Is it normal for puppies to pee every 10 minutes?
For a very young and small breed of puppy, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to see them pee after 10-minutes, depending on their activity and how much water they’ve consumed. This becomes even more true when your puppy is peeing every 30-minutes, which can be well within the norm for young puppies.
However, your puppy shouldn’t always be urinating within every 5, 10, or even 30-minute period. The occasional more frequently-needed bathroom break is to be expected. However, a puppy that is truly urinating every few minutes without being able to hold it is a puppy that should visit a veterinarian to rule out medical concerns.
To reiterate, more frequent potty breaks are to be expected for puppies that are active and playing, as well as puppies that have recently eaten or drank, and puppies that have just woken up from a nap.
However, if your puppy can’t hold their bladder for naps or moments of rest, you should rule out a medical problem before pursuing potential problems with your potty training plan itself.
You might also like to read our post How to Stop Your Dog Peeing on the Furniture
According to dog trainer Cesar Millans website Cesar’s Way, the daily output of urine for most healthy dogs is 10 to 20 milliliters. If it seems that your 1-year-old is producing more urine, going frequently or having accidents in the house, has trouble urinating or has blood in her urine, she may have a urinary tract infection, bladder stones, diabetes or some other health issue. Take her to a vet quickly, especially in the case of bladder stones, which can prevent her from urinating at all, leading to death. Diet changes can also cause an increase or decrease in urination. Foods higher in sodium usually increase thirst, so if she’s taking in more water than usual, she’ll need to go outside more often.
Jodi L. Hartley has been a writer and public relations professional since 1992. Her experience includes public relations and marketing for a pet service/retail business, as well as volunteer work with animal rescue organizations. Hartley holds a bachelors degree in journalism and an M.B.A.
If you’ve raised your dog since she was a young puppy, and she’s been progressing with recommended house-training methods, your 1-year-old should be able to hold her bladder eight to 10 hours. Adult dogs need to go outside a minimum of three times per day, but five opportunities is better for her health and well-being. All dogs should have a potty break upon waking, after eating and playing and before bed. Asking her to hold it for extended periods of time can lead to accidents in the house as well as urinary tract and bladder infections.
If youve just adopted a dog around 1 year of age, the rules are a little different for her until she learns the ropes. She may or may not have been housebroken in her prior life so you’ll need to train her just as you would a young puppy. Start with taking her out every hour during the day as well as upon waking, after eating and playing, before bed and about three times through the night. Once she is consistent with no accidents in the house or her crate, you can incrementally increase the amount of time between potty breaks by 30 to 60 minutes, working up to eight to 10 hours.
Consider the breed and size of your dog. Smaller dogs have smaller bladders and need more frequent potty breaks than larger dogs. Some dog tend to be difficult to house-train, so you may need to continue taking her outside every few hours well into adulthood.
How Often Do Puppies Need to Pee at Night?
The good news is that puppies are a little better at controlling their bladders during sleep! You can help them out, though, by removing their bowl of water a couple of hours before bed so they don’t drink too much before sleeping. It’s also advisable that you crate your dog overnight, as dogs are less likely to pee in their own space due to their dislike of uncleanliness. Just make sure you don’t get an overly large crate, as they could simply pee in the corner, then sleep away from it. You might also want to put a puppy pad down in case of accidents.
That said, with younger pups, in particular, you’re likely going to need to take at least one mid-night bathroom break (following the rule from above, if your puppy is 4 months of age or under and you sleep for 8 hours, you’ll need one break). If your pup is sleeping in their crate in your room, you’ll likely be woken up by them whining or scratching as they signal they need to go out. However, if you’re a heavy sleeper who isn’t likely to hear them, you’d be better off setting an alarm to wake yourself up for your pet’s potty break.
When you do get up to take your dog out to pee, you’ll need to be careful not to rile them up into thinking it’s playtime. Don’t give your pup a lot of attention; simply take them out, then put them right back in the crate. If you give your puppy lots of praise and pets during these mid-night runs, you may find them waking you up just for attention rather than for a need to urinate.
Puppy Pees All The Time: 5 minutes, 10 minutes, constantly
We all know that potty training is a necessary part of raising a young puppy. However, it’s important to know what is normal peeing behavior when potty training a puppy. This can help you determine if you are dealing with a puppy that is peeing an abnormal amount, and if so, what to do about it.
As very young puppies (under 6 months) do not have complete bladder control, the occasional accident is to be expected. How many accidents are normal for a puppy will depend on their bladder maturity.
Accidents should decrease in frequency as the puppy ages and works through your potty training plan. If you are not seeing a reduction in accidents, or if accidents are getting worse, that’s a clear sign that you need to change the way you are potty training your puppy, or evaluate them for a medical problem.
