Housebreaking?

RSampson

RSampson

Citizen of Zooville
Yep, so I feel like I’m more over the hump with the house training with my girl than not at this point, for reference she is a four and a half month old Lab. She was immensely easy to house train, and now is at the point where she hasn’t shit in th house since she was 8 weeks old, and will only piss in the house under absolute pain and duress, such as at night when everyone is in bed and she can’t be let out.

So here’s my concern, though - she drinks what I consider to be a normal amount of water throughout the day for a dog her size, and she shows no signs of dehydration, urinary infection, or changes in behavior or mood. However, the frequency with which she needs to be let out to piss throughout the day seems pretty high, with not much piss happening during her pit stops, just a lot of them. Like, perhaps one every half an hour to an hour. I guess I’m trying to determine how normal it is for a little dog like her to be pissing so often. There are other times where I can give her water, and she will drink a charge of it at once, and turn into a piss fountain. Then there are times where I give her the same amount of water, and there will be a longer span of time before she needs to go. Like she needed it more, or something. Maybe I am worrying about nothing, but I am curious from owners of older adult dogs that have raised from a pup at which point you started to notice larger gaps between piss breaks? Like, multiple hours.

Thanks in advance for the feedback!
 
As I have discovered with my new pup, generally about two hours is a decent average until they are about six-seven months old. Try to reduce the amount of water she drinks right before bed and start letting her out on a set schedule.
 
Not sure if its differant for male dogs but my GSD puppy is 4 months and holds his bladder for 8 + hours sometimes. Mostly at night.
 
Took my lab a while as well. Water management for late at night and not drinking too much in one go, and not giving in to the first whine helps too. But this really depends on how likely they are to pee inside if you don't. Mine went from a real pee to running around dripping a bit, which was my queue to really go outside with him. And then keep building that up. It wasnt until 10 months when he could go a full day without going out, so keep at it :)
 
BestGSD said:
As I have discovered with my new pup, generally about two hours is a decent average until they are about six-seven months old. Try to reduce the amount of water she drinks right before bed and start letting her out on a set schedule.
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Good advice, thanks very much, I appreciate it. I do wish to have her on a tighter schedule with this, work makes it tough, but we’re getting there all the same.
 
Jakeamd said:
Not sure if it’s differant for male dogs but my GSD puppy is 4 months and holds his bladder for 8 + hours sometimes. Mostly at night.
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Really? Wow, that is a long time for such a young boy. I think my girl’s longest streak at this point is only about six hours or so.
 
waarom170 said:
Took my lab a while as well. Water management for late at night and not drinking too much in one go, and not giving in to the first whine helps too. But this really depends on how likely they are to pee inside if you don't. Mine went from a real pee to running around dripping a bit, which was my queue to really go outside with him. And then keep building that up. It wasnt until 10 months when he could go a full day without going out, so keep at it :)
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Thank you for the feedback very much so! We both appreciate it. 😀
 
For our cocker spaniel he would need to be let out every hour up until 3 months but then after that it was essentially an hour for every month he has been alive, up to 6 hours in the day time between walks.
As others mentioned, a set routine is key and if you’re not crate training in the day time already then I really recommend you do so it really helps to establish a routine for them
 
Some dogs, working breeds in particular have an instict to "fill up" with water when it is available in anticipation that it will be a long time before they get water again. My pup is of a working type breed and would fill up like a water balloon if she could. I limit her water through the day ensuring she has enough, but not enough to gorge on it. If I allowed her, she would need to piss every 30 minutes for many hours. While rationing water at key times throughout the day, she is on a more normal 1.5-2hr piss intervals. At night I take water away 4 hours prior to bedtime. She is able to sleep 7-8 hours straight in her crate. If I let her drink before bedtime, I'd be getting up 1-2 times throughout the night. She's a bit over 13 weeks now.
 
erphy said:
Some dogs, working breeds in particular have an instict to "fill up" with water when it is available in anticipation that it will be a long time before they get water again. My pup is of a working type breed and would fill up like a water balloon if she could. I limit her water through the day ensuring she has enough, but not enough to gorge on it. If I allowed her, she would need to piss every 30 minutes for many hours. While rationing water at key times throughout the day, she is on a more normal 1.5-2hr piss intervals. At night I take water away 4 hours prior to bedtime. She is able to sleep 7-8 hours straight in her crate. If I let her drink before bedtime, I'd be getting up 1-2 times throughout the night. She's a bit over 13 weeks now.
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I appreciate the feedback. Yeah, from my more recent experience, this does seem the case with my pup as well, she is readily drinking water she doesn’t necessarily need, which then in turn requires her to piss more frequently. I have started minding her water more closely, and have had better success with this. I was not originally aware of any correlations between water consumption and working breeds. She is capable of going through the night 7-8 hours in her crate without her pissing on herself, I have more recently found.
 
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