That fuckin' dog!
 

We have dog issues. Specifically, she pisses all over the bloody place. When we walk in the door after work, she gets so excited, she pisses. When someone spooks her slightly, she pisses. When she wakes up in the morning, she pisses. When you're sitting down quietly and she sits by you, 1 in 3 chances say she pisses.

Oh, and she's insane and chases shadows on the wall.

Is our dog broken? Can we repair her?

My dog used to do that too

She comes into the house, first thing she does is piss
We pat her on the head and she pisses.

I don't know but she stopped that after she reached 1 year/we spayed her.

You should spay your dog because she may get raped when she's in heat. :)

how old is she?
has she always done it?

Our dog used to do that, and still occasionally does. It's a submissive thing. Cooper is, by temperment, a fairly submissive dog, and it's a very polite thing to do, as a dog, to pee for dogs who are dominant to you. So at least it's a compliment.

We started by building up Cooper's confidence. She's now no longer the most submissive dog on the block, but it took a lot of work. Mostly it was lurkette's doing, so she can probably say more specifically the steps she took.

First, don't yell at her - that only produces a submissive response. "See, I'm a good dog, look at me pee for you."

Second, when you come home in the afternoon, greet her calmly. In fact, just ignore her for a minute or so, and when you greet her, have her sit first, and don't hunch over her - that's a dominance signal and she'll pee. Crouch down to pet her, and only pet her when she's calm. Give her lots of calm praise and treats whenever she's calm and obedient.

The peeing first thing in the morning and when she sits down next to you worry me - either she's not properly house trained or she's got incontinence problems. The first one can be remedied with good training (have you tried crate training?), the second one needs a trip to the vet.

Remember that she's a dog and unless you train her otherwise she's going to live by dog rules and not people rules. She's not a mind reader, and you need to reinforce the behavior you want. YOU are responsible for making sure she knows what you want, and in this case positive reinforcement training is going to be a lot more effective than punishment.

Also, certain breeds of dogs are more prone to loss of bladder control. Cocker Spaniels are notorious for it.
It sounds like there is some separation anxiety happening and the best thing is to not go nuts with poochie when you get home. They get all hyped up and lose control. Ignore the dog for a few minutes and be strict with yourself! Eventually your arrival home won't cause so much anxiety and stress for the pooch.
Good Luck.

Lurkette had some good advice on how to deal with this kind of submissive urination, but you need to be aware just how long the change can take. I've had once dog that had this problem, and have been exposed to two others that family members had. In each case it literally took years for the dog to totally stop. One other thing that can be frustrating, is that even after the dog has stopped urinating in response to you or the people you live with, as soon as a friend or relative that the dog doesn't know shows up, the waterworks usually start again.

You've just got to decide how dedicated you are to keeping the dog and improving the behavior. I know I had a damned hard time dealing with mine that would roll onher back when I went to pet her and make a fountain straight up over my hand. :(

at least it's not poo.

Our dog used to do that. She'd get excited, when someone got near her, or when the kids would play with her she'd piss. It was never very much, but it was extremely annoying.

She was a very submissive dog and the vet said there really wasn't anything to do about other than take her outside often, so that when she did go there wouldn't be anything there to let loose.

We ended up taking her out, a lot. Eventually, as she grew older and she became more comfortable with the family it stopped.

I've recently been hanging out on www.pets.ca

There are some good articles there, at least one of which is on this topic.

She's a Jack Russel crossed with a teacup poodle. The fur and hyperactivity of the jack russel, and the size and build of the poodle. She is very little, we are very big. Around 6 months old, too. And kinda stupid. She'll sit and chase her own shadow for hours. Although, she does know that when she pees it's bad, she'll get up and bolt when she does it.

She's only 6 months old, that's good. That means she's still technically a puppy and there's still time to correct this behavior. Since she's a Jack Russell/Poodle cross, I seriously doubt she's stupid - those are two very trainable, usually bright breeds. The shadow-chasing could just be puppy play, but most likely it's boredom - Jack Russels have a lot of energy and require a lot of exercise and stimulation. What kind of toys does the dog have to play with? What kinds of activities do you do with your dog? Have you tried clicker training? http://www.clickandtreat.com/ That web site has some good resources for clicker training - it's behaviorism-based training that associates a sound (a click produced by a little plastic clicker) with very specific behaviors that you mark with the sound, and then reward with a treat. Most dogs learn incredibly quickly, even my Cooper (who, while extremely sweet, is not the brightest bulb in the box - but she does sit, stay, come, down, heel, touch, sing, jump, etc., all through clicker training). When you're not actively paying attention to her, make sure she has stimulating toys like <a href="http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441775350&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023689&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302026218&bmUID=1107960723684">Kongs</a> or a <a href="http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441778374&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023689&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302026219&bmUID=1107960779457">Molecuball</a>, or even just a rag with treats in it tied in many many knots - that's Coop's favorite toy, keeps her occupied for hours.

Since she is so young, the submissive peeing is most likely something she'll grow out of. But she'll grow out of it faster if you make sure she has some confidence (reward training automatically helps that) and she'll be less likely to get into trouble and get yelled at (a confidence-dropper) if you make sure she has plenty of activities to keep her occupied.

Not to laugh at your misfortune but this reminded me exactly of my sisters dog. He would pee at the slightest hint of attention. But hes fixed and the problem ceased, maybe that was what was wrong... I don't know. None the less, phone your vet. talk to him/her, if they want you to come it for a check-up make sure its not because they're trying to screw you out of money. Just ask questions.

Yes, my miniature dachsund does the same thing. Almost 1 year old now. Anyhow, he would pee as soon as you came home and made to pet him. Same thing coming down from the bedroom in the morning.

He is very well trained otherwise - great dog.

So far, we have done well in coming home and not getting all crazy and touchy with him. We somewhat ignore him, and we definitely DON'T pet him for a minute or two. Like I said, doing that has lessened the problem. I expect it will eventually go away.

I had never heard of the hunching over a dog = dominance thing. I'll have to share that with the family and see how that goes.