Have A Neighbor Or Family Member Check In
This is a good option for someone who is not usually away from the house too long. If you get stuck in traffic or there is an emergency, you could contact someone to check in on your dog.
How To Potty Train Your Dog
Ask any doting dog owner, and theyll give you a million reasons why they adore their dog. What dont most dog owners enjoy quite as much? The process of potty training their beloved pet. While there are plenty of wonderful things about owning a dog, the reality is that housebreaking and potty training isnt often noted as one of them.
However, its an essential part of being a dog owner, and teaching your dog how to behave correctly.
Whether its your first dog or fifth, you probably have some questions about potty training your new puppy. Thats where we step in.
At Kabo, we are passionate about helping give you the resources you need to succeed with your new dog. Thats why were here to answer all of the questions that you may have about how to potty train your dog.
Within this article, you are going to get answers to some of your most urgent questions about housebreaking your new pup.Â
Well give you the information you need about properly training a dog to urinate outdoors. But of course, accidents are inevitable sometimes which is why we will also equip you with the knowledge you need to get the pee smell out of the carpet.Â
Also covered are some of your questions regarding what motivates your dog to urinate and if spite could be one of those motivators. By the end of this article, youll be practically a pro with potty training your pooch. Lets get started.
Factors Affecting How Frequently A Dog Needs To Pee
Age is one of the biggest factors affecting a dog’s ability to hold it or not hold it.
Puppies and adolescent dogs, as you probably know, are less able to hold their pee than adult dogs.
Puppies are still learning how to take cues from their bodies and learn that that tingly feeling means they’ve gotta go. And once they do, it’s a long road to being able to control the muscles involved in holding in their pee.
It can be uncomfortable learning to hold their pee, which is why many pet parents struggle to teach their puppies and young dogs how to hold it in.
As a general rule of thumb, you can expect a dog to be able to hold their pee for roughly one hour for every month old that they are, up until they are 8 months old.
Adult dogs can usually be expected to hold their pee for 6-8 hours. Some dogs may be able to push it to 10 to 12, but any longer and your dog takes a risk of developing serious side effects.
Once your dog starts getting on in years, they will begin to show signs of aging. When exactly this happens varies, especially between different-sized breeds.
But dogs are generally considered “senior” when they reach about 8-10 years old, with smaller breeds closer to 10 and larger breeds closer to 8.
No one wants their aging buddy to be uncomfortable or struggle to hold in their pee, so it’s often best to give senior dogs more frequent potty breaks. Shoot for about once every 3-4 hours if you can (6-8 times a day).
Below is a quick guide to help determine how often your dog should go out to pee based on their age:
|
Age |
Amount of Time They Can Hold It |
|
Up to 1 month old |
0 time (don’t expect a puppy less than one month old to hold in their pee) |
|
2 months old |
1-2 hours |
|
3 months old |
~3 hours |
|
4, 5, and 6 months old |
~4, 5, and 6 hours, respectively |
|
7-8 months old |
Between 6 and 8 hours |
|
8 months old into adulthood |
Between 7 and 8 hours, up to 10-12 hours |
| ~8-10 years old + |
~3-4 hours |
Generally, smaller dogs have to pee more frequently than large breed dogs.
It is estimated that a dog will pee between 10 and 20 ml for every pound of body weight per day.
So that means that a 6-pound dog will produce roughly half a cup of pee per day compared to a 60-pound dog, who will produce about 5 cups of pee per day.
It’s difficult to estimate how much volume a dog’s bladder will hold, but it’s been observed that smaller dogs have smaller bladders relative to their overall body size than larger breeds of dogs. This means that their little bladders will fill up faster, resulting in more frequent urination than their larger counterparts.
Again, this is just a general rule of thumb, and a dog’s personality and training will likely play a bigger factor in determining the frequency of their potty breaks than their size.
House training is one of the first opportunities pet parents have to really work with their dogs. Unlike sit, shake, and stay, preventing your dog from doing their business in the house comes with its own clear motivation for pet parents.
However, your dog’s potty training does not stop once they have reasonable control over their bladders.
How frequently you take your dog out to pee during the day also trains them to hold or not hold their pee for certain amounts of time.
A dog who is kept inside during their owner’s 8 or 9-hour workday will be better trained to hold their urine in other situations than dogs whose parents are at home and able to let them out more frequently.
If your dog is peeing very frequently, it may simply be that you have inadvertently trained them to pee on a high maintenance schedule.
If your dog is experiencing any sort of physical stress related to an ongoing or new health issue, it is likely more difficult for them to control their bladders. Some dogs may also regularly smell like pee as a result of a medical concern.
Urinary tract infections are frequently the culprit, especially for female dogs. A more serious but also fairly common issue is bladder and urinary stones.
In addition to being extremely uncomfortable and dangerous, these stones take up space in your dog’s abdomen, leaving less room for their bladders to expand.
Keep in mind also that some prescription medications may cause more frequent urination. Conversely, some medications may cause your dog to pee less frequently than they used to.
Common health issues that affect a dog’s urination schedule include:
The internet is a great place to speculate wildly about what may be wrong with your dog, but diagnosing issues yourself wastes valuable time that a trained, experienced veterinarian could be using to help your poor dog feel better.
If you have any real concerns that your dog is in pain or experiencing health issues, you should bring them to a veterinarian right away. N
Obviously, the amount of water that a dog consumes will affect how frequently they needed to pee.
A dog on a hot day who has been playing outside will likely drink a lot of water all at once when they get the opportunity. Expect that dog to have to pee more frequently in the next few hours.
Not just their water consumption but also the food that they eat will affect how much they need to pee.
Dry kibbles contain less moisture than canned or packaged wet food. Dogs who are lucky enough to eat wet food diets will often consume more fluid in a day than dogs on dry food diets, resulting in more frequent potty breaks.
Not only that, but foods high in salt or very rich with fatty proteins(like lunch meat) are likely to induce thirst, meaning your dog drinks more and, thus, pees more.
If your dog is peeing too much, or you are concerned that they are not peeing enough, re-examine both the amount of water that they consume and also the ingredients and quality of their daily food.
Yes, just like people, some dogs just are not as comfortable doing their business outside of their home or in their usual spot.
A dog who is in a stressful situation or one who is overwhelmed and distracted by lots of new stimuli is more likely to hold in their pee while they are interested in whatever has got their attention.
Sometimes, stressful situations like long car rides, airplane trips, or a move into a new home are unavoidable stressors in your dog’s life.
Do not be surprised if your dog holds their pee longer when they are in these environments.
These are issues that may be making your dog pee at the wrong times that are not necessarily related to how full their bladders are:
Marking is a specific behavior that both males and, yes, even females, may mark, especially if they are unaltered.
When a dog marks, they “mark” an object, area, or unlucky person with the scent of their pee. Dogs have incredibly sensitive olfactory capabilities, so to them, another dog’s urine is a very complex fingerprint containing tons of information.
We are not currently able to understand exactly what all is communicated through this scent, so we are limited to making observations and filling and filling in the gaps.
When a dog marks, they are not doing so because they need to pee but rather because they want to leave their scent in an area. Therefore, they typically do not expend as much urine when the mark as when they pee.
They usually only mark new objects or when they are in new environments, especially if there are new dogs or the smell of new dogs around.
Oftentimes, excitement peeing is simply an issue with maturity, anxiety, or personality.
Excitement peeing often occurs when a pet owner returns home from work after a long day or when family or friends come to the door.
Your dog, overwhelmed with excitement, loses their muscle control and leaves a puddle on the floor. This is often followed by a look of shame, knowing that they’re not supposed to pee on the floor but were unable to control it.
It may be that this dog already had a full bladder after your long day of work. But this is also a behavior that will need to be addressed separately from their house training.
Submission peeing is often coupled with other submissive behaviors, like your dog rolling over on their side or on their backs and peeing when you reach to pet them.
This will often happen when they are encountering new dogs or a person who, for whatever reason, they are particularly intimidated by.
This can be a difficult problem to overcome. When a dog is on the floor due to submission, the way you behave next will either reinforce their submissive behavior or slowly help to get them over it.
Some dogs are known to break their potty training rules and begin to pee or poop in the house more frequently when they do not think they are getting enough attention.
Many new parents report that their otherwise very well-trained dog began peeing in the house when they brought their new baby home.
While it’s difficult to say with certainty that this is attention-seeking behavior, it does track that a dog could think “Whenever the new baby makes a stinky in the house, they get lots of attention. Maybe that will work for me too!”
How Long Can your Dog SAFELY Hold Their Pee – Veterinarian Explains
I got my dog, Sofie, while I was living and working in Taiwan. When it came time for us to return home to the states, I knew that we were going to have a 27-hour flight back.
Since there are no doggy lavatories on an airplane, I started to wonder how long Sofie was going to be forced to hold her pee and what I could do to help make the experience more comfortable for her.
How long can dogs hold their pee? Vets recommend letting dogs pee at least once every 6-8 hours (3-4 times per day), though some can last 10-12 hours. Dogs under 8 months old can usually hold their pee one hour for every month old they are. Many factors affect their bathroom schedules but there are ways to keep your dog regular.
The 6-8 hour rule is a minimum recommendation. Some dogs can easily hold it for 8 hours while others will be more comfortable going out to pee more often.
Think about your own dog and take into account some of the following factors that influence how often your dog will pee.