We have always been aware that our now 7 month old boxer puppy was a dominant dog but recently she has found a creative way of reasserting herself that we do not appreciate. First some history.. we got our pup when she was 9 weeks old. She has always been confident and sweet. She plays hard and often but is not aggressive at all toward anyone or anything. You can touch her face and feet, take her toys (with some level of tug of war play though we are working on "drop it" to limit this even more), take her bones and food without incident. My husband is home all of the time right now so he is home with her most. Recently he was playing fetch with her while watching TV and she started peeing right in front of him. She had been outside and as I said is fully trained. He immediately told her NO! and took her outside. The next day he was on the phone and she peed on his feet. Again he stopped everything telling her NO! and took her outside followed by time in her kennel and ignoring her. That night we started the 48 hours of ignoring which we completed successfully. Since than we have been acting more dominant and seeing results from her but today I went outside to work in the front yard and as my husband was getting ready to join me she peed on his feet again. I am wondering if there is any other additional information that could help us with this problem. As I said we are in the middle of some serious alpha dog training but I was wondering if there is any other help anyone can give us. I am also curious about what it may mean that she is only acting poorly towards him. Does this mean that she already feels she is dominant over me or is it just the difference in my husband's approach that is bringing it out in her?
you mentioned that your husbands approach is different, could you please explain what he does differently? Do you both use different methods? It sounds as though your husband is spending more time with her as he is home during the day, is that correct? Who feeds your dog?
Depending on how your husband treats the pup it could be submissive urination. How does she react when she does it, what does her body language show? How do you react when she does it?
< Depending on how your husband treats the pup it could be submissive urination.
Or it can be excitement urination, which is common in puppies.... Or she does this to get your husband attention (even scolding is an attention)... Or, it is possible that she might have a bladder infection, etc.
Please let us know how she acts before and when she actually pees, including some body languages (position of her tail, ears, posture, etc.). :confused:
His approach to discipline is the same his interaction with her overall is a little different.
When she does something like this we both use quick correction saying "NO" and then take her outside to finish her business in the appropriate location. This also allows us to clean up the mistake without her seeing it.
Overall interaction is different only because he is home with her more. I think he spends more time doing what he needs to do without focusing on her. I have only a few hours a day home with the two of them so I spend quite a bit of that time going on walks and playing fetch. He does these things as much if not more with her but because he has more time with her he also has to let her entertain herself more often. We both feed her.
As for body language after peeing she is has ears up, head up (she doesn't have much of a tail so he hasn't really noticed) and is usually running away while still peeing (also rather annoying). She doesn't seem at all submissive. This usually happens when he is doing something else and for that reason I am inclined to think it is a ploy for attention she has never peed when people come over or when I get home which I would expect if she is an excited peer. It could be an infection but other than these instances she isn't peeing in the house at all. The only other detail is that I am never there when she does this. Two times he was home alone and I was at work and the last time I had gone outside to work in the yard and he was inside with her.
