I hope this question hasn't been asked before, I tried to find anything relative to it in this thread and didn't find it. So here goes. I have a 6 1/2 month old Mastiff Samoyed mix. She is in the sense of age still a puppy although her size would say otherwise. The problem we are having is when she gets excited, whether it be a new visitor to the house or sweet talk, she piddles. Now as far as being house trained she is. She lets us know when she needs to go outside by either whining by the door or coming and actually getting us and is very vocal about it. I have tried putting her in her crate when I know someone is coming over, then waiting till the newness of a visitor has passed (15-20 minutes) and then very casually letting her out of her crate and she immediately runs to the new person and wiggles and piddles! I am really at the end of my rope. Getting rid of this dog is not an option for me. Animals as far as I am concerned are not disposable things. I really want to help her correct this problem. My thought is that maybe there is a medication that I can give her that helps with incontinence. They have it for people why not for dogs right? Any suggestions would be much appreciated. With the holidays coming up, my kitchen is going to be a big pee pool every time someone comes in the door! I'm exaggerating of course but you get the point. Help!! :mad:

Many dogs eventually outgrow it, but you can reduce it by building the dog's confidence up. Start with obedience training. The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete As you praise the dog for following your commands, it will build its confidence.

Play tug of war with the dog and lose. However at the end of the game, take the rope or toy and put it up, less the dog becomes confused about who is top dog. Ropes from the pets' store quickly turn to hazardous shreds. Ones I made lasted much better. Go to a hardware or home center that sells rope by the foot. Buy 2' of 3/4" poly rope. Melt the ends, and tie knots in it. Get them as tight as possible, put it in a vise and pound it with a hammer. Watch carefully, and be ready to discard when it comes apart.

Finally, make sure it has a den to live in. If you are not using a crate, buy one. The dog may be happier in its den than loose in the house. It relaxes, it feels safe in its den. It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving its self. Dogs that have been crated all along do very well. Many of them will rest in their crates even when the door is open. I think the plastic ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling. Metal ones can be put in a corner or covered with something the dog can't pull in and chew. Select a crate just big enough for the full grown dog to stretch out in.

When you are expecting guests, it would be better to take her out and let her empty her bladder. When they come, make her sit when they come up to her to greet her.

My dog piddled as a puppy too - it took her a while to outgrow it, but she finally did. I noticed she did it the most when my husband or I came home, so we would greet her outside when at all possible, so if she piddled it didn't matter. She also seemed to get "upset" if she noticed me clean it up off the floor (like she knew she wasn't supposed to do it, but couldn't help it) so I would distract her with something else and clean it up without her watching me. It also helped to greet her down on her level, instead of standing over her and petting. I remember how frustrating it was, but hang in there, she'll out grow it, and using the tips you get here will hopefully help it happen faster! :)

Oh, and thank you for saying dogs aren't disposable; I wish more people realized that!

Labman, thank you for the suggestions. I hate to sound like the broken record and say I have tried all those things. The only one I did not try was the playing tug a war and losing. I was always told when playing tug of war to make sure that I do not lose. I will try that with her as well. I think that we have established a definite alpha dog in the family and both dogs react to me as such. They look to me for approval on anything. Its just when she is excited she loses it.

Hello kanicky!

What your dog is experiencing is submissive urination. Labman is right about building her confidence. Jillian did a good job resolving her dog's issues.

I keep promising myself that I will do some write ups like labman does, but I am not as disciplined as he is. LOL. Here is some information that I have used here before. It is taken from Pet information - dog information - cat information - Canada's pet information center for dogs cats and humans that will help you understand what is going on and how to resolve it.

"Submissive urination in dogs - Submissive urination is not a house training problem

Dogs are genetically programmed, to live in a hierarchical group. Some dogs are more dominant, and other dogs are less dominant or more submissive. Normally dogs will accept their owners as the leaders of the pack. They are in essence, accepting them as the top dogs in the house. Extremely submissive dogs, dogs with self esteem issues or puppies, will often urinate when they get excited. This often happens when their owners return home after having gone out, when they are told it is time for a walk, when guests or people they know show up at the house, and even sometimes when they are petted. What they are doing in essence, is sending out the message "You are my superior, I am not a threat". They do this through urination, because a dog's urine contains information about its status in the group.

It is extremely important not to yell at a dog, punish, or discipline a dog for submissive urination. By yelling at the dog , all you are doing is reinforcing the dogs feeling of submissiveness. This may cause the dog to urinate even more.

The key to curing a dog's submissive urination problem is to remove the excitement that causes it, and by building up a dog's confidence, since confident dogs don't urinate when they get excited. When you come home, do not greet your dog with excitement. In fact, it's better if you ignore your dog completely for the first few minutes. Nonchalantly, let your dog out to urinate or have another family member take the dog out. It is very important not to get your dog excited. Don't make direct eye contact with him since direct eye contact is a sign of dominance, and don't talk to him, or talk to him in a low monotone voice. When the dog urinates, lavish excessive amounts of praise upon him. The goal here, is for the dog to get excited about urination outdoors.

Obedience training is a GREAT way to build up a dog's confidence and it also provides socialization with other dogs which is good for confidence building. Playing fetch or having the dog do something constructive for which it receives praise is another way."

You should have your guests follow this procedure of "no eye or physical contact" when you have people visiting. After she urinates outside and you are confident her bladder is empty bring her back inside. I know it is hard but you need to tell them not to talk excitedly to her, grab her, or make eye contact. They need to remain neutral and wait for her to COMPLETELY calm down before they pet her or acknowledge. Warn them to continue to keep their voices down when they are acknowledging her. No excited talking to her.

As far as the "sweet talk" issues, if she still piddles when you or the immediate family have been home and not just walking in the door, try to curb your love talk until after you have walked her and made sure her bladder is completely empty. Or, you can sweet talk to her when you are outside with her.

You haven't mentioned if she is spayed. If she isn't, and these suggestions don't work, you may want to discuss spaying her with your vet. Usually spaying/neutering does help with piddle issues.

Actually your case almost sounds more like excitement dribbling than submissive wetting. Both are similar and corrected about the same way. One sure clue to submissive wetting is rolling on the back and looking away. It the dog is dancing around and looking for attention, it is excitement. One technique I could not do without is picking the dog up and carrying it out. It is very effective when you come home when the puppy has been in the crate.

RubyPitbull has added several good ideas. She knows enough about dogs to not only find a website, but choose one with quality advice.

Ruby and labman thank you both for the advice. I think after reading what both of you have read that this is definetely her not having enough confidence. I did have to chuckle though when you (labman) mentioned picking her up and taking her outside. I haven't been able to pick this dog up since she was about 4 months old. Last weigh in she was almost 80lbs!! I will definetely work on the confidence issue with her and try to have patience. I think at this point my biggest obstacle is getting the rest of my family members on the same page. Thanks again.

Oops! You did say Mastiff mix. The one lady I know admitted picking up her 80 pound Lab and carrying him out for his last trip of the night. The worst part of that is that she is an AKC certified obedience instructor.

I tried the suggestions last night on building her confidence level and to my amazement she seemed to be a tad better last night. We didn't have any excited accidents. I tried by reassuring her and also giving her praise when she did what I asked of her. Later in the evening she even seemed to be a little more assertive with our other dog which usually she backs away from him or lays down when he shows aggression towards her. So hopefully we are on the right track.

Just to give all of you an update. I think we have the piddling problem under control. We have been working on this with her religiously for a couple months. Haven't had an accident in about a month!! Yeah. Now if I could just get control of who actually is the Alpha leader of my pack! My little male dog lets her know he is but when it comes to me he is submissive. Is this right or should he be less aggressive and not trying to show dominance over her?

Good on you kanicky with the piddling issue! Glad that it is going well.

If she is consistently a sweet tempered dog, don't worry about the dominance/submissive issue between them. Just make sure you are always the Alpha above them both. They will work it out between themselves as she ages. In the end, he may very well come out as the higher ranking dog if she has a submissive personality. But if you are at all fearful that as she is maturing, she may get aggressive and hurt your little male because he insists on asserting his dominance over her and won't back off, make sure that when they are left alone in the house, they are separated. She could do a lot of damage to him when she has had enough of his bullying, if he is just a little guy.

That's what I am hoping but I forget what Cesar Milan always says. I thought that I was supposed to be the Alpha over all of them, and the dogs were to consider each other as equals not one dominant over the other. She would never ever be aggressive with him or anyone else for that matter. This dog is sooooooo submissive its unbelievable. When they are playing if he thinks that she is getting the upper hand he will growl louder and snap aggressively at her and immediately she rolls on her back. Its kind of sad.

LOL! Poor thing. She sounds like a sweetheart. Don't worry about remembering what Cesar Milan says. I am sure he knows that dogs have to find their own position within the pack rank. No human can force a dog to treat another dog as an equal. You have to allow them to find their own place as long as you don't have to worry about a much larger dog attacking and killing a smaller one. I have seen that happen with a neighbor of mine years ago, and it is not a welcomed sight to come home to. You just have to remember to be the top dog. ;) Keep up the good work!

That makes me feel better, I was so worried I wasn't doing the right thing. She really is a very sweet dog. All she wants to do is make us happy! Thanks again for your input.

Oh one more thing, I will try to post some pics of her, she is absolutely adorable!

We always love to see pics! :)

I have some pics of her but can't seem to figure out how to put them on here. Any suggestions?

Kanicky, when I get a moment, I will PM you with directions. :)

OK sounds good