My 6 month male chihuahua has been increasingly submissive with me (and only me). Lately, whenever we are in same room he slinks down very low and hides his tail under his bottom. When I go to pet him, he sprinkles. Sometimes he shakes and twitches. My wife thinks that its because I'm the big male in the house, but, I don't think I'm doing anything aggressive at all. Yesterday, while still outside the door, I got on all fours, crawled in and laid on my back. He slowly came up to me and when I reached out to pet him, he sprinkled (on my backpack ). Its getting bad - almost to a point where I can't pet him unless he comes to me. At first I would just try to calm him and go about cleaning up, but, lately.. I can't help but express frustration when all he is doing is peeing around me. I don't have any wild expectations that he will run to the door and greet me when I get home, but I do expect my dog not to behave like such a wimp. What to do??
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Why is this happening - a sprinkle tale
Replies (3)
>>My 6 month male chihuahua has been increasingly submissive with me (and only me). Lately, whenever we are in same room he slinks down very low and hides his tail under his bottom. When I go to pet him, he sprinkles. Sometimes he shakes and twitches. My wife thinks that its because I'm the big male in the house, but, I don't think I'm doing anything aggressive at all. Yesterday, while still outside the door, I got on all fours, crawled in and laid on my back. He slowly came up to me and when I reached out to pet him, he sprinkled (on my backpack ). Its getting bad - almost to a point where I can't pet him unless he comes to me. At first I would just try to calm him and go about cleaning up, but, lately.. I can't help but express frustration when all he is doing is peeing around me. I don't have any wild expectations that he will run to the door and greet me when I get home, but I do expect my dog not to behave like such a wimp. What to do??
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Expressing frustration at the dog can make this vastly worse. I have an article on Submissive Urination at the link below my signature that explains.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47
Kathy, thanks so much for the advice. So far, so good. No accidents since putting your advice into practice. After reading your article a couple of times I realized that I needed to be trained first, then my puppy. This is probably obvious to most pet owners but is quite a revelation for me. One that has helped make our relationship so much better.
>>Kathy, thanks so much for the advice. So far, so good. No accidents since putting your advice into practice. After reading your article a couple of times I realized that I needed to be trained first, then my puppy. This is probably obvious to most pet owners but is quite a revelation for me. One that has helped make our relationship so much better.
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And OUR training never stops. My dogs teach me new stuff every day. Happily, they are equal to the task!
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47
