Why Do Goldendoodles Pee When Excited? (Vet Explained!)
Every time you come home, does your Goldendoodle pee when you walk through the front door?
This could be a behavioral problem that you may have to help your Goldendoodle correct, or there may be something medically wrong with them. Your vet can examine your Goldendoodle and help your figure out the exact cause.
Why Does My Goldendoodles Pee When They Are Excited?
These are common reasons that your Goldendoodle may be peeing when they are excited
- Submissive urination
- Urinary Tract Infections
- Urinary Incontinence
- Bladder Stones
- Ectopic Ureters
- Still learning to Potty Train
- They are Excited
- They are Scared
- Urine Marking
Understanding the cause of why your Goldendoodle may be urinating when they are excited to see you, you can then start to correct these behaviors.
This article will explain why your Goldendoodle may be peeing when they are excited and what you can do to correct these unwanted behaviors.
The Anatomy of Your Dog’s Bladder
To fully understand why your dog may be urinating when they are excited, you need to understand their anatomy. Your dog’s kidneys filter your Goldendoodle’s blood and remove any toxins to produce urine.
This urine travel from the kidney to the bladder via the ureters. The ureters enter the bladder near the neck. The bladder is like a sac that holds urine until it is full. Once your Goldendoodle’s bladder gets full, your dog will urinate.
Their urine will travel from the bladder to outside the body via the urethra. There are sphincters between the bladder and the urethra to help keep urine inside the body.
When any of these organs do not function properly, your Goldendoodle will have trouble controlling their urine.
Why Does My Goldendoodle Pee When They are Excited?
Your Goldendoodle urinating when they are excited is not what anyone wants. Most of the time, this can be easily corrected, but they may need to see the vet as it can be caused by a medical problem.
These are some of the most common reasons that your Goldendoodle may be peeing when they are excited.
Submissive Urination
Dogs that urinate submissively are trying to appease someone they see as “socially dominant” and to escape being punished. Submissive dogs pee when they are greeted when someone approaches, and when there’s a history of rough treatment or punishment after inappropriate peeing. This is common in rescued dogs and shy, anxious, and timid dogs.
How to stop submissive urination
If your Goldendoodle is a submissive urinator, do not scold or yell at them after they have peed. Try to build their confidence by teaching them commands such as sit, stay, and come.
After they perform these commands, give them a tasty treat as a reward. Use this reward method when coming near them, and they do not pee. You will also want to interact with your Goldendoodle with no-dominate postures such as:
- Not looking them directly in the eyes. It is best to approach your Goldendoodle from the side and bent down to their eye level.
- Pet your Goldendoodle under the chin or on the side than on the top of the head.
- Try not to get your Goldendoodle excited when you get home. As soon as you walk in the doors calmly take them outside to potty. If possible, let them come outside to greet you or other people who are coming over.
- If your Goldendoodle does have an accident in the house, quickly clean it up and do not make a fuss. Remember to reward your Goldendoodle when they do urinate in the appropriate spots.
Urinary Tract Infections
If your Goldendoodle has a urinary tract infection, they may pee when they are excited. Many times, you will notice a very strong urine smell and maybe even blood in their urine. They may also seem painful when they urinate or lick at their backend.
If your Goldendoodle has suddenly started to urinate when they are excited, take them to your vet to have their urine checked for a urinary tract infection.
Your vet will look at their urine under the microscope and see if there are any bacteria growing in their urine. They can start your dog on a round of antibiotics to help clear up this infection.
Once your Goldendoodle’s urinary tract infection is cleared up, they should stop urinating when they are excited to see you. Sometimes a urinary tract infection can take a few weeks to treat fully.
Most vets will give you at least two weeks of antibiotics and will want to recheck your Goldendoodle’s urine when your Goldendoodle has finished taking all their medication to make sure that the infection is gone.
Urinary Incontinence
Some dogs will become incontinent as they get older. Urinary incontinence is when the sphincters that hold urine in your dog’s bladder do not work correctly. Your dog may leak urine when they are sleeping, or they may leak urine when they get more excited.
Many times, this is seen in spayed female dogs. There are many prescription medications that your dog may be prescribed to treat your Goldendoodle’s urinary incontinence. These are usually estrogen-like medications.
Also, there are some supplements that you can try that can naturally help your dog. One of the most commonly used supplements is VetraScience Bladder Strength.
This product contains Rehmannia glutinosa and Phytoestrogens. These are female hormones that are found in plants, which will help maintain a higher level of estradiol. Estradiol is an estrogen hormone that will help keep your Goldendoodle from urinating when they are sleeping or excited.
Bladder Stones
Dogs can commonly get stones to form in the bladder. Poodles are a breed that commonly gets bladder stones. People are most likely to have kidney stones where dogs are more likely to have bladder stones. These stones can rub against the side of the bladder wall, causing inflammation and pain. Your Goldendoodle will feel like they need to urinate all the time. When they get excited, it will cause them to urinate more.
To diagnose urinary stones, your vet will run a urine sample looking for crystals or small microscopic pieces of the stone in your Goldendoodle’s urine. They will also take x-rays of their bladder as this may show up as a bright white stone in the bladder on x-ray.
If your Goldendoodle does have a bladder stone, the only way to get it out is to remove it surgically. After your Goldendoodle has had a bladder stone removed, they will need to be on a special diet to help prevent them from getting any more. If they are not on a diet there is a very high chance that they will get more bladder stones in the future
Ectopic Ureters
Ectopic Ureters means the ureters enter the bladder is the wrong place. The ureters usually enter the bladder past the urinary sphincters, and your Goldendoodle’s urine really never enters the bladder.
Usually, these dogs can never control their bladder and may have never really been potty trained. This is a genetic condition that your Goldendoodle would have born with.
To diagnose this in your Goldendoodle, they will need to see a vet. They will need to take x rays and ultrasound. Many times, they may also need specialized testing with dye to see for sure where the ureters enter the bladder.
If your Goldendoodle does have ectopic ureters, there is a surgery that can be done to correct this problem. The ureters would be repositioned to enter the bladder at a normal location. This surgery would have to be done but a
Still learning to Potty Train
Younger Goldendoodle’s may not be fully potty trained and may urinate when you get home.
Most of the time, this is because their sphincter is not fully developed, and they cannot hold their urine as long. If you are having problems with your young Goldendoodle urinate as soon as you get home, consider coming home in the middle of the day to let them out or hiring a dog walker to stop by.
Crate training is an easy way to train your Goldendoodle to potty. By putting them in their crate, you are using the principle that most dogs do not like to pee where they sleep.
Most Goldendoodle will quickly learn to hold their bladders. Taking your Goldendoodle outside more often will also help them learn to potty.
They are Excited
Excited peeing is common in Goldendoodle puppies under one year old. The good news is that most Goldendoodle puppies will grow out of this.
They are not going to grow out of this overnight. Goldendoodle’s that excited pee will urinate when you come home, when you are outside playing or when they are about to get food or a treat.
Having a lot of patients and training will help your dog stop peeing when they are excited.
How to Stop Excited Urination in your Goldendoodle
If your Goldendoodle is an excited urinator, there are things you can do to help them stay calm and quiet.
Stating will a little bit of training will help them. Remember, when training, you need to be consistent. These are things you can try during your training.
- Try to keep all excitement and playtime outside. They way if they do urinate just a little, it is not as big of a deal because they are already outside.
- If they ever have an accident, do not scold or punish them. Just clean it up quietly. Make sure when you clean up after your Goldendoodle that you use an enzymatic cleaner so that your Goldendoodle does not smell their scent and think that it is okay to pee there again. A good cleaner that will clean up your Goldendoodle’s accidents is Nature’s Miracle Stain and Odor Remover
- When your Goldendoodle does urinate in the right place and holds their urine when they are excited, give them a tasty reward. Most Goldendoodles want to please their owner and will do almost anything for a treat.
- When training them and you first arrive home, do not get them all excited. Calmly take them outside and get them to urinate. After they have peed, you can give them a treat and let them get excited that you are home.
- When you have friends and family come to visit, ask them also to stay calm when entering the house. If you know that they are coming, right before they arrive, take your Goldendoodle outside for a bathroom break.
- When taking your dog on a walk, make sure that you take treats with you. Every time that your Goldendoodle urinates in a good location praise them, and give them a treat. These rewards will teach them the right thing to do and give them confidence and a calmer dog.
- They are Scared
If you adopted a Goldendoodle from a shelter or rescue organization, they might have had a hard past. Some of these dogs may be afraid of men, people with beards, people wearing a hat, or even kids. If your dog is excited but also scared, they may pee in the house.
By moving slow and approving your new Goldendoodle at their level can help with them being scared. When going to pet them, let them smell you before you pet them. Offer them treats, and they will quickly learn that you are not there to hurt them but to comfort and take care of them.
Urine Marking
Some dog’s may seem like is peeing when they are excited, but they are actually urinating in the house because they are marking their territory.
Some dogs may also urine mark to let them know where they have been, identify themselves to other dogs because they are stressed, frustrated, or have anxiety. Most of the time, urine marking is seen in male dogs, and they will raise their leg to pee on a vertical surface.
If your dog has not been spayed or neutered, this may help decrease urine marking. Also, cleaning the area’s very well will help deter them from coming back to the same place.
Separation Anxiety
If your Goldendoodle only urinates in the house when you are gone, they may not be excited urinator but have separation anxiety. This can cause your Goldendoodle to pee in the house when you are gone and even destroy anything that they possibly can. You will notice that they are nervous or upset right before and after you
When Do I Need Professional Help?
Sometimes you can fix most of you Goldendoodle’s urination problems on your own, but sometimes you will need to get your dog professional help. Your veterinarian and a professional dog trainer can help make sure that there is nothing wrong with your Goldendoodle and help teach them better habits.
Veterinary Help
If you have tried to figure out what is causing your dog to urinate when they are excited and cannot get your Goldendoodle to stop peeing in the house when they see you, it is best to see your vet.
Your vet will take a sample of your dog’s urine to check for an infection. They may also take x rays or do an ultrasound to see what the bladder looks like.
Many times, if it is a medical problem causing your dog to urinate in the house, it can be easily and quickly fixed. Sometimes these problems may require surgery to fix the problem.
Working with your vet will help make sure that there are no medical problems causing your Goldendoodle to urinate when they are excited.
Professional Dog Training
Sometimes your dog may just need some professional dog training to get them to stop urinating when they get excited. A professional may have tips and tricks that you have not tried. They may also see behaviors that you do not see because you are with them every day.
Many professional dog trainers can come to your house and work with you and your Goldendoodle on many of their behaviors so that you can have a very well-mannered dog. They can also help address excited urination and what you can do about it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Many times, Goldendoodles will pee when they are excited, especially as a young dog. There are many medical and behavioral reasons that your Goldendoodle may be urinating when they are excited.
Your vet can make sure that there is nothing medically wrong with your Goldendoodle and help you fix it if there is a problem. If there is not a medical problem, behavioral training is the next step. Many times, as your Goldendoodle gets older, they will outgrow these unwanted behaviors.
Make sure that you are doing your part and cleaning up after your Goldendoodle and rewarding them for all their positive behaviors. After a little time, you will have your Goldendoodle trained not to urinate every time they meet a new person.