Potty Training

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winniesdad

Forums Novice
Hey everyone,

I just had a quick question about potty training. My dog Winnie just turned six months old. She's been what I would call completely potty trained for the last two months at least. She ALWAYS goes to the door and barks when she needs to go out, and hasn't had a single accident in the last two months. My concern is that she seems to go rather frequently, and I'm worried that if I ever try to leave her for an extended period of time outside of her crate when I'm gone, she will just go on the floor since I am not there to let her out.

She has no trouble sleeping though the night, sometimes 8+ hours of sleep (I'm a college student, so she adapted to my erratic sleep schedules very well). She also seems to have no trouble waiting to go out if she tells me while I'm in the middle of something, as long as I look her in the eye and let her know that I heard her--otherwise she just keeps barking! What is everyone's opinion? Should I just leave her out and see what happens? Does it sound like she is ready for that?

Thanks,
Michael
 
How frequent is frequent?

Is she still intact?

Any redness?

Any change is energy, diet etc...

UTI is going to be the first thing to think of.
 
Frequent as in about every few hours or so she lets me know she needs to go. Granted, she has in the last month become familiar with the cats living next door, and has been very interested. Occasionally we'll go out and she won't do anything except search for her new "friends". She doesn't ever act distressed if I ask her to wait, and if I take her right when she does bark, she can always go, the length of time just varies. Could she just be telling me every time she needs to go, even if it's just a little twinge? There is definitely no redness, and she was just spayed at 5 months.

I grew up with labs, so it may just be that I'm not used to the potty-frequency of smaller breeds!

Michael
 
I'm actually going through something similar with my 7 month old pup. We have had on again off again UTIs, so I think that you may want to take Winnie to the vet to at least rule that out.

If that's not the issue, I wonder if it could be an attention thing. I think my dog asks to be let out to get our attention. She gets to go outside (yay!) and see the sights. Of course she is a good girl so she pees when she goes out. But I think it might be due to her being well-trained rather than her really having to go.

When she is asking to go out after she has recently gone, can you distract her by playing with her or giving her a bone?


I know those are just possibilities, as we haven't figured out why Lexi (my dog) asks to go out so often.

Oh, and something else that we are trying to do is push her threshold a little bit. So if she barks (her "I need to go out" sign) not too long after we last let her out, we make her wait a few more minutes. I'm hoping this will teach her that she doesn't have to go every time the slightest urge hits her.
 
Emma can go up to 12 hours overnight without having to go outside. During the day, she does want in and out a lot. One - to access her water dish outside. Two - for attention, she knows my parents will let her out. She also goes out when my dad goes out. Three - she just wants out to check and make sure everything is okay. We leave her for two and a half on a Sunday morning and she is fine with the run of the house other than the bedrooms. If we are really firm and tell Emma she's not going out, she will go find something else to do - usually something that will tease us.

Does your puppy go every time she goes out or does she just want to look around? Could be attention getting if you are really busy right now and she knows if she asks to go out she will get your attention. UTI are always a possibilityl
 
As someone said earlier, my dogs can go hours and hours without needing to go outside, but if I'm home during the day, they tend to whine to go out alot. I think its a boredom thing, or perhaps attention. But they want in and out, in and out.

At 6 months though, if you are concerned, you should still consider continuing with crate training (assuming that you started it in the first place!).

The reason why is that you are now heading into the "chew phase". So even if potty training is done, other training is not. I remember my forever pup was completely housetrained, so I decided finally to forgo the crate, only to have my 10 months old pup destroy my living room couches one day.

I crated Indy and Bacca until they well over a year old. And after that, I still kept them in a contained part of the house.

At 2, they are now allowed to roam free. I don't even close my bedroom door at night, but they are so used to being with me, they still stick close.
 
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