We purchased a standard pup three weeks ago. He was 12 weeks old at the time. When we purchased him we did not notice him urinating upon approach and he did not seem fearful. Several days later he began urinating when we let him out of his ctate, when we approach him in a positive manner, when we scould him, and when strangers approach him. He still does not act fearful (for ex. slouching) at these times but does appear to be excited in the genital area. We have been told that this is normal behavior, but have also been told that it is not. We take him out every half hour and he urinates 90% of those times. I am very frustrated by this seemingly constant urinating and the mess that goes with it. I am concerned that he may have a neurosis or some other medical problem but the vet says that this behavior is normal. I love him (the dog) and believe that he is smart and will make a great pet if it were not for this problem. Please help! Frustrated in Ohio HEMORN99@aol.com

-- Anonymous, September 10, 2000

Answers

Don´t worrie Sherrie! He´s probably just a bit submissive for the time beeing. Some dogs urinate when they are extremely happy to see someone and continue this behaviour throughout their lives, but most stop. He may also be a little afraid and nervous. I adopted my 3 year old standard male 18 months ago and he had a series of problems due to mistreatment. He could not and would not stay at home alone and would follow me like a shadow all the time. He would destroy my belongings while I was away and show a wide range of unpleasant behaviour. I started a routine for him to help him through the transition, which ended up taking 8 months. One of the first things I did was to set up a morning routine where everything was planned from A-Z and never strayed from it. I put him on medication, Clomi calm and after much thought I had him fixed. Eight months later I´m free to behave and live my life as before he came along and everybody is happy and my things are intact. One of the things that I found out in our first days together was the fact that I could not read his bodylanguage and never could tell if he needed to go outside. I took him out every two hours and always used the same word and he got the picture in two days or so. I found out later that the previous owner had put a bell on the door and tought him to ring it to go outside. I´m not trained in "bell hopping" and this created a problem for him. Which brings me to my point ; teach the pup to ring a bell or to give some other sign to go out side, be very patient and try not to scold the pup If he´s very submissive-seeing as a lot of pups pee as as sign of submissiveness so this would only agrivate the problem. He´s young and will most likely grow out of this........... Good luck to you!

-- Anonymous, June 29, 2001