# Submissive or scared? PEEING!!!



## PrinceJames (Jun 15, 2015)

My puppy is going to be 7 months next week. Ever since I got her at 8 weeks she would pee on the spot when scared. Now I am noticing that she is just doing it whenever she gets scared or disciplined. For disciplining I used to do the spray bottle, and then the flick on the nose, but I've stopped all that completely 2 months ago thinking that it's traumatizing her. Now even if I say "cage", she'll go to her cage but then pee right outside of it and then go in with her tai, between her legs, or like last night I was cleaning her hairs and she knows the materials I use, I got them, sat down and said "come here", she looked at me, peed, then got on the floor flat and crawled to me.... What can I do to STOP this???!

(She is fully potty trained and will sit at the door and wait when she needs to go and won't go unless I say "go potty")


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

Do you reward her for doing the right thing?


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## PrinceJames (Jun 15, 2015)

dogma13 said:


> Do you reward her for doing the right thing?


Yes!!!!!! I actually home make her treats that she loves so much, dehydrated liver and chicken... She's on a raw diet so it's nice that she goes crazy for those things!


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

I'd shift to a clicker and positive training methods, with that behavior (NO corrections, for now). If you haven't trained her with a clicker before, that's good, as it's new and will only have a positive association. Make boosting her self-esteem your biggest priority. I would try to focus on what she needs to gain her confidence back, so that you can strengthen your bond and regain her trust in you.

By the way, assuming that you're a man (based on the user name, I'm guessing), focus on softening your voice when you talk to her. I've seen some men with deep/loud voices scare some very "soft" dogs with their "firm" voice commands. Find the tone of voice that makes her wiggly and happy, and try to use that when you train, even if it's higher pitched/sillier than you would prefer. The goal is to make everything very non-threatening, fun, and happy for her while she regains her confidence. This won't be necessary forever, but given the need for her to feel more confident right now, I think it will help.


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## annabirdie (Jul 3, 2015)

She sounds like a submissive dog and also a little scared too. She obviously sees you as a strong authority figure, which is good, but maybe she's taken it a little far. I hear that this behaviour tends to wind down around a year/18 months in general. I think the key to stopping it is probably ignoring her. Forget any forms of physical discipline (spraying or nose swatting) as she obviously defers to you without it. Instead of saying "cage", go to the cage yourself and throw a few treats in for her to run in and gobble up, then say "good girl" and crate her. Rely less on verbal/physical, it isn't necessary with this dog.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Listen to yourself in your interactions with your dog. Tape yourself if possible. Change your tone with her. She probably will be putty in your hand with quiet and easy, calm, happy commands. Ease it down. Call her to you. Use an up beat voice -- let's go get the brushes. Let's go do toenails. Good girl. Use good girl a lot. What a good girl you are. 

Ignore it when she piddles or acts fearful. Just clean it and move on. Try to regulate your voice. SMILE. They look at our faces. They do. Once I had to smile before calling the dog to me in the COME command in obedience or she would come to me like a whipped cur -- a smile changed that. 

Good luck.


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## Wolfenstein (Feb 26, 2009)

selzer said:


> SMILE. They look at our faces. They do. Once I had to smile before calling the dog to me in the COME command in obedience or she would come to me like a whipped cur -- a smile changed that.


I need to tattoo this on my arm! Haha!! It's such a huge help when you change your tone, but so easy to forget to do.



"Submissive urination" is called that because the behavior is what's considered an appeasement gesture. These are behaviors that dogs instinctively do to try and diffuse tension. The peeing is completely involuntary, but I think you know that already. This is one way that dogs can practically scream with their body language, "Look how absolutely non-threatening I am!! Let's all just chill out, here!" 

When "talking" together like this, the RIGHT thing to do (not that all dogs really "speak" well with each other!) is to mirror appeasement gestures to show you're on the same page. If nothing else, a more dominant dog would likely just back off. I've found that the advice you're given for solving these problems all boil down to doing the same thing with your dog. Like people have said already, changing your tone of voice, getting lower on the ground before calling your dog over, turning your body away, even pretending to yawn, licking your lips, not making direct eye contact, these all help the dog feel more at ease.

The flip side of this, though, from a training standpoint, is that you need to be aware of accidentally encouraging the behavior. If your dog does it on approach to you, completely ignore her until she's demonstrating more confident behavior. Try to work on really fun, engaging obedience sessions where your dog is rewarded for confidently listening to you. Again, like suggested, the clicker/marker reward system is GREAT for this. It gets dogs really excited about learning. Really physical play like tug is great, too. Your aim is to build and reward confidence, while trying to make it where the submissive behavior is rewarded as little as possible.


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## Jupitergirl1 (11 mo ago)

PrinceJames said:


> My puppy is going to be 7 months next week. Ever since I got her at 8 weeks she would pee on the spot when scared. Now I am noticing that she is just doing it whenever she gets scared or disciplined. For disciplining I used to do the spray bottle, and then the flick on the nose, but I've stopped all that completely 2 months ago thinking that it's traumatizing her. Now even if I say "cage", she'll go to her cage but then pee right outside of it and then go in with her tai, between her legs, or like last night I was cleaning her hairs and she knows the materials I use, I got them, sat down and said "come here", she looked at me, peed, then got on the floor flat and crawled to me.... What can I do to STOP this???!
> 
> (She is fully potty trained and will sit at the door and wait when she needs to go and won't go unless I say "go potty")


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## Jupitergirl1 (11 mo ago)

Spray bottle an cage an you wonder why she’s peeing ,,Shepard’s are not only extremely sensitive ,they are big muscle animals ,they never need a cage ,,they need a daily 3 mile run in woods ,they also need your energy to be stable ,an peaceful ,imagine Your mom spraying you with a water bottle when u were confused or scared ,,,why do people get animals ( really smart animals too) an they r clueless ,,omg get a houseplant instead ,they like to be sprayed with water lol


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## Jupitergirl1 (11 mo ago)

Jupitergirl1 said:


> Spray bottle an cage an you wonder why she’s peeing ,,Shepard’s are not only extremely sensitive ,they are big muscle animals ,they never need a cage ,,they need a daily 3 mile run in woods ,they also need your energy to be stable ,an peaceful ,imagine Your mom spraying you with a water bottle when u were confused or scared ,,,why do people get animals ( really smart animals too) an they r clueless ,,omg get a houseplant instead ,they like to be sprayed with water lol


She’s afraid of you ,your energy is erratic,she’s confused by you ,when you look at her she pees an crawls to you ,wow she doesn’t respect you ,because that’s what you give out to her ,an at 12 weeks or before ,should be totally going outside ,barking At door to pee,


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## WNGD (Jan 15, 2005)

@Jupitergirl1 this is a 6 year old thread.


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