Submissive urination in puppies

Submissive urination is a prevalent canine communicative signal indicating deference in social interaction. In puppies it most frequently happens in two situations: (1) When the puppy becomes excited during reunion with an owner after an extended absence or (2) During social interaction with a person who either punishes the puppy or acts in a threatening or dominant manner.

Significant Features

• Small amounts of urine are usually expelled. The body posture is one in which the dog crouches,squats or presents the inguinal area. In extreme cases, a dog will roll over into lateral recumbency and raises a rear leg. Submissive urination is often accompanied by other body postures reflective of deference: lowered head and neck,tail down, ears flattened, and at times retracting the lips into a "submissive grin".
• Most puppies as they mature develop better bladder control and usually outgrow the tendency by about 8 months.
  
• Prevalent in Cocker spaniels; Differences between other breeds are not as great.
  
• Females show a greater tendency for submissive urination than males and a greater tendency to carry the behavioral pattern into young adulthood.
  
• The misbehavior is specific to certain contexts. As noted above, it most often occurs during reunion between the dog and owner (e.g. at the time of greetings rather than departures), when the dog is punished interactively by the owner, or at times when the dog becomes excited or aroused in the owners presence.
  
• Submissive urination is non-goal directed and relatively "reflexive" in nature. In other words, it appears to occur outside the puppy "awareness". The behavior can become classically conditioned to specific events (i.e. owner arriving home and greeting the puppy, or simply the doorbell ringing). Rarely is the behavior used in an operant fashion to achieve some goal (e.g. the puppy intentionally submissively urinates for reward).
  
• More prevalent in puppies than older dogs due to maturational reasons. As a dog ages its status relationship usually begins to shift relative to the owner and other humans. For this reason the tendency wanes or disappears altogether.
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Behavioral Modification Suggestions

The goal is to make the puppy more relaxed, less submissive and less excited when approached during social interaction. Some guidelines are as follows:

1. Never punish - since the puppy is acting with submission, punishment will only increase the tendency for submissive urination.

2. The amount of social interaction should be minimized during greetings. Enthusiastic greetings should be toned down. In severe cases, the puppy should be totally ignored. In general, an owner should avoid physical praise, picking-up the puppy, making direct and prolonged eye contact, and bending over the puppy. In ethological terms, these kinds of behaviors mimic dominance by another dog and therefore should be avoided.

3. In less severe cases the owner may crouch rather than bend over the puppy when the pup approaches. Petting and touching should be done under the chin or on the throat and chest with the palm up rather than placing the hand on top of the pup's head. As noted above, gestures or behaviors that mimic dominance should be avoided.

4. After the steps the been undertaken and the urination seems to be subsiding, an owner may begin counter-conditioning procedures. Steps are as follows: (a) Allow the puppy to approach and as it approaches proffer it a food treat; (b) As the puppy eats the food, it should be praised verbally; (c) Subsequent approach behavior should be maintained on an intermittent reinforcement schedule with a gradual introduction of more physical praise.

5. If the above procedures are ineffective, then a systematic desensitization program should be considered. Through desensitization the pup is gradually conditioned to tolerate the stimuli/circumstances that previously elicited the misbehavior.