Re: Rescue Dog and Submissive Urination

thanks for the reply....I don't know whether I made a mistake returning her so quickly, or if my mistake was adopting her in the first place, since I had a few red flags go up about her as more information was revealed to me about her at the 11th hour, but I ignored them because I had gotten attached to the idea of her.

In any case, it's too late, that ship has sailed. They already have other plans for her, several options depending on whether the person interested in working with her will take her. If that doesn't work out, she will probably go to a different, busier shelter where she's likely to get adopted, but the current foster's fear is that she may not go to the right home. She was an eight hour round trip to pick up and again to return, and my husband really thought she was the wrong dog for us, so I can't be totally selfish here, I have to consider his feelings. Getting a dog was more my idea, and my responsibility, he would rather be pet-free and if anything, he's more a cat person, but I think he would like a much more mellow dog, with less issues that need working on because he knows I wig when I get too much on my plate, and it's already pretty full. I guess that's the reason I returned her so quickly, I was prepared for standard stuff, like re-learning housebreaking or dealing with some early anxiety at being in new surroundings, but I had passed on another dog just a couple weeks before with the same submissive urination issue because I didn't believe I could handle that behavior, and I turned around and adopted a different dog that did just that, so I took on more than I could realistically handle. (They estimated she is about 4 years old, BTW.) Probably I just made a bad choice - as in it was just not a good match, but I got very attached to my "bad choice" in the meantime, so it was really hard taking her back. I would feel better if I knew she was going to a good home with someone who knew how to work with her.

The part where you mention she may always have that tendency...that's what I wasn't sure I wanted to take a chance on, since my husband would never go for that, and he has clients coming in and out throughout the week who would probably trigger that behavior. I was misinformed about her in more ways than one, I'm not sure it was done deliberately, but she was also listed as altered, but we think now that she hasn't been spayed. I don't know if female dogs mark, but some of what she was doing almost seemed like marking behavior, too.

Once I shake this off and start over looking for another dog, I'll have more realistic expectations this time and also be much more careful about my choice. It might even be that a rescue dog is not for me, given the possibilities for past trauma, etc., but maybe if I can find one who was an owner surrender due to moving, divorce, death the the family, etc. - at least if it is not coming from an abuse or neglect background, it might be easier if I am just dealing with separation and new environment issues.

I left it with the foster that if it looked like she was going to wind up in a bad situation, I would try her again or see what else I could do to help. I doubt I will have any further interactions with her or this dog, but I think I learned a tough lession with this experience.