German Shepherd and urination

Question
I have a 3yr old female German Shepherd. She doesn't have accidents in the house, but, in the past, she has urinated at times when my husband has scolded her. However, this doesn't happen with me. Recently, for a few days in a row now, my husband would return from work and she would urinate when he approaches her. He doesn't say a word to her and she just pees.  She doesn't even greet him at the door like my other dog does (but she does with me). My husband scolds her when she has an accident but I just put her outside.  It's frustrating because this is becoming a daily thing and my husband gets impatient with her which I think she senses.  Any suggestion or advice on how to stop this would be appreciated.

Answer
Dear Shiji,

Thank you for writing to me.  The reason your dog pees when your husband comes home is that after years of scolding and punishing her, your dog is petrified of him.  She is engaging in something called submissive peeing.  It's actually showing your husband that she is deferring to him and punishing her or scolding her more is just making the situation worse...it is actually traumatizing her.

Your husband has to chill out and greet this dog with a treat and kind word.  She currently associates him with either physical or emotional pain or both and she's terrified.  No dog deserves to feel this way.  

You might try purchasing some tapes or books that teach people how to understand canine behavior.  A site called www.dogwise.com has a large selection of such books and tapes.  Anything by Ian Dunbar or Karen Pryor is excellent, as are other books/tapes.

I hope that it's not too late for your husband to turn this situation around.

Best Regards,
Shelley Davis