Hold it right there!
June 11, 2012 7:18 PM Subscribe
Seven month old Yorkie puppy. Housebreaking is going well but we still have questions.
You may remember from this thread that we have been house training our Yorkie puppy. She's doing well and no longer pees in the house, but unless she's in her crate she whines every time she has to pee when she's hanging out with us. I know dogs learn to hold it even when not crated, but we're not sure how to teach her that at this point. If we take her out every time she whines, she won't learn to hold it. If we don't, she'll leak on the carpet before we can get her outside. How do we teach her to hold it outside of the crate?
You may remember from this thread that we have been house training our Yorkie puppy. She's doing well and no longer pees in the house, but unless she's in her crate she whines every time she has to pee when she's hanging out with us. I know dogs learn to hold it even when not crated, but we're not sure how to teach her that at this point. If we take her out every time she whines, she won't learn to hold it. If we don't, she'll leak on the carpet before we can get her outside. How do we teach her to hold it outside of the crate?
Aaaw, she is super cute!!
When she whines, how long has it been (generally) since you last had her out?
I don't know if this is right or not, but I tend to think that she's still young enough that her bladder has not "matured" (for lack of a better word) enough to where she can hold it for as long. She may do so in her crate, but that's out of necessity as most dogs are very reluctant to soil their crate.
posted by triggerfinger at 7:33 PM on June 11, 2012
When she whines, how long has it been (generally) since you last had her out?
I don't know if this is right or not, but I tend to think that she's still young enough that her bladder has not "matured" (for lack of a better word) enough to where she can hold it for as long. She may do so in her crate, but that's out of necessity as most dogs are very reluctant to soil their crate.
posted by triggerfinger at 7:33 PM on June 11, 2012
This also touches on the idea that bladder control takes some time to develop and I've certainly found that to be the case with my two dogs as they've gotten older. I'd say that with my older dog by the time he was a year old, or maybe a little more, I was pretty confident that he had good bladder control. But all dogs will be different.
posted by triggerfinger at 7:41 PM on June 11, 2012
posted by triggerfinger at 7:41 PM on June 11, 2012
Response by poster: Sometimes it's only been about 20 minutes, sometimes a little longer. Our vet had said that dogs can hold for the number of months of their age plus one, so at seven months she should be able to hold it eight hours. She does that at night although I realize that's mostly because she's asleep. And we wouldn't expect her to hold it for eight hours during the day. But it's as though she whines every single time she has the need to go, even if she just went an hour ago. I certainly don't want her to be uncomfortable but I feel she should be able to hold it more than 20 minutes at this point.
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 7:46 PM on June 11, 2012
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 7:46 PM on June 11, 2012
I think I'm a little confused. Are you concerned about the whining, or about the going? Because this scenario: whine > gets let out > pees, sounds like a GOOD thing as far as house-training goes. But if you're concerned about just the frequency, then maybe she's been drinking more water lately because it's hot in your part of the world?
Have you had her checked at the vet recently? My dog's sudden frequent urination was the sign of a yeast infection.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 8:15 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
Have you had her checked at the vet recently? My dog's sudden frequent urination was the sign of a yeast infection.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 8:15 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I'm concerned that if we take her out every 20 minutes she won't learn to hold it when she's not in the crate. She's not going more frequently, but she's not holding it when she's not in the crate. Yes, the whining to go out is a HUGE improvement over her peeing in the house. But we'd like to get to the next step where she doesn't whine to go out every time she feels the urge to pee.
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 8:21 PM on June 11, 2012
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 8:21 PM on June 11, 2012
Sounds normal. It just takes time. Seven months is still to early to hold bladders. If a year from now it's a problem, then it becomes worrisome.
posted by jms18 at 9:43 PM on June 11, 2012
posted by jms18 at 9:43 PM on June 11, 2012
I agree, I believe she's doing fine, give her some time. My four year old pup can go 12 hours without peeing, but, to be honest, I only noticed that recently...
"But we'd like to get to the next step where she doesn't whine to go out every time she feels the urge to pee." ... You realize, of course, that this is EXACTLY what you DO want her to do, right?
posted by HuronBob at 4:07 AM on June 12, 2012
"But we'd like to get to the next step where she doesn't whine to go out every time she feels the urge to pee." ... You realize, of course, that this is EXACTLY what you DO want her to do, right?
posted by HuronBob at 4:07 AM on June 12, 2012
he's doing well and no longer pees in the house, but unless she's in her crate she whines every time she has to pee when she's hanging out with us.
That's okay. You want to keep encouraging this behaviour. Being in the crate is how the dog is learning to hold it. You need to give her bladder and her maturity more time to develop. Your dog will always have a small bladder but a lot of people report full housebreaking maturity around 2 years for Yorkies.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:17 AM on June 12, 2012
That's okay. You want to keep encouraging this behaviour. Being in the crate is how the dog is learning to hold it. You need to give her bladder and her maturity more time to develop. Your dog will always have a small bladder but a lot of people report full housebreaking maturity around 2 years for Yorkies.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:17 AM on June 12, 2012
Response by poster: "But we'd like to get to the next step where she doesn't whine to go out every time she feels the urge to pee." ... You realize, of course, that this is EXACTLY what you DO want her to do, right?
Yes, of course, we prefer that she whine when she has to pee rather than just peeing on the carpet. I just don't know how to get her to the point where she knows we go out at certain times and knows that's when she can pee, rather than taking her out every 20 minutes to pee.
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 8:07 AM on June 12, 2012
Yes, of course, we prefer that she whine when she has to pee rather than just peeing on the carpet. I just don't know how to get her to the point where she knows we go out at certain times and knows that's when she can pee, rather than taking her out every 20 minutes to pee.
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 8:07 AM on June 12, 2012
If she can hold it in the crate, she can go without peeing for a long time. Are you sure she's not just whining to go out because that's more fun than not? Does she want to go outside even when she's good and tired from her walks or playing?
posted by oneirodynia at 10:37 AM on June 12, 2012
posted by oneirodynia at 10:37 AM on June 12, 2012
Response by poster: Some of the time when she whines and we take her out, she doesn't have to pee, just sniffs around a bit. When she does that we put her in the crate, taking away her play time with us. But sometimes she does have to pee, so we're sort of stuck taking her out whenever she whines. We are trying to monitor her water intake and are taking away her water after about 8:30 in the evening.
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 11:20 AM on June 12, 2012
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 11:20 AM on June 12, 2012
I'm going to be THAT person (you know, the one who chimes in three days late). I had originally commented on your first thread because been there, done that. I gave one piece of advice and I can't tell if you took it or not so I'll give it again because I think it will help with this issue too. Are you employing the strict walking schedule? Like STRICT walking schedule?
Try a strict but more frequent schedule slowly phasing out walks here and there until you are on something more comfortable. Simon is now at 4 walks/day and some days I skip the evening walk because neither of us feel like going out in the heat and he is doing great.
And 7 months is still not a lot in the realm of yorkie house training. Keep at it! You can do it! Just remember it is a LOT of hard work upfront or puppy pads for the rest of her life.
posted by magnetsphere at 8:02 PM on June 15, 2012
Try a strict but more frequent schedule slowly phasing out walks here and there until you are on something more comfortable. Simon is now at 4 walks/day and some days I skip the evening walk because neither of us feel like going out in the heat and he is doing great.
And 7 months is still not a lot in the realm of yorkie house training. Keep at it! You can do it! Just remember it is a LOT of hard work upfront or puppy pads for the rest of her life.
posted by magnetsphere at 8:02 PM on June 15, 2012
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posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 7:29 PM on June 11, 2012 [1 favorite]