Dog Peeing on Furniture

[MISTY ESCOBAR]

Hello, our goldendoodle is almost 9 months old, and she has been completely house trained for the past few months, except for the occasional excited pee when someone visits.  But, all of a sudden about a month ago, she started peeing on the furniture.  It usually happens when she gets "puppy zooms" and is running around crazy with my boys.  Since the first time she did it, she has now peed twice on a bed, once on a new fabric chair and probable 6 times on the sofas.  Thankfully, everything except for the new chair has covers that can be removed and thrown in the wash.  But it's getting frustrating!  If she has learned not to pee in the house and no longer pees on the floor, why would she randomly choose to jump up and pee on the furniture?  How can we stop this behavior?  Thanks!

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there!

Welcome to the forums,

Peeing issues often require some investigation. Firstly, any time a dog who is well house-trained develops a urinary issue out of the blue, it's important to rule out medical conditions, so I would suggest mentioning this to the vet just to be on the safe side.

I know in many cases the accidents are because of something emotionally going on, but sometimes medical issues can be the root cause. For example, a cat may pee in the bathtub because she has associated the litter box with the pain/burning sensation of a urinary tract infection, but then develops a preference for using the bathtub even when healed. 

Have you mentioned this to the vet?

Have there been any recent changes in the home in the past month? Think about anything, from new furniture arrangement, to a neighbor with a new dog. 

Have you been using puppy pads to train to potty train her?

You mention it happens when she is running around the house, does this means she's jumping on furniture and peeing there while she runs around? 

Does she sniff and stop to pee or it just comes out as she's running?

What are you using to clean the accidents?

Is she ever scolded for her climbing on furniture?

Does it happen only when she's running around (other than occasionally when greeting guests?) and always picks fabric on furniture?

Is she spayed? or intact?

Do you have cats or other pets?

How old are your boys? What are they doing when she pees? Do they take her out to potty?

These extra details can be very helpful. 

[MISTY ESCOBAR]

Thank you so much for your quick response.  Here are the answers to your questions:
 

Have you mentioned this to the vet?   --  Not yet, but she has an upcoming appointment on the 17th.

Have there been any recent changes in the home in the past month? Think about anything, from new furniture arrangement, to a neighbor with a new dog.   --  We actually JUST moved, but she started this about a month before our move.

Have you been using puppy pads to train to potty train her?    --  Never

You mention it happens when she is running around the house, does this means she's jumping on furniture and peeing there while she runs around?    --  Yes, she will just quickly squat and pee on furniture while she's running and jumping around.

Does she sniff and stop to pee or it just comes out as she's running?    --  She doesn't stop and sniff, but she squats.  When we see it, we yell NO and OFF!  And we then immediately let her go outside.

What are you using to clean the accidents?    --  Urine elimator & carpet cleaner.  On the new chair that does not have a removable cover, I also sprayed febreeze.

Is she ever scolded for her climbing on furniture?    --  We allow her to be on the furniture.

Does it happen only when she's running around (other than occasionally when greeting guests?) and always picks fabric on furniture?    Yes, this is the only time it happens, and so far she has only peed on the furniture with fabric.  We got a new leather couch, and I am terrified that she might try there.

Is she spayed? or intact?    --  She is not spayed.

Do you have cats or other pets?    --  No other pets.

How old are your boys? What are they doing when she pees? Do they take her out to potty?    --  The boys are 14 & 11.  They are usually playing with her when it happens.  Sometimes they are also running around.

[JMFS]

Hi there, companion to a leaky dog here.  I gift unto you these links, which have kept our brand new couch safe from being soiled.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QR5J76Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08167J84Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B082MCCZF8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PGVXDWR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Just be sure to check your measurements.  The waterproof mattress "pads" (there's like No padding, lol) go underneath the couch cover as an added protection.  If these specific items don't fit your needs, they'll hopefully give you ideas to keep your couch safe.  I use the waterproof mattress pads on their bed, too, and cover that with the twin sheets I linked.

I'm not sure if Rescue Remedy (RR) would be a potential fix for this, but I'm thinking it might be.  At the least it's worth trying it for 3 weeks to see if anything changes.  We used to give Esther Proin and Incurin for her incontinence (she has a pelvic bladder that causes issues), but now we only use the RR.  It has 3 flower essences in it that address nervous system issues causing leakages.  Two of them are for excitability, one is for fear / insecurity.  The two for excitability sound right up your alley.  We put 6 - 8 drops into about 90 oz of water and use that for her drinking water for a couple days.  After 5 days it will thicken the water and turn it into a slimy substance so we start fresh every 3 days to be on the safe side.  It's a very inexact measurement so you'll get to play with the potency.  I've given you a starting point, which comes from months of fiddling with the dosage.

[MISTY ESCOBAR]

Thank you so much for these suggestions!  I'm willing to try anything! 🙂

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Thank you so kindly for providing all of these details, they are very helpful! I can understand how frustrating this can be, but fortunately, most puppies outgrow this as long as we take some steps to prevent this from becoming an ingrained habit. 

So based on the information provided, I would talk about this to the vet just in case we're dealing with some underlying medical issues. As mentioned, sometimes emotional and medical issues overlap. Although this sounds like the classic case of excitement/submissive urination, we want to make sure to have all basis covered, also because if there's an underlying medical or anatomical issue at play, it's difficult to get anywhere in trying to modify behavior. 

So since you have an appointment scheduled for the 17th, please do mention this to the vet. 

In the meanwhile, we want to manage the situation as much as possible. If this peeing is happening when around your boys playing with her around the furniture, there's an easy peasy fix: simply not let your boys play with her when around furniture. However, this won't tackle the emotional side of the problem. If they were to play with her outside, in the same way, she would likely still pee outside. So this is sort of putting a bandage on an infected wound, it won't go to the root of the problem.  

In the same way, an easy fix for puppies who pee excitedly/submissively when greeting guests, is to let them greet the guests outdoors so there are no messes to clean up, however, once again, this won't fix the problem. The puppy would likely still greet and pee outdoors. So again, we need to go to the root of the problem. 

Therefore, we want to tackle this at a deeper level. Most likely, this form of play is either too intimidating or too excitedly overwhelming for her.  So we may need to allow her to take a break from this intensity of play and carefully evaluate whether we can find some less overwhelming types of interactions.

Maybe it's a matter of using quieter indoor voices? Of not moving too quickly and unexpectedly? Of not looming over her?  Of not letting her to get to the point of having the indoor zoomies? Here are just a few examples of things that can trigger puppies to pee excitedly or submissively: 

-Greeting them too excitedly after even a brief separation
-Playing excitedly with other dogs or people (rowdy play)
-Being around children
-Animated training sessions
-People happy talking, praising
-Talking in loud, excited or harsh tones of voices
-Walking directly towards the puppy
-Staring at the puppy
-Bending over to pet the puppy
-Petting the puppy in a happy, energetic way 
-Even certain facial expression or unexpected movements can trigger excitement/submissive peeing

Now, you mentioned of moving to a new home recently, but the behavior started about a month before. Chances are, if she is very sensitive to her environment, she may have picked up some subtle cues of something about to change. This can be anything, from starting to put things in boxes, to moving things around, to having people over for garage sales, to even dogs picking up on our stress in the preparation efforts. Dogs can easily pick up these things. Maybe there are other changes too that have created a compounding effect, like maybe your boys being around more after school has been over. 

Now, any time we deal with any form of inappropriate urination happening in the home, we need to be very, very careful on how we react. If we show that we are upset, even if just sighing and frustratingly saying no in an upset tone of voice, our pups sense our anger and frustration, and we risk excitement urination turning into submissive urination which takes place when puppies start to pee just in hopes of appeasing us (calming us down). This can lead to a vicious cycle and the problem becomes more involved, because then we'll have a puppy who pees anytime we are upset about something or do anything they perceive as intimidating such as looking at them, looming over them, talking in a certain tone, or even using a certain facial expression. 

To tackle this issue, you'll therefore likely need a mix of strategies, here is a general guide. 

-Rule Out Medical Conditions

As already mentioned, if your puppy has been doing very well with her potty training, and now, she is having accidents around the house, have her see the vet before assuming you're dealing with a case of excitement/submissive urination. In some cases, a dog peeing frequently and in small amounts may be suffering from a urinary tract infection or some other bladder issues that prevent normal elimination. 

-Prevent Full Exposure to Triggers 

If your pup is prone to peeing when around the boys or when guests show up, set her up for success, that means not letting her be exposed to these full intensity exposures. We want her to stay under threshold as much as possible. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

 Do this at least until things aren't better under control and you have a plan in place. 

When your kids are playing or when you  guests over, give her a place to retreat to. This could mean, 

• Crating your puppy with a stuffed Kong
• Keeping her in an exercise pen
• Safely tethering her (always under direct supervision/using a harness)
• Keeping her with you in the yard
• Taking her on a walk
• Keeping her on a leash at a distance where she feel calmer/less overwhelmed

-Avoid Any Form of Intimidation

Any scolding or frustration on our side, can end up backfiring. The puppy may start peeing more and more out of submission and possibly causing more problems along the road. For example, the puppy may come to associate our presence with punishment, leading to a puppy who still pees, but does so out of our sight. So the puppy may start to trickle urine behind a couch or under a bed or pee when we have our back to our puppy and not watching. 

I once worked with a cocker spaniel puppy and an almost 90-year-old lady who get very upset every time her small 10-week old puppy had an accident (I really felt for her as she had back and vision problems!). She read in some old book or was told by somebody to grab the pup and shove the face in the mess. The occasional messes though rather than decreasing, started increasing, as now the puppy, feeling intimidated, felt the need to pee submissively more and more. So she called me and we worked on crate training the pup and putting her pup on a schedule to pee and to ignore any mishaps no matter how upsetting and to praise for successful outdoor elimination.

-Clean Up Accidents Properly

When a dog pees in an area, it is fundamental that the area is properly cleaned. Failure to do so, can lead to the puppy frequently revisiting the area with the intent to pee there again, because the area smells like "bathroom" and prompts her to have accidents there. 

Therefore, make sure to use an enzyme-based cleaner such as Nature's Miracle, and then use a black light to carefully inspect whether you may have missed any spots. Under a black light, any residual urine will glow in the dark, providing you hints about areas that need to be revisited for deeper cleaning. You certainly may have missed these areas, but your dog puppy's nose would have known!

-Put Going Potty on Cue

Teaching your puppy to go potty on cue will turn helpful in these cases on several fronts. Firstly, you teach your pup to follow you in the yard and go potty. Since you praise and reward your pup for going outside, your pup learns to make that her favorite potty spot.  Second, you empty your pup so there is not much urine left for urine marking (although some astute dogs won't empty their bladder completely so to have a reservoir).

You can therefore put this cue to work *before* guests come over (or before anything that you know can trigger the peeing, but presented in less intense form) in hopes that she's at least empty. If she has a habit of peeing when she has the "zoomies", at the beginning of the zoomies, take her immediately out to potty so at least she's empty once back inside. 

Here is the guide for training pup to potty on cue: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/potty-on-command/

-Reduce the Level of Excitement

These are some steps to lower the level of excitement, so that your puppy is under her threshold for peeing. If your puppy pees upon being greeted,  she may perceive your guests' greeting posture, body language and voice as intimidating, excessively exciting or overwhelming. 

 Here are some tips

• Act calm and composed around your puppy
• When you come home, ignore your puppy, act low key and matter-of-fact. Avoid staring, talking or petting your puppy.
• When petting don't loom over your puppy, get at her level or pet her on the couch if she's allowed there. 
• Pet under the chin, chest area or sides so to avoid patting over the head.
• Avoid looming over her or talking in harsh or excitable tone of voice. 
• Avoid fast movements that may frighten her
• Ask your guests to avoid interacting with your puppy, especially during the first 5-10 minutes or until your puppy appears calmer. 
• Teach your kids to remain calm around the puppy and not to play rough around the puppy. If old enough to take directions, involve them in positive reinforcement obedience training.  
• Ignore when your puppy pees, but if you catch her about to pee, try to persuade her to follow you outside. Then praise in a very calm tone and toss a treat to reward for outdoor pottying. I like to train a happy 'let's go outside! cue and make it extra fluent to so to use it then under more distracting scenarios. 
• When training, avoid excited praise and petting, rather toss treats. 
• Work on increasing your pup's confidence levels and provide outlets for pent-up energy (consult with your vet before enrolling into any doggy sports or intense exercise regimens as puppies can sustain injuries due to their growth plates not being closed yet).  Here are come confidence building exercises: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/exercises-build-confidence-insecure-dogs/

Implement Behavior Modification 

If you want to actively work on the problem, you'll need to still avoid high-intensity situations and give your puppy something else to do so to keep her mind off the peeing. 

Here are some examples:

-When you come home, act calm and encourage your puppy to go grab a toy or have him sit before you drop some treats or toss a ball the opposite direction. Tossing a ball discourages from jumping and redirects the pup's tendency to act excited or submissive into prey mode. -It also helps taking your puppy outside first thing upon coming home and telling her to go potty. 

-Also, before having guests over, give your puppy an opportunity to go potty outside, so when they're over your puppy is empty. 

-When you have guests over, and they are ignoring your puppy, drop treats to the ground and tell your puppy to "go find" them. This way your pup is busy going on a fun treasure hunt!

-When guests are sitting on the couch, take turns asking your puppy to sit or target your hand and toss treats to reward so to keep the pup busy. Here's how to train these:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/sit/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/

-If your guests cannot comply and act calm, your best bet is to keep your puppy away from them so your pup doesn't get to rehearse the excitement peeing. 

-If playing is a trigger, remain calm and try structured games like fetch, asking your puppy to sit every time before you toss the ball. Or play tug and routinely ask to sit, drop or take. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/drop-it/

In some severe, persistent or complicated cases, your puppy may need the help of a dog behavior professional, such as a  certified applied animal behaviorist or a board-certified veterinary behaviorist. This latter can carry out several tests to rule out medical or congenital (present from birth) issues with the bladder which can sometimes overlap. Testing may include urine testing, X-rays, ultrasounds and contrast studies of the urinary tract.  He or she may also prescribe medications that can help your pup from a medical or behavioral standpoint. For example prescription medications that help lower emotional arousal or help increase your pup's urethral sphincter tone. 

Will Excitement/Submissive Urination Go Away on Its Own?

In some cases, pups outgrow the excitement urination on their own, once they gain better bladder control and learn to better control their emotions. However, if the issue is tackled the wrong way or the puppy is allowed to rehearse the behavior for too long, it may persist into adulthood. So this is something best to nip in the bud!

Here are some more reads about these forms of urination (they can sometimes overlap):

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/submissive-urination/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/urinating-when-excited/

I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any questions or want to dig deeper on this. 

Best,

Adrienne 

 

 

[MISTY ESCOBAR]

Thank you, Adrienne.  I am going to go over all of this with the whole family, so that we can start putting all of this into practice.   I feel hopeful!

Misty

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You are very welcome! The good thing is that this peeing happens only in two specific contexts (greeting guests/play) so that gives you a certain level of control over those situations (avoiding full intensity exposures, ensuring she has pottied before, keeping her busy/giving her something else to think about, etc). 

Keep us posted on how things go.

Happy training!

[FrederykBlot]

Hi,

I'm not an expert and Adrienne can correct me, or aknowledge, but friends of mine had a similar problem : their house trained dog started to pee in the house... They called a trainer and it appeared the dog was not peeing by need, but for marking

What they implemented is to use some kind of tissue with a bit a their dog pee (I know it sounds gross) and apply little touch of it in places where he would mark

You still have little bit of pee but at least it's not a big flow made by the dog

At some point the dog already sniffed his smell, and stop peeing inside as he recognized it's his place

 

Don't know if it's relevant in your case, just something to think about

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Fredery,

Hope all is going well with sweet Loki!

There is urine marking and urine marking: there's hormonal urine marking, territorial urine marking, anxiety urine marking, social urine marking, and then, to further compound things, sometimes dogs may seem like they're urine marking, when in reality they're peeing from excitement/submission, and other times what we are seeing is incomplete housetraining, or peeing in small amounts and frequently due to a urinary problem like the presence of stones/ urinary tract infections. 

So it's very important identifying the exact type of urine marking so to tackle it correctly as each type often requires a different approach. 

For example, the trainer that you mention who used the dabbing the pee around method may marginally help in the case of a dog who is peeing from anxiety and hoping things smell familiar again, but if the dog happened to pee due to incomplete housetraining, the dog would be likely to pee more because now we have spread his scent more around and therefore, now everything smells like bathroom!

So we need to be super careful in knowing what type of peeing we are dealing with. If a dog is anxiety marking, we would have to tackle the underlying anxiety. More than dabbing urine around, I would have sprayed the marked areas with a pheromone-based spray. 

Cheers!

[FrederykBlot]

Hello

 

Thank you for the precision

Sorry, I didn't want to spread an idea that could backfire, but just giving a little hint or a lead based on personal experience around me

 

 

And all is fine Loki, (except for the usual no return when playing with other dogs, the systematic tries of humping during plays, and the pickiness with wet food :)) but overall we're really happy with things are going, thanks for asking

 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Oh no, no worries, no reason for you to apologize! 

It can turn helpful for others reading this post who may have dogs marking for other reasons. It's always good pointing out other forms of marking so that we have more breath and depth on the subject. And no two dogs are the same, so what may work for one may work for another. 

You always make great questions and are a great conversation starter!

Keep up the great work with Loki. We are always here if you want to do more in depth troubleshooting. 

Send pats to Loki!