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just got a doodle a few days ago and love him so much. his name is gus and he is 8 months old. a few quick questions for a new mom:

1) why does he urinate when he is punished? (chewed up some things the other day while we were at church. we both fussed at him, without raising our voices, but he still tucked his tail and peed)

2) he goes everywhere with us pretty much but when he is left alone he is overly excited when we get home; jumping and going nuts...he normally has a calm demeanor. i dont like him jumping up on me so forcefully. anyother time the jumping is not a problem.

thanks for the help, any other tips would be greatly appreciated
 

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You didn't say where you got him, but at 8 months, he may have some separation anxiety issues. Tyke spends so much time with me, that she does the same thing when I leave her. She jumps up on me and grabs my hands when I come back. The trainer we are working with told me to simply ignore her for about 5 minutes when I first come in - once she realizes that it is no big deal when I leave and come back, she should calm down. She hasn't stopped completely yet, but she is getting better. When she jumps on me, I turn my back to her and ignore her, and if she persists, she gets time out in the kitchen (but never in her crate!).
As for the peeing, maybe that is nerves or excitement. Tyke doesn't pee when we fuss at her, but she still does when she is excited to meet someone new. Depending on the behavior you are trying to correct, maybe ignoring him would be better than fussing. If he keeps it up, you may want to check with your vet just to make sure there isn't some sort of physical problem. It may just be that he is a pretty submissive dog who is nervous and just getting used to new surroundings.
Hope that helps!
 

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We have a foster dog who is 8 months old and have seen similar behavior. I think your dog is going through an adjustment phase. I'm sure he has some security issues. He doesn't know for sure yet if his new home is his forever home. He doesn't know your routine and what to expect. When you leave him, he doesn't know if/when you are returning.

We have seen such an improvement with our doodle over the past few days. I'm sure you will see him settle down.

If he continues to be overly excited when you return, you can help by making your entry as non-eventful as possible. Come in quietly, don't fuss over him right away. If he jumps, correct him and hold him so he doesn't try to jump again. Ask him to sit and give him a treat for behaving.

Deb
 
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The urination when punished is called submissive urination. Here is a great article:

The genetically shy dog is a super submissive type and unlike many dogs is quite sensitive to anyforms of "dominant" behavior in humans. Even ordinarily submissive dogs can become extremely submissive if its owner misunderstands and unintentionally forces it to increase its submissiveness. Mistreated dogs may also become excessively submissive. First, tone down your aggressive behavior -- with a submissive dog there is no real need to consciously dominate it. Examples of dominating behavior include: • Direct eye contact • Standing over the dog • Walking towards the dog while looking at it Tips: Wait when you come home. Say "hi" and be verbally friendly, but don't touch or pet it for about 5-15 minutes. Try not to make the moment more exciting than it already is. When you greet it, get down on its level. Rather than standing and bending at the waist, bend at the knees (or sit) so that your face is about level with his and you are not looking down on him. This is a less dominant position, and less likely to trigger a submissive posture. Don't pet it on the head. Rather, tell it to sit, maybe "shake hands", then scratch it under the chin and on the chest. This is less dominating than the pat on the head (because you avoid standing over it). Giving s/he an alternative behavior will help. He can’t submissive pee and sit and shake hands at the same time.When you correct this type of dog, do so with your voice only (avoid direct eye contact). If it starts to urinate, then say immediately, "OK, let's go out!" in a happy tone of voice -- and take it out. Or, take a toy out (something it likes to do) and play with it. What you are doing here is telling your dog, "OK, I see your submissiveness. That's good." When guests come over, ask them to ignore your dog and not look at it even if it comes up and sniffs them. After a bit, when people are sitting down then have them gently put their hands out and talk to your dog, without looking at it. Usually after about 15 minutes or so everything is fine. In general, show signs of low-key approval immediately when the dog becomes submissive. Then distract it with something else. When you ignore submissiveness or get mad at it, you're in effect telling the dog "You're not submissive enough!" so the poor thing intensifies its efforts -- and submissive urination is about as submissive as it gets. Be really positive with your dog, this type lacks self-confidence and will look to you quite often to make sure everything is OK.
 

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thom1483...welcome and HI, along with congrats on your new doodle

as with any older rescued dog, there is a adjustment period for you and your doodle to get to knwo one another.
it sounds like he did submissive peeing and give him time, go gentle and use tons of patience. praise him dearly when he does do things right
and corrections need to be swift, appropriate and then it's over with, just as a mother dog would do.
Dogs do not understand grudges or if we are upset more than 10 seconds hahhahahahaa

I say pick and choose your battles...then start with one thing first and then move on to the next
1. Earn Gus's your doodles trust
2. then work on jumping etc etc etc

OH at 8mos old GUS is having a "stage" as we call it and can drive you nuts and well you can learn to laugh more and fret less

I have a few articles that may make you laugh about your doodles behavior? the link is below my name for blog articles on this site

hang in there as it only gets better given time, love , training, patience, reading and having a good sense of humor
 
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Maya would jump when I first got her when I would come home. I would go utside to get her and she would be jumping like crazy. I ignored her...no touching what so ever (not even to push her down) and kept telling her no jump and asked her to sit. As soon as her butt was on the ground I would reach down and pet her. If she jumped again I would repeat the process. A few days of this and no more jumping on me. Other people well we are still working on that.

Oh and as I found out today....the regress. I put Maya outside cause I had a lot of work to do and she barked for over 2 hours cause she wanted in. Guess I need to give her more alone time so she doesn't go crazy when she has to have it
 

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chewed up some things the other day while we were at church. we both fussed at him, without raising our voices, but he still tucked his tail and peed
Thom, did you see him chewing up things, or discover them after you got home? If you don't correct dogs while they are misbehaving, trying to correct them later doesn't help much - your pup probably had no idea what you were fussing about. As hard as it may be sometimes, I've found that I have to ignore the results of bad behavior that I didn't see occurring. If you do see him chewing on something, stop him and hand him something that he is allowed to chew on, like one of his toys. When he starts to chew on the toy, then praise him. He'll get the idea soon enough!
 

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there's a saying : you have to tell a kid something 4000 times before they commit it to short term memory hahhahaha!!

know what? Doodles are so much easier than kids hahaha and learn faster if you ask me :wink:

the other day a close friend asked me how it's going with a 17mo, 12mo and 5 mo doodles

i said: i feel like i have a 3yr old, 6 yrold and 13 yr old ! and I feel like my sense of humor is beginning to have more depth to it now hahhaha!
 

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Annmarie, you are so right! Tyke is 5 months now, and it's like she's in the middle of the terrible two's or even MORE terrible 3's!! I swear sometimes I can see her sprouting horns sometimes :twisted:, and then she looks like an absolute angel at other times! I'll bet three of them really IS a handful!!
 

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Welcome Thom and congratulations on your new doodle.
Yo have received some great advice and I agree that you don't punish when you don't actually catch them in the act. They don't know why you are angry. His submissive peeing is his way of telling you, in dog language, that he submits to your authority and won't challenge you. Actually, that is a very good thing and he is acting the way a smart dog would act under the circumstances. The secret is not to make him feel threatened by you. He will probably continue to submissivly pee if he gets excited, generally dogs outgrow that at about 6 months...but we don't know what his life was like. So, I suggest that you treat him with the utmost love and respect, try to not overreact when he pees (I know that is a tough one...I have a marking male!) And, if he has not been neutered, get that done ASAP!
Here is a great place to get information on just about any topic...I really like this link:
(Here is a article about jumping, I like number 7...it always works with my dogs) http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Conten ... C=0&A=1731
(This one covers submissive urination AND jumping...)
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Conten ... C=0&A=1047
 

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All good advice. The dogs attention span is only a couple of seconds long, as is his ability to associate. The only 'punishment' I use is ignoring the dog as mentioned above. Abby learns quickly she loses all contact and affection with certain behaviors (jumping, barking etc) so she doesn't do them once I ignore her. You might try a low key, no eye contact approach when greeting him. I would also tether the dog to myself at home so it can learn I provide all it's needs,telling him please trust me. Once that bond is established the subordinate behavior should stop...mtd
 

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Hi and welcome to the forum,


Emily did that the other day. I got upset with her because she was complainin so much about being in the crate for 30 min after I took her to the dog park. for 2hrs ( :) :) ) She knew I was really not happy with all the crying and when she came out of the crate she squat and peed right in front of me .... I really had to hold myself back... :D now I am cereful about the way I talk to her... They really know how to control us I guess
 
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