Is my dog submissive or nervous?

chris_n_tj

Great post trolley.
Uk have you thought about trying him with a litter tray? Might worth thinking about.
It sounds to me that he didnt have such a brilliant time with his old owners does it. With lots of love and praise he will soon realise you are not going to hurt him and he will settle down xx

UK0106

I would never have even considered a litter tray for a dog but it could be a good idea if it continues! Sometimes it seems like fear and others just like he's been caught short.

When he had the incident earlier where he weed in his crate, I just took the blanket out, sprayed it with the simple solutions spray and then put in the washing machine. He followed me the whole time looking like he was waiting to be told off and when I didn't do that, just took him out for a walk, it was like he was a completely different dog! He was leaping around, playing with me, tail completely up in the air and wagging the whole time.

Could he have decided I could be trusted not to hurt him maybe?

Even when we got back indoors (after not a single issue on the lead), he wanted to play. I know this is normal puppy to most people but he hasn't shown any interest in doing anything but snuggling on me since I brought him home - I was starting to think he didn't know how to play!

trolleyrun

He is learning to trust you, which is great. He's still very young and will want to play, especially once his confidence builds up. Pipsqueak doesn't really know how to play with other dogs, apart from chasing each other round in circles But she enjoys that, as she's too wimpy to play tug or anything like that (I've tried, lol).

Just a little tip, if you don't mind. Try to take your pup outside as soon as you discover he's had an accident. It makes it easier for him to make the connection. I know it's a pain, but it shouldn't take long before he understands the "rules". IMO if you use a litter tray (or puppy pads) you're teaching him it's ok to wee indoors. You might need to go back to basics, by taking him out every hour and extending the time gradually.

krlyr

It may be worth a thorough vet check to make sure there's no medical cause behind it, such as a health issue causing anxiety, pain in the neck/back that may make him react so negatively to being on lead, and so on.

Once you've ruled in/out health issues, I would go about desensitizing and counterconditioning him to the things that worry him.

To summarise, desensitizing is where a dog is exposed to the trigger at a low level, to 'normalise' it. In your case, it would involve you having the lead in sight in various situations - you could wear it around your neck like a scarf, for example, and pick it up/put it down in various places around the house. Soon it would become just another household 'thing'.

Counterconditioning is where you change the dog's emotional response to the trigger. So you would pair the lead with good experiences - be it fuss, food or toys. So you'd show him the lead, and feed him lots of yummy, high value treats. Put the lead and treats away. Repeat several times throughout the day. Eventually he will see the lead and his reaction will be "yay, lead - treats are on their way!", and at that stage you can move on to leaning towards him as if you're going to attach the lead (but don't clip it on) and giving rewards. Flick the trigger hook open and closed, give treats. Clip it on and clip it straight off, whilst giving rewards. Build up slowly to clipping him on and giving him rewards whilst wearing the lead, take it off and stop treats.

He sounds like quite a nervous pup, whether that's from being in a new environment, from being underexposed to things in his vital socialisation window (http://www.dog-obedience-training-review.com/puppy-socialization.html), to being punished, I'm not sure if you'll ever really know - but don't worry about the why, just dealing with the what, and you'll get there