The purposes of the present study were to investigate the effects of the alpha1-adrenoceptor antagonists tamsulosin, prazosin and urapidil on resting urethral pressure in anaesthetized female dogs, and to compare the results with their effects on arterial blood pressure. Tamsulosin decreased resting maximal urethral pressure in the urethral pressure profile in a dose-dependent fashion, whereas it had almost no effect on mean arterial blood pressure. Prazosin and urapidil also dose-dependently decreased resting maximal urethral pressure, but these effects were accompanied by decreases in mean arterial blood pressure. Thus, of these three compounds, tamsulosin dose-dependently decreased resting maximal urethral pressure with negligible effect on mean arterial blood pressure in female dogs. These results suggest that tamsulosin will be useful in the treatment of voiding dysfunction associated with bladder outlet obstruction in women, with little hypotensive effect.