Your dog may pee unnecessarily in an attempt to catch your attention if there are any changes in your family's life. At the same time, most experts classify this type of peeing as territory-marking. Also, you can expect some sort of attention-seeking peeing if you bring home a new pet.
Anxiety or Fear: Going indoors might be a response to any number of fearful stimuli or anxieties. If your dog is going in the house while home alone, this could be a sign of separation anxiety. There could be something in your dog's environment, such as a loud noise, that is making your dog fearful of going outside.
It's an instinctual, physical response called submissive urination, and it's normal in young dogs. Submissive urination typically happens whenever a dog feels excited, shy, anxious, or scared. It also happens when a dog wants to acknowledge another's dominance — like recognizing you as their owner.
Eliminate odors wherever your dog submissively urinates, especially if they aren't completely house-trained. Don't punish or scold them for submissive urination. This will only make the problem worse. If your dog is extremely fearful, ask your vet about medications that may help during the retraining process.
Territorial marking
As you probably know, dogs urinate instinctively to mark their territory. This is different from submissive peeing because it does not necessarily reflect a lack of confidence. Often, dogs feel the need to protect their domain. This often occurs when your dog feels challenged at home.
The core idea behind this advice is to elevate the owner's status, based on the belief that dogs adhere to a rigid dominance hierarchy. However, this myth has been disproven over and over again.
Dogs do not pee or poop out of revenge. What is this? Dogs mark their territory by peeing or pooping. This is a natural, instinctive behavior that dogs do.
Excitement peeing is most often found in happy, hyper, young dogs that may not have full bladder control. Dogs frequently outgrow this form of peeing as they mature and emotionally calm down.
The reason puppies hold on outside and then pee immediately once they get back in is that the house is their happy place and the yard is not. As soon as they come inside, their parasympathetic tone increases and only then do they feel the urge to urinate. Your job is simple in theory: make outside a happy place too.
Note: Puppies become more confident as they grow older. Most puppies outgrow submissive urination before one year of age. Unfortunately, some owners inadvertently encourage the behavior by coddling their nervous youngster.
The good news for you is that excitement peeing usually happens to puppies under 1 year of age, and they typically grow out of it.
Urinating and defecating in the house is a common symptom of separation anxiety. Anxious dogs often work themselves up to the point that they pee or poop in the house, even if they are housebroken.
Dogs do not pee to spite you, or when they are mad or for attention and revenge. Instead they will pee in the house to communicate anxiety, fear, health problems, territorial markings, or simply because they have no other option but to urinate indoors.
Approach the door and cue your dog to touch the bell with your command word. When they do, react with excitement, open the door, and take them outside. With enough repetition, your dog will learn that you will open the door and take them out whenever they ring the bell.
Sometimes dogs use urine to mark objects, including your bed. Studies have shown dogs don't mark to claim territory, it's more like graffiti that says, “I was here.” So, they aren't telling you the bed belongs to them but are more likely adding their scent to a communal space.
Spaying or neutering your dog should reduce urine-marking and may stop it altogether. But if they have been marking for a long time, a pattern may already be established. Because it has become a learned behavior, spaying or neutering alone won't solve the problem.
Watch your dog when he is indoors for signs that he is thinking about urinating. When he begins to urinate, interrupt him with a loud noise and take him outside. If he urinates outside, praise him and give him a treat. When you're unable to watch him, confine your dog (a crate or small room where he has never marked).
By checking the pee mail, a dog can determine the gender of the dogs who came before him and whether they're spayed or neutered. If there's a female in heat, he'll know that, too. He can also determine the health and stress level of the dogs who've been by, as well as a dog's social status.
Don't Ask Your Puppy to Hold it for Too Long
Remember, puppies can't control their bladder until they're about 16 weeks old. After that, in general they can only hold their bladder for the same number of hours as the number of months of their age plus one.
Prolonged exposure to the odor can also cause skin and eye irritations like skin burns, permanent eye damage, and even blindness! Additionally, your dog's urine can also cause tracheal burns, airway damages, cough, shortness of breath, the list just goes on.
If your dog marks where other dogs have urinated, when exposed to new odors, or when entering a strange environment, it may be a form of territorial marking. This may be more likely to occur if you visit or move into a new home or if you redecorate or get new furniture.
Most dogs assume a neutral or submissive role toward people, but some dogs will challenge their owners for dominance. A dominant dog may stare, bark, growl, snap, or even bite when you give him a command or ask him to give up a toy, treat, or resting place.
Play with your dogs and do tricks with them to divert their mind from their fears or anxiety. After your dog urinates submissively, don't ever scold, threaten or punish them for it, as it will definitely worsen the problem. Take your dog to a vet to rule out any medical condition.