, was the mother afraid of the outdoors or timid in any way? If so it could be from that as most of the initial learned behavior during the first weeks is from the mother.
