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Peeing in the house
My dog only pees in the house when my boyfriend is petting her. This has only happened for the last week and he lives with us. What would make her do this? She is a 5 month old husky who has been house broken for about a month.
It definitly SOUNDS submissive.... this is not necessarily because he's making her submit... it could be anything from a cap on his head that she doesnt know what to do with or a coat or even a certain shirt that makes him look bigger..... or anything else.
My parents dogs (who i have seen and played with since she was a pup) is now 2 years old and still the moment i walk in the house she crawls up to me and rolls on her back, on my feet..... for 2 years now!!! she is not like this with ANYONE else... even my parent's neighbor who is 6'7 and.... probably about 300lbs... she bounds up to him no problem... but me.... watch out.
the funny thing is, is if i'm playing with her she'll play (still be submissive but playful) but as soon as i stop it's the same thing over again. I really have to stress that i have never mistreated this dog, she has never been mistreated and she has been in a very loving, very stressfree home since she came from the breeder at 10wks.
Something that normally helps (i think it's been mentionned in this post already) is going for walks outside (thanks goodness your pup's a Husky with the low low temps.) and then doing some basic training and rewards, outside to help avoid a mess on the floors =) alot of activities (in my experience anyway) that dont go on in your "Den" help a submissive pup feel a little more confident.
I believe it is still important for him to be firm (not rough but firm... as in if he says "sit" and she doesnt he shouldnt just say "oh it's ok cause at least shes happy and not peeing".... make sure she responds to the commands) so be firm but make it fun if you can.
You also have to remember that dogs pick up on things that we dont necessarily think about. When my boyfriend first moved in with Me and my house of pets everything was fine, everyone was responding nicely and getting along well. One evening, maybe 2 weeks after he moved in, we were horsing around and were playfully wrestling on the couch. My shepherd, who is a normally very even tempered even somewhat submissive dog, ATTACKED him. I have to pull her off and calm her down. For a while after that she was petrified of him, she would cowar in his presence, pace back and forth if he was close to me... i mean a real basket case. We started taking her to a field (hehehe, i do infact live in the middle of nowhere) to play with her... after she got familiar with the field i let the BF take her by himself so they had one on one time (personally i think the fact that she was offleash helped as she could respond on her own terms...) ... that seemed to have fixed the problem... but it did take a while to get her back to 100%.
These are just my experiences with submissive pups, surprisingly enough, with the amount of dogs i've fostered they mostly end up being aggresive instead of submissive! Count your blessings as a dog that pees, is better then a dog that bites!
Let us know how it goes!
My parents dogs (who i have seen and played with since she was a pup) is now 2 years old and still the moment i walk in the house she crawls up to me and rolls on her back, on my feet..... for 2 years now!!! she is not like this with ANYONE else... even my parent's neighbor who is 6'7 and.... probably about 300lbs... she bounds up to him no problem... but me.... watch out.
the funny thing is, is if i'm playing with her she'll play (still be submissive but playful) but as soon as i stop it's the same thing over again. I really have to stress that i have never mistreated this dog, she has never been mistreated and she has been in a very loving, very stressfree home since she came from the breeder at 10wks.
Something that normally helps (i think it's been mentionned in this post already) is going for walks outside (thanks goodness your pup's a Husky with the low low temps.) and then doing some basic training and rewards, outside to help avoid a mess on the floors =) alot of activities (in my experience anyway) that dont go on in your "Den" help a submissive pup feel a little more confident.
I believe it is still important for him to be firm (not rough but firm... as in if he says "sit" and she doesnt he shouldnt just say "oh it's ok cause at least shes happy and not peeing".... make sure she responds to the commands) so be firm but make it fun if you can.
You also have to remember that dogs pick up on things that we dont necessarily think about. When my boyfriend first moved in with Me and my house of pets everything was fine, everyone was responding nicely and getting along well. One evening, maybe 2 weeks after he moved in, we were horsing around and were playfully wrestling on the couch. My shepherd, who is a normally very even tempered even somewhat submissive dog, ATTACKED him. I have to pull her off and calm her down. For a while after that she was petrified of him, she would cowar in his presence, pace back and forth if he was close to me... i mean a real basket case. We started taking her to a field (hehehe, i do infact live in the middle of nowhere) to play with her... after she got familiar with the field i let the BF take her by himself so they had one on one time (personally i think the fact that she was offleash helped as she could respond on her own terms...) ... that seemed to have fixed the problem... but it did take a while to get her back to 100%.
These are just my experiences with submissive pups, surprisingly enough, with the amount of dogs i've fostered they mostly end up being aggresive instead of submissive! Count your blessings as a dog that pees, is better then a dog that bites!
Let us know how it goes!
I absolutely agree! We had the same problem with Katie. When we adopted her, DH was working in another state and would be gone for two weekls at a time, and then home only for a weekend and then back to work. So for six months, she was alone with me since we lived out in the country at the time. She and I developed a WONDERFUL relationship, but when he came home, he couldn't so much as pet her head and she would pee.
He wasn't familiar with how to handle this, and even though I tried to tell him what he had to do, his own instincts told him "don't pet her because she'll pee", so he was nice to her and all, but he avoided having any real contact with her because it was a pain to keep cleaning the rug. Then I FINALLY convinced him that he needed to start doing more things with her, and I told him that it had to be things that didn't make a difference, like playing fetch. She needed to see him as someone she could relax and be herself around, so that it wasn't like having "the boss" around watching people work, and then when he was away from the house she could be herself. He started by feeding her treats and talking to her a lot, and it progressed to playing fetch and other games. Now they wrestle and have a lot of fun together, and she hasn't had an incident of submissive urination in years, but at first it was very frustrating for me because I couldn't make him understand that his solution was only making the situation worse, because the more reserved she saw him be, the higher on the pedestal she placed him because in the pack, the leader doesn't play. He finally got it when he saw a program on television, and I told him that's what I've been trying to tell you for MONTHS now!
Ghilly
He wasn't familiar with how to handle this, and even though I tried to tell him what he had to do, his own instincts told him "don't pet her because she'll pee", so he was nice to her and all, but he avoided having any real contact with her because it was a pain to keep cleaning the rug. Then I FINALLY convinced him that he needed to start doing more things with her, and I told him that it had to be things that didn't make a difference, like playing fetch. She needed to see him as someone she could relax and be herself around, so that it wasn't like having "the boss" around watching people work, and then when he was away from the house she could be herself. He started by feeding her treats and talking to her a lot, and it progressed to playing fetch and other games. Now they wrestle and have a lot of fun together, and she hasn't had an incident of submissive urination in years, but at first it was very frustrating for me because I couldn't make him understand that his solution was only making the situation worse, because the more reserved she saw him be, the higher on the pedestal she placed him because in the pack, the leader doesn't play. He finally got it when he saw a program on television, and I told him that's what I've been trying to tell you for MONTHS now!
Ghilly
Ah, the poor pup! It sounds like submissive peeing to me. Pups will do this to anyone they recognize as being far above them in their pack. That said, it also tells me that she doesn't see you as her pack leader. A pack leader is not only authoritative in make rules, boundaries and limitations clear, but is also a person (or another dog) who can be relied on to keep her safe.
Your dog likely has a normally submissive personality and is simply overwhelmed by your boyfriend's presence. She's trying to show him she's submissive in the only way she can: urinating. It's more of a respect thing than a fear thing.
What to do about it? She needs a confidence boost, and walking outside to increase her knowledge of the world with BOTH of you will help accomplish that. The more confident she becomes at home and outside, the peeing should stop.
This is a perfect time to enroll your pup in a puppy obedience class. Ideally, your boyfriend should attend class with you or at least work on the home exercises.
When your boyfriend is around your pup, does he act excited and talk to her a lot, or is he quiet and matter of fact in his relations with her?
Your dog likely has a normally submissive personality and is simply overwhelmed by your boyfriend's presence. She's trying to show him she's submissive in the only way she can: urinating. It's more of a respect thing than a fear thing.
What to do about it? She needs a confidence boost, and walking outside to increase her knowledge of the world with BOTH of you will help accomplish that. The more confident she becomes at home and outside, the peeing should stop.
This is a perfect time to enroll your pup in a puppy obedience class. Ideally, your boyfriend should attend class with you or at least work on the home exercises.
When your boyfriend is around your pup, does he act excited and talk to her a lot, or is he quiet and matter of fact in his relations with her?
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