Nerves or happy -urination ?

Question
I have an 11 week old Rotti/Shepard mix named Jack. Jack has good control of his bladder and makes very few "mistakes" in the home except when I miss him going to the door.  Our question is with one member of the family (age 14 boy).  When Jack greets him, Jack urinates slightly on the floor, yet seems happy to see him.  This happens even if Jack has just urinated outside.  Jack does this with nobody else and doesn't seem to realize he's doing it, which brings up the issue of why he pees with the one family member.  Jack does not act scared of the family member, but yet extremely excited.  The other children are 16 and 7.  Question: Is he really scared, or overly happy, and how do we help him through this problem?

Answer
Hi Mark,

This sounds like something called "Excitement urination". It's the result of infant muscles that simply cannot hold their urine when the pup gets excited. Jack simply gets so excited when he sees the 14 year old boy that he temporarily loses control of his bladder.

Excitement urination occurs most often during greetings and playtime and is not accompanied by submissive posturing.

The vast majority of puppies simply outgrow this problem as they become stronger and gain control of their muscles, as long as it isn't made worse by punishment or inadvertent reinforcement. You can't punish your puppy for what he can't control.

What to do if to correct this excitement urination problem:

* Keep greetings low key. Don't make eye contact.
* When arriving home, ignore Jack at first, until he's calm.
* Don't punish or scold him.
* To avoid accidents, play and greet outdoors until the problem is resolved.
* Take Jack to the veterinarian to rule out medical reasons for the behavior.
* Until the problem resolves, you might want to protect your flooring by placing a plastic drop cloth or an absorbent material in the entryway where accidents are most likely to occur. Alternatively, you can purchase "doggie diapers" (also called a "belly band") at your local pet supply store.

You can read more about how to resolve this problem here:

http://www.perfectpaws.com/excur.html

Best of luck,
Patti