I know I know, the picture has nothing to do with peeing, but recently I asked for some user donated pictures from Cavalier Talk forums and a new friend by the name of Brian volunteered his whole flickr account as a resource for pictures. I just couldn’t resist this picture of his Cavs! Their just to awesome.

Thanks again Brian!

Recently on the Cavalier Talk forums, found here, I had engaged in an interesting conversation regarding a behavior known as “Submissive Peeing”.

To lay it out simply submissive peeing is when a dog or puppy pees upon interaction with another dog or human. While the reason why the gesture may occur can span from a number of different reasons I believe I can best explain it with the experience of my own puppy Bella.

I first noticed the behavior during a walk with Bella around the neighborhood. It was the usual route, but today we had come across a very big Akita, well at least big compared to Bella. Bella has never been one to be dominant shes an all around sweet heart that just ones to be friends with everybody, which is the usual personality associated with the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Upon meeting the Akita she was cautious, but excited at the same time. When we were about a foot away she began to go into a low crouch position as if she was peeing, but she was actually crawling. As soon as she was right under the chin of the Akita wagging her tail furiously I noticed a puddle forming right under belly. I initially thought it was water on the sidewalk, but after close inspection and observation of the owner of the Akita we had come to the conclusion that she had actually peed.

I thought that this was a one time behavior, after all the Akita was towering over Bella and if I were a puppy I probably would have wet myself to. Little did I know that it was only the beginning. Since that day on Bella on occasion will crawl up to me the same way and pee as soon as I begin to pet her or as soon as she is under my shadow. It usually occurs during hellos after being out of the house, but sometimes even during the normal routine of waking up with her if she had just come into the room after exploring around the house she would engage in the same behavior. Not only does this occur with me, but the behavior occurs a lot more with my mom. My mother does nothing to scare her, but she merely says hello and immediately Bella pees.

As the title says this peeing is mostly known as Submissive Peeing, but it can occur for more than one reason. Sometimes dogs or puppies, mostly puppies, after experiencing a period of excitement will wet themselves from shear exhilaration. This is when submission turns into excitement though the result remains the same.

Help! What should I do? Is this a problem? Does this mean I can never housebreak my dog?!

Never fear! Help is here! Most new puppy owners have never experienced this behavior and often times attributes the behavior as a negative occurrence. That is not the case! Submissive or excited peeing should never, I repeat never, be punished! If your pup engages this behavior you should never associate it with a negative reaction. Your pup would not understand why you are mad or disgruntled, they would think that you are getting mad because their saying Hi or that your getting mad because their excited. A puppy who wants to say Hi to their owner is a good thing right? So why would you want to punish them for it? Any good dog owner wants to give a little excitement in their puppies lives right? So why would they be corrected for it?

Submissive and/or excited peeing does not mean your dog is not or cannot be housebroken! Far from it, some dogs who are completely housebroken and have great track records with not making a mess in the house will sometimes on occasion submissively or excitedly pee. My own Bella, while she is still a puppy, has only ever peed in the house in a submissive gesture. For the past few months that I have had her she has never actually peed inside the house because she had to go, she has always done it in the right place outside.

You may be asking how do I correct this behavior before it goes to far and becomes the norm? The answer to that is actually simple and at the same time not a solution at all. The only thing you can actually do for your pup or dog is to do nothing at all. If you have a puppy, most puppies will outgrow this behavior before they are 1 years old. Sometimes though your puppy may not outgrow the behavior at all and may still present the behavior, but the likely occurrence of it happening will be lower. Though sometimes it may never go away at all. If you have an older dog this may be an ingrained behavior within your dogs mind and is simply the normal behavior for him/her. If you want you may try and consult a dog trainer/behaviorist to help assist you in trying to train the behavior out, but the results may vary from trainer to trainer and some trainers might tell you that it cannot be trained out at all and as I said is simply a normal behavior among some canines.

There is one exception to the rule that may explain the reason why your dog has all of sudden began to submissively/excitedly pee. The reason may be health related. One such health related explanation is Urinary Tract Infection also known as UTI. Statistics have shown that 14% of all the worlds dog population will contract UTI yearly. UTI is an extremely common problem among dogs, especially females though it can occur in males, and occurs when bacteria begins to overcome the dogs immune system. Infiltration of your pups immune system usually happens through an unclean water or food supply, but again can happen for a number of reasons. The best solution is to consult your veterinarian who can prescribe a cure for your pup. All in all UTI is sometimes confused with submissive/excited peeing, so if your dog has all of a sudden began to display this behavior you may wish to consult a veterinarians assistance thought it can also be for a number of other health related reasons.

Does your puppy submissively/excitedly pee? Has he/she grown out of it? If so when? Share your experiences with the behavior by leaving a comment below!