Why Does My Husky Pee When Excited or Scared?

Seeing your Husky pee when excited or scared can be an odd thing at first. But understanding why your Husky pees in different situations is important to understand their mindset and wellbeing.

A Husky will pee when excited or scared for a few different reasons. If your Husky is a puppy, then the peeing when excited or startled simply means they can’t control their bladder yet. If an older Husky pees when excited or startled, it could be either a medical issue or submissive urination.

Let’s go through a few different scenarios to fully understand why your Husky might be peeing when excited or scared.

Husky Puppies Peeing When Excited

If you have a Husky puppy, you can expect to see them pee whenever you overly excite them or startle them.

Husky puppies will pee when excited or startled because they haven’t yet developed control over their bladder. Fortunately, they will gradually learn to control their bladder and the issue should stop.

Huskies are well known for getting extremely excited, so it should be no surprise that a Husky puppy will get so excited they don’t even realize they have peed.

A Husky puppy also may not understand that they should resist peeing while inside your home.

Your Husky puppy should outgrow peeing when excited as they learn to control their bladder. If your puppy doesn’t outgrow this behavior, then it’s a sign of another issue as covered below.

Adult Husky Peeing When Excited

If your adult Husky continues to pee when getting excited, it can be due to a number of different reasons.

Huskies may pee when excited due to a medical condition, incomplete house training, accidental reinforcement, or due to an overly full bladder.

The way to figure out the cause is by looking at the context.

Husky meeting other dog

Does your Husky only pee in certain situations? Or do they pee all the time? Does your Husky freeze up while peeing or do they release a short burst before continuing to run around?

Have a think about the context to better understand the underlying reason why your Husky might be peeing.

Here are some common causes for peeing when excited:

Accidental Reinforcement

Huskies are intelligent dogs and they can learn behaviors based on how you respond to those behaviors.

For example, if your Husky peed inside when it got excited as a puppy and you comforted them thinking you accidentally scared them, you may have accidentally reinforced the behavior.

It doesn’t take long before your Husky learns that if they pee when they get excited, they get extra attention from you.

This behavior can continue even if you start providing negative feedback after they pee inside because of the earlier experiences they had as a puppy sticks with them.

Accidental reinforcement of bad behaviors is far more common than most dog owners are willing to admit. So don’t feel bad if you may have accidentally reinforced this behavior.

It is possible to gradually change the behavior by providing positive reinforcement when your Husky pees outside in the right situations.

Medical Conditions

Uncontrollable peeing when excited may be a sign of a medical condition in an adult Husky.

If your Husky has only started this behavior all of a sudden or you notice that they’re peeing far more often than usual, it could be a sign of an issue.

Try to take notice if your Husky might be in pain while peeing. This can be expressed through excessive licking.

Take notice if your Husky also has loose stools or diarrhea, as that’s a clear sign of gastrointestinal upset.

Also, consider if you have changed your Husky’s diet in any way recently. Changing the amount or type of food you give your Husky may trigger this issue. If the problem doesn’t go away in a week or so, you may want to change the food back or try something else.

If any of this matches what you have noticed with your Husky, you may want to take your Husky to the vet for a check-up and talk through the problem.

Full Bladder

If your Husky has been inside for a long time and suddenly pees when getting excited, it could simply mean they have been holding it for too long and can’t hold it anymore.

If this has happened a few times recently, take note of how long your Husky has been inside and whether they have had the opportunity to go outside to relieve themselves.

Try to take your Husky outside and give them a chance to pee. Whether they do or not will give you a good idea of how quickly their bladder will fill.

Take your Husky outside at regular intervals to teach them to pee outside.

Adult Husky Peeing When Scared or Startled

It’s important to separate between your Husky peeing when excited or when they pee because they are scared.

If your Husky pees uncontrollably when they are scared or startled, it is a sign of submissive urination. Submissive urination is when your Husky pees to signal that it isn’t a threat to others.

Your Husky may pee to indicate to another dog that they aren’t a threat, or to a human.

Submissive Urination

If your Husky pees when another dog approaches them, it’s a normal way for dogs to communicate with each other. Your Husky is basically saying that they are not a threat to the other dog.

Not all dogs do this and only certain situations may trigger your Husky to submissively urinate.

Pay close attention to your Husky’s body language to assess whether your Husky is scared or merely signalling to others that they aren’t a threat.

If your Husky displays any of the below signs, it’s a sign of submission:

  • Lowered body posture
  • Raising front paws
  • Licking their nose
  • Displaying a submissive grin (showing teeth when combined with any other point covered here)

If your Husky pees when meeting another dog or a human, pay close attention to their body language.

If none of the above signals appear, then the peeing isn’t something to be concerned about. If you notice multiple submissive signals, it’s a sign your Husky is stressed or feels threatened.

How to Stop Your Husky Peeing When Excited

Once you understand the reason why your Husky is peeing when excited or scared, you can work on a solution.

If your Husky isn’t peeing due to a medical reason, then this is a behavior you can change with consistent effort.

While most Husky puppies will grow out of this behavior, some will require extra training.

Here are some tips to help stop this behavior:

  • Try to greet your Husky outside rather than inside. Not only will this prevent you needing to clean up inside, it helps reinforce that your Husky should only pee while outside
  • Ignore your Husky when you get home. This might seem cruel, but it’s a powerful way to train your Husky to not get overly excited. Wait until your Husky calms down before you respond to them. Don’t look at them until they are calm. Then you can interact with them, but avoid hyping them up again
  • Train your Husky to sit when greeting someone. Sitting will help (in a small way) to lower your Husky’s excitement level. When done properly, this will also help stop your Husky from jumping all over people
  • Use toys or treats as a distraction. If you know your Husky will pee when excited in certain situations, try using a toy or treat to intervene and distract your Husky

The right approach for your Husky depends on what is causing the peeing and the situation.

Take your time and be patient with your Husky. If this issue has been going on for a long time, it may take a while before you’re able to change the behavior.

Be consistent with your training and you’ll be able to change the behavior of even the most stubborn Huskies.