How to handle excitement pee?

[jacksonsmommy]

Hi all. So Harper is 13 weeks old and generally doing great. Except that she has some excitement pee issues. It happens mostly when I come home from running errands - I let her out of her crate and when she walks out of her crate, she starts to pee. I can be super mellow when I get home, but she still gets riled up. I think she's excited I'm home and she's excited to go play with her big fur brother (2 y.o. lab). She is otherwise doing really well on house breaking and doesn't actively squat in the house at other times.

So what's the best method to handle this? From what I have read, I shouldn't verbally reprimand her for this - is this correct? Other than just trying to pick her up as soon as I open the crate door, is there anything else I can do? And I take it that she would not be considered "house broken" until she stops the excitement pee, right?

If it's helpful, both dogs are in our bedroom when we're out of the house. Harper is in her crate and Jackson is in his dog bed about 10 feet away. For the most part, Jackson sleeps in his bed when we're out, so I know that he's not standing next to her crate egging her on.

This is the first dog I have had with this issue, so any advice would be most helpful!

[JennS]

Our 8 month old pup does this too. What works best for her is to completely ignore her when we get home until she calms down. Once she calms down, she can have pats and affection, and by then the urge to pee seems to have passed. That has worked to pretty much stop her from peeing when she first sees us (unless one of the family has been out of town for days or something, in which case she can't contain her excitement - or her pee - no matter what!). She still "happy tinks," as we call it, when she gets super excited, such as when a stranger greets her with too much enthusiasm or when she arrives at the vet's office, but she has stopped the day to day peeing. Like your dog, she is otherwise house trained, but it has been a longer haul to deal with the excited peeing.

[Charlotte K.]

I would think that picking her up will just make it worse! One time Cesar is right: no touch, not talk, NO EYE contact. That includes with the adult dog, as submission pee to you both is just as wet as excitement pee. Hands and voice need to be quiet, if used at all. I often toss or roll a ball for the submissive pup to go into the fenced yard with me, usually after I put the older dog out or into another room. If you have to pick her up or put collar and lead on her, just have it happen where you don't care about the wetness, maybe with the ball or a dummy already tossed to her and in her mouth to distract her. She is barely old enough to have conscious bladder control of any kind--and unconscious control she can't manage yet.

For the tinklers, I try to have a beach towel or absorbent mat outside the crate (but not where she will pull it in and eat it while you are gone) to collect the inevitable. That makes me calmer, which makes them calmer. Having the crate on nonpermeable flooring as opposed to on wall to wall carpeting also helps me stay calm. The crate bedding is presumed to get wet until proven otherwise. You just do laundry.

My almost 12 yr old boy did outgrow this by the time he was a year old. Sometimes, like him, they improve around 4 mos then regress with adolescence sometime before a year: the plumbing just has to adjust to big dog size or hormones (even if speutered) or something! He became the cleanest dog!

This, too, shall pass. Hopefully before she gets too big! I bet she is cute and worth the extra trouble.

This, too, shall pass.

[barry581]

I agree 100% with the no touch/talk/eye contact. I did this with Sophie. Her night crate was in our bedroom, and in the morning when I got up, I'd completely ignore her until I was up, to the bathroom dressed, etc. Even then I didn't talk to her until she was out of the crate. Same with her day crate in the living room. I'd get home from work, change clothes, etc, never acknowledging her. Once I was done, I'd let her out, them we'd go outside. Now she just sleeps until I'm up and ready to go.

I've been doing the same with Bruce, but he only has a crate in the bedroom. He never liked the crate in the living room, so I got rid of it after about a month. Bruce was much harder to house train than Sophie. He would widdle at the door up until he was about 5 months old, and it seemed like he wanted to go out every 10 minutes, even if he'd pee'd 10 minutes ago.

The other thing, is praise, praise, praise when they do go outside. I use good wee wee, and good poo. Bruce will pretty much go on command now. Sophie, she's a real hard head, and sometimes it will take forever before she goes. Two completely different personalities.

[ZoeysMommy]

Zoey outgrew it by the time she was 1. I didnt do anything, no scolding, no corrections. She also submissive peed as well. She hasnt done that in a few years. I always had a towel ready on the floor when i let her out of her crate.

Let her grow out if it and try to teach her she doesnt get attention until she calms down. Teaching her that is very valuable for many situations not just excitment pee

And dont worry, this type of peeing has nothing to do with potty training at all

[Archie]

Archie outgrew it by 1 as well.

A question for you though - does Harper do it when greeting other people/dogs? Or is it just when you get home and let her out of the crate?

If it's only when you get home and let her out of the crate, I'd say you don't have that big of a problem. Her bladder is full from being left alone and then add in the excitement of you coming home, and that's what happens!

One thing you might try - can you move the crate so that she can see you when you get home? Then you can practice leaving her in there for the first 5 or ten minutes after you get home so she learns that you coming home isn't such a big deal. Then you can let her out when she's settled, and maybe have the other dog somewhere else so that doesn't add to the excitement?

[jacksonsmommy]

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. I do think that part of the problem is her having a full bladder and then getting excited about getting to play with her brother. I'm pretty mellow when I get home and ignore the dogs, but the fact that she wants to run right out and play with our other dog kind of works against me anyway! I am going to try to put our older lab behind a gate - I think that will help tremendously. That way, the pup has fewer distractions and can calmly walk out of the crate and straight out of the house. And I will definitely refrain from picking her up! I did not want that to be the solution - it'll be tougher as she gets heavier anyway!!

Thankfully, both dogs do their business outside on command (we use "pronto" as our word), and Harper is doing really well with that. So we just need her to grow out of this, I guess!

It's a good thing she's super cute - it makes up for all matters of sins!