Excited Tinkles

[Cassie Keel]

My pup Canyon is almost 6 months old now. He is the most loving dog I have ever met, and he loves loves loves people! However, he gets soooo excited when new people come over or when my husband or I come home that he begins to tinkle a little. Just today he was laying on his back and I came up to him to scratch his belly and he started squirting. Is this a developmental thing, or should we talk to our vet? Any ideas on how to correct this behavior? As far as guests coming over is concerned, we take him out approximately 5 minutes before their arrival. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Any suggestions would be great!

[Mari Bezanson]

Great question!  My 8 month old does the same thing and I would love to hear some responses and fingers crossed, that their doodle out-grew this....:)

[Kris and Sawyer]

Sawyer did this when he was little...he did outgrow it around 7 months. In the meantime, try to take him outside before anyone comes over (if you can). If people come to the door unexpectedly, and you feel comfortable, ask them to give you a minute to let him out before they greet him. Or you can have them meet outside instead of inside.

[Olivia & Chanel]

Our pup who is now 9 months old has this same issue, and like you, she is a totally awesome doll otherwise, so really it was her only problem.  We got her at 4 1/2 months of age where she would get excited and pee when we came home or when new people came into the house.  And the biggest issue with her excitement peeing is that her hind legs and tail would get smelly so we did a lot of baths in the early months.   I did a lot of research and found that this was not uncommon with labradoodles or doodles in general.  We try to enter the house quietly and ignore her initially (which is hard to do).  If the entire family of five returns home, we'll send one person in first to let her out.  We try to get her outside first before people come over.  And most of all, we were patient and had a roll of paper towels and enzyme cleaner ready to go.  I'm glad to report that she is much much better.  Now she will excitement pee only if really excited and has mostly outgrown this.  (the breeder did assure me that they usually outgrew this around 9 months) I think it's just maturity, getting settled into the routine and better muscle control.  

Another trick is that I ask for a sit when greeting her cause it's harder for her pee that way…  Good luck!

[Marie and Hoka]

Sounds like submissive behavior, not really relating to having to go.  It will help to have an empty bladder, but Lord knows they can always squeeze out a few more drops.

One of our dogs did this, especially with certain people.

Some things we did that helped:

Not greet/pet the dog directly upon arrival until things calm down.

Have certain people actually greet the dog outside. 

Do not bend over the dog to say hello

Once the newcomer had settled in, it seemed to resolve.

[Olivia & Chanel]

One more thing to add, we got a lot of advice that socialization is so important. I am convinced that this socialization helped the tinkles as well. We tried to expose our pup to new situations, new environments, new people and other dogs as much as possible.

[Julie, Eloise & Beasley]

Eloise was a submissive tinkler when she was a puppy.  All the above suggestions are good, and I would add to encourage people to talk in normal speaking voices when they do greet the dog.  Eloise really reacted to high-pitched women's/girls' voices (as many are prone to do when they see a cute puppy).  She pee'd every time a female greeted her with that higher pitched excited voice - in houses, on walks, in stores.  Never tinkled for a man greeting her!  Hers lasted until she was around 10 months, but then she did have one random submissive tinkle about 2 months before her 2nd birthday, when a female relative greeted her.  I would think Canyon will grow out of it in a few more months - he's a cutie!

[Michele Kiss]

It's pretty common, especially with doodles. Excitement tinkles are a little different to true "submissive tinkles" but most dogs will outgrow the excitement tinkles as they grow up and their bladder control gets stronger. Try to not act too excited when you first see them (till they go pee) and, as others have said, avoid high pitched voices and too much of a 'wrestling' greeting (etc.) Fenway is 8 months old and still does it in a state of high excitement, but WAY better than when was a little puppy.