House training: am I doing this right?

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wllmsjs615

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My Little boy will be 12 weeks on Saturday. He is like a little pee pee machine. It has been very hot and he is drinking a lot but he pees every 30 minutes. If I take him outside every thirty minutes we have no accidents until around 8 at night when he has his spastic time of running in circles and then he stops and pees. My question is this... have I taught him to pee every thirty minutes? Should he be able to hold his pee better. I crate him at 9 at night and he sleeps through till 6 in the morning and holds all night. During the day I watch him like a hawk and we will be accident free if I take him every 30 minutes. If I wait for him to tell me it every 30 minutes or so. How do I get him to hold longer?
 
As he get's older he will get better and better at holding it. But you just have to be patient, it takes time. He's just a baby and you can't expect him to hold it for to long. The important thing is you have set up a time schedule, that's the first step in potty training successfully. You can expect him to 'go' less and less as time goes on, but not right now. Good luck with your puppy!:biggrin2:
 
I remember watching an old episode on Animal planet with Victoria Stilwell, she drew up a "potty plan" for a family who adopted a new dog(puppy). She had them taking the dog out right after they ate, and on 30 minutes. She also made had them take them out after rigorous playing.
 
From what I remember, a puppy should be capable of holding their urine for the amount of months he is, plus an hour. So if your puppy is 3 months old, he should be able to hold it for 3-4 hours. Not sure if that is still the suggested time frame. Of course if he is drinking a lot of water, he will have to go out more often.

After he relives himself, you can crate him for a few hours to help with bladder control. The crate should be big enough for him to sit and lay down comfortably, but not big enough for him to lay on one side and pee/poop on the other.
 
wllmsjs615 said:
How do I get him to hold longer?
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You don't. That's up to nature. At 12-weeks, it's just too soon to expect him to hold it. Our two boys will be 16 weeks old this week and we have just had our first "accident-free" week. That said, I by no means expect them to be able to hold it, especially during active play inside. Every 30 minutes sounds about right. What you have to watch is that when you take him out that you do not play before or after peeing or he will learn to expect that and he will constantly go to the door to play rather than pee. It will frustrate you and prolong the training.

After every meal or drink, take them out. Give him some unique word or phrase like "make pee-pee" or "go potty", just make sure it's nothing that will embarrass you if the neighbor's overhear. :wink2: If he goes praise him profusely and bring him back in. If after a few minutes he doesn't go, bring him back in, but don't criticize or punish for not going.

You might have instances where you take him out and he does nothing, but as soon as you bring him back in he has an accident. If you catch him in the act, then you give him an authoritative "no" and take him out. If you don't see him do it, but find a puddle, just clean it up and ignore it. Yelling after the fact will only confuse him. Make sure you clean it well, because they will teach themselves that anything that smells like pee is a potty place. We use white vinegar. It doesn't completely remove the pee scent, but it does a good job and the vinegar smell seems to get the message across.

We've had pups who just one day "get it" and that was it for accidents. They still have to go out more frequently, but they will go to the door and bark or whine and hold it until you get there. Other pups takes longer with accidents becoming less and less frequent.

As Tabitha said, be patient.
 
Lunatic59 said:
You don't. That's up to nature. At 12-weeks, it's just too soon to expect him to hold it. Our two boys will be 16 weeks old this week and we have just had our first "accident-free" week. That said, I by no means expect them to be able to hold it, especially during active play inside. Every 30 minutes sounds about right. What you have to watch is that when you take him out that you do not play before or after peeing or he will learn to expect that and he will constantly go to the door to play rather than pee. It will frustrate you and prolong the training.

After every meal or drink, take them out. Give him some unique word or phrase like "make pee-pee" or "go potty", just make sure it's nothing that will embarrass you if the neighbor's overhear. :wink2: If he goes praise him profusely and bring him back in. If after a few minutes he doesn't go, bring him back in, but don't criticize or punish for not going.

You might have instances where you take him out and he does nothing, but as soon as you bring him back in he has an accident. If you catch him in the act, then you give him an authoritative "no" and take him out. If you don't see him do it, but find a puddle, just clean it up and ignore it. Yelling after the fact will only confuse him. Make sure you clean it well, because they will teach themselves that anything that smells like pee is a potty place. We use white vinegar. It doesn't completely remove the pee scent, but it does a good job and the vinegar smell seems to get the message across.

We've had pups who just one day "get it" and that was it for accidents. They still have to go out more frequently, but they will go to the door and bark or whine and hold it until you get there. Other pups takes longer with accidents becoming less and less frequent.

As Tabitha said, be patient.
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Great advice, this is what I did, well, sort of. I took my "pee machine" out after every little play, every snack, and after waking up. Also, if he went inside but I did not see him, I would NOT scold, he would not realize what he did, I would just clean up that area using white vinegar, works wonder, and carry on with the training.

It takes time and sometimes you want to pull your hair out, but then, all of a sudden it will seem, he will start getting the "idea" and before you know it, you little buddy will be letting you know. LOL,now, he holds it forever, how it does it, I will never know.

The name of the game is "patience":wink2:
 
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