13 tips how to stop excited or submissive dog peeing

Is your dog always getting super excited to the extent that he’s losing some urine? In that case the inevitable question comes up: how to stop excited or submissive dog peeing?

Excited or submissive dog peeing almost always happens around people. It’s either when you’re coming home, or when guests are coming over or when strangers pet him on the street.

Not only is it super embarrassing, but it’s also really gross and annoying when your dog is peeing in your house all the time. Or worse, on people’s feet…

But, don’t despair! There are ways to stop that behavior and they’re probably easier than you thought. So, in this article I’ll show you how to stop excited or submissive dog peeing for good.

One more thing before we get started: If you’re serious about getting your puppy to calm down, I’ve got something for you!

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Reasons for excited or submissive dog peeing

But first, it’s important to know why dogs pee when they get excited or anxious.

In general

If a dog suffers from excited or submissive dog peeing, it happens in an uncontrolled manner. A dog can’t control his bladder in this moment!

The main reason why that happens is that he gets overwhelmed. That can be out of happiness, when you’re coming home, for instance. Or it could be out of anxiety, because he’s afraid of what might happen next.

Another rather uncomfortable behavior some dogs show when they’re overwhelmed is humping. If that sounds familiar, make sure to check out my article about how to stop a dog from humping and mounting.

Reasons for excited dog peeing

The most common reason is that he’s so happy that his body gets totally out of control. He’s so overwhelmed by all his feelings, that his body just can’t control his bladder anymore.

This is quite common for puppies. They didn’t get their chance to train their bladder properly. It’s already difficult for them to hold it without being excited!

It can also happen with very excitable adult dogs, though. My Miniature Poodle Baloo is one of that kind.

Thankfully, we managed to solve the problem by applying the 13 tips listed below!

Reasons for submissive dog peeing

If you’re dog takes a submissive posture, crouching, ears back, potentially tail tucked in and then pees, it has a whole different meaning.

Submissive dogs pee in order to show the opponent that they’re no threat. A submissive dog is also overwhelmed and his body can’t think of any better solution to get out of the uncomfortable situation.

Submissive peeing is most common in puppies. Very few adult dogs do it, even if they feel intimidated. If your adult dog still does it, it’s most likely that he hasn’t got a lot of confidence.

That doesn’t mean that submissive body language doesn’t happen. This GSD shows you the whole range:

Do dogs grow out of excited peeing?

Uncontrolled dog peeing is quite normal for puppies. Not only do they have to train to control their bladder around the house, they should also do so when excited. And for an excited puppy, this is really hard to do!

Excited puppies are just sucked up by their excitement, there’s nothing else around them anymore. To also control their bladder in that moment is almost impossible.

However, practice makes perfect and a puppy bladder will soon grow into a strong dog bladder.

Almost all dog outgrow excited peeing.

At what age should excited dog peeing stop?

If you’re puppy is under 1 year old, don’t worry. For most dogs it’s completely normal to have an accident every now and then until they’re about 1 year old. For some it even takes 18 months.

Btw, another very common puppy problem many new dog parents have is overtired puppy biting. Here’s an article how to stop this behavior.

Excited dog peeing in adult dogs

If the excited or submissive dog peeing still happens after that age, then it’s worth looking at the cause. There is usually some action of the human interacting with the dog that causes it.

In order to help you with how to stop excited or submissive dog peeing, I’ve put together the following 13 tips. If you’re following those tips, the peeing should stop within a very short period of time.

How to stop excited or submissive dog peeing

Excited or submissive dog peeing almost always involves humans.

Most of the time it happens when their favorite human is coming home, when guests are coming over or people pet him on the street. So, I’m focusing on those situations.

1. Ignore him

This is very important for excited dog peeing but can also be effective if caused by submission: ignore your dog!

This counts for all the people, whose appearance causes any accidents.

And by ignoring, I mean: take no notice of him. Don’t look at him, don’t touch him, don’t say his name, nothing like that!

Make sure guest follow this rule strictly, too.

2. Don’t bend over him

Bending over a dog feels threatening for him. If your dog is already rather insecure, this will make him feel very intimidated and will more likely lead to submissive peeing. The same goes for petting your dog on the head or hugging him. These are all very uncomfortable situations for an anxious dog.

Instead, let your dog come to you and pet him on the side or on his chest.

This is a great video that shows how to appropriately greet submissive dog:

3. Don’t make a fuss when you leave

In case the excited dog peeing only happens when you’re coming home, but not with other people, one other reason can be that he was really tense when you were gone.

In case you’re saying goodbye to your dog or are making a big fuss about leaving, this might be the reason!

Dogs don’t understand goodbyes. They only feel that there is some big thing going on which makes you excited or tense. But they don’t know why that is. So, they pick up your excitement or tension and keep it up until you’re back, which is really stressful. Once you’re back, it all only accumulates.

However, this is usually only a problem for dogs who are generally very insecure or suffer from separation anxiety. For all the others, saying goodbye shouldn’t be an issue.

4. Don’t do the action that causes the peeing

If your pup is losing urine, it’s because he’s overwhelmed by some of your actions. So, if you stop any action towards him (like saying hello, grabbing the leash etc.), he will be able to relax again.

5. Let greetings be veeeery calm

Once your pup has managed to calm down, greetings should always, always be very calm!

Baloo would get hyper excited within a nanosecond if I made a big deal when coming home. And as soon as the excitement is over the roof, his bladder might get weak again.

So’ we’re always having calm greetings.

I’m instructing my guests on that too. However, not everyone feels like following it. This is why I actually prefer nr. 7 and 9.

If you’re dog is also jumping all over you when you get home, make sure to also check out my guide on how to train a dog not to jump on you or other people.

6. Get a default action in place

If your dog still has some level of control, you can set up a default action, like going to his bed and waiting for you to greet him there.

Practice this a couple of times when he’s relatively calm. Go outside for a minute, come back and give him the cue.

After a couple of repetitions, he’ll understand that the action he’s excited about, namely to be greeted by you, will only happen once he’s fulfilling the command.

This in combination with nr. 7 helped me get rid of Baloo’s excited peeing!

7. Put him in a separate room or in a crate

This is my favorite way to solve the problem!

Baloo is always in the kitchen when he’s home alone. I found out that it’s much less stressful for him if he doesn’t have a whole lot of space. If he can roam in the whole flat, he feels like he has to protect it and gets all stressed out about it. When in the kitchen, he can relax and sleep.

So, whenever I’m coming home, he’s in the kitchen and I only go inside if he’s calmly waiting in his bed. He got that pretty quickly and we’re now always having a super calm and pee-free greeting in his bed.

When we’re having guests, I usually leash him to the table, where he’s in his bed. Once his hyper excitement is gone, he’s allowed to greet the guests, which then is much calmer.

If you’re looking for other ways to calm an over excited dog, click here.

8. Don’t punish or correct him

This is very important, don’t ever punish or correct a dog for excited or submissive peeing!

A dog in this state has no control over his body. By punishing or correcting him, you only make things worse. If he hasn’t been anxious before, then he definitely is now!

9. Redirect energy

Additionally to having him leashed, I give Baloo a chewy when we’re having guests. This helps him get rid of his built-up excitement.

If the peeing happens when you come home, you can also try tossing a few treats or a chewy in his direction. Make sure you don’t give him any attention, though. This also helps redirecting his attention and excitement.

10. Instruct other people and guests

This is one of the most difficult parts, I find. Most people are just not willing to listen to you. They only see your cute fluffy dog and just want to pet him right away!

And why should they wait when he’s soooo happy to see them, right?

If people keep ignoring your advice, it makes training much harder. So, you should be very clear about it.

Say something like: don’t pet him or he’ll pee all over you!

Guess that should work for most people 😉

11. Go potty before your guests are coming

Even with all the other measures taken, having guests might still be the most difficult. Not all your guests are willing or able (literally) to ignore your super cute pooch for a while.

And even if your pup only gets a little bit excited, it’s much more difficult to control a full than an empty bladder.

This is why I always go potty right before we’re having guests. This takes the pressure off his bladder. Even if he still gets really really excited, we never have an accident like that.

12. Greet your dog outside, if possible

If you’ve got a backyard, you can also try greeting your pup outside. This way he can get rid of his excess energy and empty his bladder in one go.

13. Check with your vet

If you’ve tried all the things listed above, your dog is over 2 years old and the peeing still hasn’t stopped, then you should check with your vet.

In some rare cases it’s possible that your pup suffers from an infection or incontinence that makes him loose urine.

Even though this is very rare, it’s best to double-check if you’re not sure.

Conclusion

Excited or submissive peeing in dogs happens because they’re overwhelmed with a situation. This usually involves a person doing something. So, if you (or the people causing it) change your behavior in this situation, the problem usually goes away.

And if your dog is still a puppy, then there’s usually nothing to worry about. Most puppies will outgrow this behavior at about 1 year old anyway.

Here’s a good video overview of everything I’ve just gone over:

I hope these 13 tips helped to to understand how to stop excited or submissive dog peeing.

Don’t forget to get your Hyper Puppy Training 101 today to get your puppy to calm down the quickest way possible.