Excitement peeing and questions about lifting his leg to pee

[Christina]

I have two separate questions....

1) I have spent hours reading about this on this forum and online but getting frustrated after trying all suggestions that our 18 week old puppy doesn't seem to be improving and keeps having excitement peeing when a unfamiliar or guest comes over the house or meets him in public. He doesn't seem to do this for any of us who live with him- guess we are not that exciting! We have tried telling guest to ignore him until he calms down, brought him outside to greet guest ( less clean up but still pees) and brought him to potty right before a guest comes over and nothing seems to help. I find it embarrassing when we have guests and even am not comfortable brings him to farmers markets or public events because I know we will have this issue.

Any suggestions, advice, thoughts you can share to help us with this. I know this is often something they grow out of ( pray that is the case) so am I expecting too much of him for 18 weeks?

He seems to have the potty thing mostly down otherwise. He uses a doggie door and goes out when needed. He has the occasional accident but easily can go 1-2 weeks without an accident. Think he is on the right track for his age with this.

2) also was curious if it is typical that my male dog does not lift his leg to pee at 18 week.s. He has been neutered so wondering if that has anything to do with it? Is this something the learn as they get older? Just curious....

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Most male dogs do not start lifting their leg until 12-18 MONTHS old.

[Michele Kiss]

I had wondered about the lifting leg thing too - do they see some other dog do it? Or just naturally start to do it? I have been told that they start doing it to avoid peeing on themselves - so if they stay small enough that that's not an issue, it is possible they could never lift their leg. 

My boyfriend's parents poodle (not a doodle, but half of one!) simply never did it - at 15 years old he still squats and always has. So, could be related to size... 

[Tait & Finn]

My Finn still does the "happy pee" when his daddy comes home. My husband can not touch him or he will pee. Finn only pees if he touches him. Just saying hello and walking by does not get pee. He doesn't do the the happy pee for anyone else. Also he is 17 months and still squats. He will lift a leg occasionally but squatting is the posture most of the time.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Male dogs lift their legs to mark their territory . The higher the lift, the more " intimidating "... At least in their eyes . Some dogs may never lift their leg.. A very docile or non aggressive dog, may not care to mark. I had a very Alpha female Golden Retriever who hiked her leg up like a male when out on a walk.! But a dog must certainly mature before he ever lifts the leg.

[Olivia & Chanel]

Our little miniature labradoodleI is now 5 months old and she also has this little "piddling" issue when she is excited.  But she is so sweet and smart and great in every other way, we have just been dealing with it.  She is house trained aside from her excitement "piddles".  The main time she does this is when we come down in the morning and she is in her crate.  We just try to get to her crate with little fanfare to let her out and then praise her when she doesn't pee when excited.   Our breeder assures us that this will subside as the puppy gets order and their bladder control improves.  I went to the local dollar store and purchase a whole stack of microfiber clothes that I use to line the crate (instead of her pillow bedding) and we just do a load of piddle clothes every few days.  I also use nature's miracle to wipe down her crate every time.  When we greet her when she is out of the crate, we try to do it outside or don't acknowledge her until we run through her playroom and into the backyard (to reduce the cleanup).  

[denise rumbaugh]

My doodle does this at times with my husband, mostly after he comes home from a long trip. doesn't do it with any of us in the home, but my older son that comes over on Sundays or occasionally through the week jace will pee. My trainer said it is a submissive pee... you heard that right. lol. he only does it with people he really likes or wants their attention. it's annoying. trainer said as he matures, he should out grow it. jace is currently 14 months and I've noticed it isn't as bad as it used to be. Hang in there!

[Helga, Nimbus, Sierra, Clooney]

My mini Goldendoodle is almost 11 months old and has lifted his leg once on the fence at the dog park. Other than that he always squats. Even on walks he never marks. He pees once and that's it. My German Shepherd/Australian Shepherd marked until he didn't have a drop left. Non dominant dogs just don't feel the need to mark.

[Jennifer & Truffle]

Truffle started lifting his leg to pee at about 4.5 months old.  He's a medium-sized (about 36 lbs) Australian labradoodle.  He definitely displays more dominant traits - he marks frequently when we go on walks and was a prolific bumper until his neuter surgery a couple of weeks ago at 9 months old.  I don't think the surgery necessarily cured him of his desire to hump - time will tell - but for now I'm thoroughly enjoying not having to use the command, "No hump!"

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

I can't speak to the excitement peeing, but regarding your 18 week old puppy not cocking it's leg to pee, well, Oscar (21 mos. old) still doesn't cock his leg. Never has. I do think its a learned behavior and Oscar doesn't have male dogs around consistently to teach him (we think its a GOOD thing!).

[Kelly & Zoe]

On excitement peeing - we have a female, 1 year old and she still occasionally pees when she's excited, especially when she sees our male friends she hasn't seen in a while.  this was more prevalent up through 6 months old.  I think they way to prevent that is to try and do the calm, sit/stay when opening the door for house guests and having them not react to your pup at first - but of course, I am very lax about enforcing that, so I just get out the Nature's Miracle :-)

[Jolene, Sassparilla & Josie]

On the leg lifting we've always had girls so that was never an issue. Although my little Josie has male tendencies and lifts her leg to pee and spends the first say thirty minutes running around the dog park marking things? She is such a weird dog! Lol Our first trainer said if your dog doesn't lift his leg, don't encourage it otherwise like mentioned earlier he'll begin marking things you don't want marked.

Our last dog had the excited pee syndrome and my friend used to make it worse (he's never had a dog so spoiled mine stupidly). When you came home and greeted her or talked in a high pitched excited voice she'd pee all over the place so his game was to yell "don't pee oh no don't pee" in the highest pitch voice he could do EVERY TIME he came over and yes she'd jump up, roll over meanwhile peeing everywhere! I quickly learned to meet him outside when he came over. For my daughter and I we didn't talk to her for the first 15-30 minutes then she was fine. For her the peeing lasted a good 10-12 years until the arthritis kicked in. It drove me nuts but now it's funny to look back on, the quirky things our pets do. Lol My friend is trying to get these two to pee but they're not falling for it. Sassparillas quirkiness is to shove, and I mean shove, her toy in your face to make sure you see it, we call it presenting the toy. Funny to me but not so much those who come to visit!

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

That's funny, Oscar does the same thing as Sassparilla. When you come home he'll immediately turn and run in the opposite direction, only to return with one of his toys to greet you, tail wagging enthusiastically!