My dog keeps weeing indoors through fear - need techniques and confidence building advice

[AnnaAndChild]

A friend of a work colleague needed to re-home her 6 month GSD as she had recently divorced and was moving into rented accommodation.

I was on the lookout for a new dog as mine had recently passed away. I wanted another GSD and was over the moon to re-home her, after meeting her a few times I found she was very gentle, along with the usual exuberance that goes with a 6 month old pup in a large dogs body.

Four weeks later and she is a lovely dog to have around except if I call her in a strong voice (ie deeply and not high pitched) or I approach her in a fast way she wets herself. Then ensues a whole drama. She immediately thinks she is going to get into trouble and runs into a corner. If I approach her, she wees again. If I leave her, she will stay there for ages and I have to wait until she emerges and then approach her when she isn't looking at me and casually stroke her and then move away to avoid another wet patch.

I have never hit her. When I first had I did tell her she was bad for weeing indoors, but after a week I realized the problems this was causing her and stopped.

I really need help to install her with confidence and techniques in how to deal with her.

when I first had her

Poor wee dog. We used to call this submissive urination but tend not to talk in dominant and submissives anymore. But basically as you have already said your dog is concerned and shows her anxiety by weeing. The main way to deal with it is to totally ignore it.

To build up her confidence you need to do loads of obedience training with her which she will always get right. Have you done any clicker training? If I were nearby I would lend you a clicker to see how she responds to the noise of it. If it does not bother her at all click the clicker and give her a treat keep doing this for a few days. soon the clicker means good things. Then gently lure her into a sit and click, she will soon realise that the click is good and she is doing well - her confidence will then begin to grow.

I do feel that you may need training classes to help her but you must always reward her confident behaviour and totally ignore her anxiety. Do not do things to quickly as it does sound as if she missed out on a lot of socilaisation at the vital puppy stage.

If your voice is worrying her again for recall you could train her on a whistle, the advantage being that the whistle will not show your frustration or your mood.

If she has once been told off for weeing inside it will take a while for her to forget this so patience is required. You must not tell her off for anything, ignore the bad behaviour and reward the good. If she is doing something dangerous obviously she can be removed from the situation but do not say anything to her.

I would find a good APDT who will work with positive reinforcement methods to help you.

Good luck