1 year old Golden is scared of my husband

Question
Hello,
I have a 1 year old Golden Retriever, male. He has not yet been neutered, but we are going to get that done as soon as possible. He is a great dog and good with my and the kids. Normally he is ok with my husband, but for the past couple of months, anytime my husband talks to him or interacts with him, good or bad, he pees on the floor. Which makes my husband even more upset. Now my husband wants me to find Harper another home, but I don't want to do that. He is just a baby still. We have tried having my husband give him treats and cuddle him and play with him, and sometimes he is fine for a few minutes, but he almost always pees. My husband has a short temper and can be a very intimidating person. I am looking for some practical solutions to help things calm down. My husband is getting ready to go on another deployment and we would like to have made some progress in this area before he leaves. I also feel like just finding Harper another home is not the correct solution, and if that is what he pursues then we will not be getting him the German Shepherd he has wanted.... to me it would indicate that he can not handle dogs. Thank you in advance for your time and suggestions.

Answer
Hi, Kelli

This is a tough call on my part.  All I have to go on in giving my opinion is a short paragraph.  

A couple of things that you said jumped out at me:
"he pees on the floor. Which makes my husband even more upset"
"My husband has a short temper and can be a very intimidating person"

Dogs, like most animals, are very good at reading body language.  That is their primary means of communication.  From what you say, Harper is demonstrating classic "submissive" peeing.  He is fearful of your husband and is trying to show your husband that he (Harper) is not a threat and is not challenging him in any way.

As long as your husband continues the react this way, I don't see much hope for correcting the situation.  What you will possibly end up with is a very neurotic dog.

If you feel there is hope for changing the way your husband handles his anger, you may wish to share the following information with him:

http://www.marinhumanesociety.org/Behavior/Handouts/SubmissiveUrination.pdf
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/submissive-uri.pdf  

If you don't think this is a possibility, finding Harper a new home might be the kindest thing you can do for him.