Stopping Submissive urination?

[wherehavealltheflowersgone]

Hello wise dog-owners
We have a gorgeous 17 month old springer x cocker spaniel. He's castrated, passed his recent Vet annual check up, and is by all accounts in great health. He's exercised for 2-3 off lead hours a day and is home alone for max 2 hours a day (and happy as we video monitor him!)

However his submissive urination is getting worse! He does little drips of wee (sorry tmi, but they're not full wees iykwim?) when we come home, when he gets his lead on, when a visitor turns up, when he sees his food ... basically any situation where something a teeny bit exciting is happening!

My floors (fortunately wooden flooring) are very clean from the constant mopping but he did it today on my parents' carpet which was not so good 😬

Any ideas? He's our first dog ..

[BiteyShark]

My now 18 month old cocker has always done submissive excitement pees.

Fortunately he only does them now when he meets strangers so no idea how to stop it bu posting in case anyone does.

[villainousbroodmare]

Be very boring. Keep greetings dull, don't stoke him up with "Who wants to go for a walk then?!" and remind visitors to be very low key and completely ignore him for a while. Never admonish - he can't help it. I would say it will diminish in frequency. Sounds a lovely dog.

[wherehavealltheflowersgone]

Thank you - he is adorable, we are all besotted! ❤️

Will try the being boring tip - thank you!

[OhWotIsItThisTime]

My dog does this, unless I’m dull. So ignore when you get in, and he will eventually calm down. If that’s too hard, ignore, get in garden and then greet.

[honeyroar]

My little Romanian rescue used to do this a lot. She has been here two and a half years and has got a lot better.

I tried to put her in the garden when people arrived and asked them to say hello to her there, so there was no problem if she did wee. I then graduated to letting her be in the house when people arrived, but asking them not to bend down and greet her for the first five minutes.

Never show any sign of frustration (sighs) or chastise them as they really can't help it and it makes it worse the next time. If I had a dog that did it at feed time I would pop them outside while I made feeds and even when I fed them. If they didn't wee when I fed them I'd praise them.

It is hard, and it took a long time (and made toilet training difficult!) but it doesn't happen much now.

[Bubble2bubble]

I've had this also with a springer x and now been resolved for many years.
When you get up in the morning, or you come home it's straight outside for a wee - no excitement, no eye contact ( sounds very harsh, but means to an end) . Once that's done you can make more of a fuss, but in general as pps have said you have keep everything very calm and low key.
The other thing I did was change to a grain free food. I have since read that there can be a connection between stress incontinence and wheat, though not sure if this is anecdotal or actually scientifically proven.

[honeyroar]

That's interesting Bubble, my little dog is allergic to most grains so fed grain free. She's also allergic to grass and wees more in summer when the pollen makes her itch. I can never decide whether she wees due to the allergy or the fact that she has to be wiped down more and have cream applied, which she doesn't really like.

[wherehavealltheflowersgone]

Thanks so much all. Ddog is already on a grain free hypoallergenic diet due to his sensitive tummy. Will try the no-looking calm approach!

[honeyroar]

After all my "mine rarely does it now" she just peed when I came in!

[FiftyStoriesHigh]

@wherehavealltheflowersgone I’d love to know if you found a solution? I’m going mad here!

[PollyRoulllson]

Really really really common with spaniels. It is not due to being submissive just being emotional. It could be a bit of anxiety but also excitment


Ideally you need a calm house, calm greetings, no response to the weeing, a dog that has loads of opportunities to do what spaniels do so loads of controlled sniffing.

If possible do all of the things that cause him to wee outside eg meet and greet when you come home and meet new people etc. Make it all low key and a calm event.

I would put sniffing on cue put treats out for the dog to find say "go sniff" and really importantly have a "all done" command so you can move on. In situations that you think the dog may wee ask for go sniff, this usually slows down the dogs heart rate and breathing rate and may help them control their emotions. If it doesnt your dog will love doing in anyway

This too will pass - the less attention you pay to it the quicker it will go (usually)

[GeneLovesJezebel]

If he’s meeting people at the front door, let him just outside the door to do it, so he sees outside.

[GeneLovesJezebel]

*wees

[sillyrubberduck]

My boy (Springer) used to do this when young. He's grown out of it at around 3 if I remember well. He's 5 now, no issues. He's entire though, not sure if this makes a difference.