Tinkles When Excited

[Lauren]

Hi there. My 7 month old mini golden doodle (female) loves meeting people. But, whenever she says "hi", she tinkles. Sometimes it's just a little, other times its a whole mess. It also doesn't matter if I have taken her out just beforehand. I thought she would grow out of it, or after she was spayed everything would fix itself, but it hasn't gotten better. Has anyone else dealt with this? Any pointers?

[Gayle & Hunter]

I have a 7 month old ALD and he was doing that until I put him in doggy daycare where he meant lots of people and of course doggies. He really was not afraid of the dogs as much as being afraid of people especially men. After a few times going to daycare he is like a different puppy so for us this has worked wonders. Good luck I am sure you will find what works best for you guys.

[Susan & Randy's Kate]

I always thought females did this more. We had a cocker that would piddle when excited. If she gets calmer or make her sit and not get excited it might help. Ours always piddled. My granddog piddles which on a male it is worse.  Love to know if anyone has found a solution.  I always make dogs sit before I pet them.  I don't know if that would help.  

[Robin & Josie]

I have no personal experience with this issue, but close friends of ours have a dog with the same behavior. We visited them the other night and they texted us and asked us not to greet him when we first arrived. After about five minutes, we were able to say hello, and he didn't pee. And he's at least 3 years old.

Puppies are so excitable. I don't think spaying or neutering is related to this issue. My puppy used to be nippy, especially around my (27 year old) daughter, and we finally realized it was her high pitched excited voice whenever she came in. Apparently, the excitement was contagious. When we got our dtr to approach her more calmly, Josie didn't get so crazy.

I don't know if that's helpful, but I do know it's not an unusual problem. But it IS, obviously, a problem.

[Jolene, Sassparilla & Josie]

My last dog did this too especially around my ex boyfriend. It was his highlight and when he greeted her he would shout in that high pitched voice " hello (dogs name), don't pee, oh don't pee" and of course she'd piddle everywhere. Since he wasn't gonna stop (wonder why he's my ex huh?) their greetings always took place outside. Ask visitors to keep a calm low pitched voice and not make the hello a grand production. As soon as "we" calmed down it stopped.

[Theresa and Doodle Dagny]

Robin, my toy poodle mix does the exact thing as your friend's dog.  When people come over, we instruct them not to touch, talk, or make eye contact with the dog until he's had a chance to smell the visitors and calm down.  The moment someone disobeys me (there are a couple of people that don't listen on purpose), we have a mess all over the place.  I thought it was small breeds, but guess not.  Hopefully we don't have this issue with Dagny.  The daycare idea is a really great one!

[Melissa]

I was just thinking about posting this very question!  We've had two piddle accidents at the front door today, once with a little girl neighbor and the second time with the big burly mailman.  It's just started for us and she's 6 months old.  I had a dachshund mix twenty years ago who did the same thing while an adolescent and she just finally outgrew it.  

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Isn't this a submissive response? Submissive piddling, right? I've read about this somewhere.. Perhaps Doggy Dan. The recommendation was to ease up on any dominance signals (one example would be to ask guests to pet her chest or side or ears, not top of her head which is considered dominant/bad doggy manners, and to have a calm greeting rather than look her directly in the eyes with excited voice, etc...)

[Lauren]

Thanks so much for all the feedback! We've actually had our pup in puppy play time and day care often, so unfortunately that hasn't worked. But, I think the tactic of having people ignore her until she's had a chance to calm herself is a great idea. Thanks again!