Submissive urination is a dog behavior problem that drives people crazy.  I’ve written an article about this problem previously, click here to read it. After dealing with this problem more and more, however I have a little more insight into how to fix this behavior problem.

What is submissive urination?

To recap what I wrote in my article, submissive urination is a problem caused by an excess of submission.  Your dog should feel submissive toward you.  The problem starts, though, when your dog feels overly submissive.  This happens when the dog owner communicates in a way with their dog that confuses the dog and causes the dog to go into a mental void where the only thing that makes sense is to roll over and pee.

Now, keep in mind, this urination is not an overt behavior.  It is more of a reflex and as such has to be treated in a different way than you would treat other ‘misbehaviors’.

How to not treat submissive urination

A great deal of my latest insight into treating submissive urination deals with how to not go about your training efforts.  There are a couple ways that people deal with this behavior that tend to make the problem worse:

Getting angry/punishing/correcting the dog-

Remember, your dog has this problem because you have communicated in a way that is confusing.  You may not realize that you have done this but it is important to understand that you have.  If you observe dogs communicating amongst themselves it is very rare that one dog will submissively urinate toward another dog.  It is only when a dog is very confused and feels overly dominated that they will submissively urinate.

If you punish your dog for submissive urination it will only serve to confuse your dog even more.

Don’t coddle your dog-

Many people act the opposite of angry when their dog has a submissive urination problem.  They coddle the dog.  They let their dog get away with murder for fear of setting off another round of peeing.  This doesn’t work either.

Remember, the solution is all about proper relationship.  The proper relationship between you and your dog is not that of servant (you) and master (your dog).  You can’t allow your dog to do whatever he or she wants.  The proper relationship is you in the fair leadership position.  If you are constantly coddling your dog in order to avoid a submissive urination problem you will find that the relationship will still be out of whack and the problem will still continue.

How to fix submissive urination

So if you can’t punish and you can’t coddle, what can you do?  The key is to fix the relationship you have with your dog.  One of the best ways to do this is to keep your dog on a leash for a while inside the home.  A lot of bonding happens through the leash.  It will also put you in a position to correct misbehaviors without emotion.  Too often dogs start submissively urinating when their owner shouts at them, spanks them, hits them, or chases after them when they catch their dog chewing, jumping, barking, etc.  This frightens the dog and sends him into a state where he submissively urinates.  If you have a leash on your dog it allows you to catch him in the act of any misbehavior and give him a quick jerk on the leash.  If you are fairly correcting your dog for misbehaviors it shouldn’t set off a round of submissive urination.

Also, work on your obedience training.  Obedience training is a great way to bond with your dog and clear up any areas of confusion.  Don’t do ‘treat training’ as this will just further coddle your dog.  Simply be firm but fair and you should be able to fix the relationship in no time.  There are still several other tips for treating this problem in my other article previously referenced.  Good luck.