Hi,

Can anyone help me? I have a 14 week old Male Shih Tzu, and he constantly urinates about every 20 mins. Is this normal? Housetraining is proving to be really difficult. We have tried to train him to do the toilet on the newspaper, and we do praise him when he has done this. He does sometimes do this when he is alone in the kitchen, but as soon as we let him out he forgets, or maybe too lazy!

Can anyone give me advice?

Have answered you as a guest. Ja:)kie

Our 10 wk old b/c does that too but more regularly. I was thinking of taking him to the vet. Does anyone know why they pee so much and is it normal?

They are only babies, to allow a baby full run of ur house and not watch them like a hawk u are only asking for an aciident to happen. They eat potty, play potty, sleep potty. and all over again. U can keep pup on lead, and only allow free time off lead when u are able to watch the pup like a hawk. Or kennel the pup when u are way too busy.
Good luck

ttfn :)

i don't mind he peeing - i know he's only a baby still but i just wanted to know if it was normal or should i be worried ie has he got a kidney problem or something.

I found that mine always peed alot too, but to be safe u can have the little one checked.
ttfn :)

Hi,

We have had our puppy for about a month now, and he has improved slightly. However, I would say on average he pees about every 30mins. Another point is that my puppy drinks water excessively, about 300ml a day- is this normal? which may explain why he goes to the toilet so frequent.

300ml is not excessive. I remember calculating the amount of water my dogs should drink for their size from a chart and it worked out that on dry food they each needed around 2 pints a day. These are 20kg adults. I think it said that pups need twice that amount. so a 10kg pup would also need two pints.

Pups do seem able to pee every half hour.

a couple who had a pup from me after their 15 year old bitch dioes were sure there was something wron, and despite all sorts of tests was found to be perfectly healthy. ~they had simply forgotten in 15 years waht to expect, and being older found it difficult to get to her in time to forstall accidents, especially as their living room was a long way from tha back door, which was kept closed because of indoor cats!

Hi there

I just saw you post - and wondered how you were getting on...

I've never had a shih tzu male before - only girls and not one of them have i been able to house train!!!

I've had Yorkies and CKC but the Shih Tzus i have found impossible!!!

My 2 y o bitch is still using paper - I can walk her miles, I can put her outside for hours but still she runs in and pees on my carpet... I try to keep her downstairs as we have slate with underfloor heating but if the gate is open she is on my carpet like a flash!!

I'm afraid this is something you will have to put up with...

I know alot of shih tzu breeders who have the odd one who doesnt do well in housetraining - the ones who never have problems i'm sure tell fibs... When i sell my litters on I always make sure the new owners are prepared for the worst - ie. an un trainable puppy...

Trust me I've tried everything with my girls and they really dont seem to care or understand!!!

let me know how you get on

Our pup started this about two weeks after we brought him home . He would just seem to wee all the time . Whilst at the vets we mentioned it and he checked for any infection - there was none . He said pup was fine and sometimes they just do this . As long as we kept an eye on hime , he said all was fine . A few days later he stopped and went back to more "normal" peeing habits .
If he seems fine in him self I wouldnt be too worried
Lel

I just had a thought...

have you tried to tickle his bits to stimulate him weeing.... maybe he's not emptying his bladder completely because his muscles are weak ...

its just an idea as I've had to toilet a whole litter of pups for the past 3 weeks because mum kept forgetting...

maybe he needs the stimulations to completely empty his bladder - worth a try at least anyway!

Haven't got a Shih Tzu but have an 8 month Akita bitch and 10 week lab bitch and the lab pees all the time but will try and go out if given the chance - didn't need to house train her just had to be quick to open the door!

Doubt that any breed is untrainable and assuming your dog is medically fine then just need to keep at it. Like the idea of getting it to pee by tickling it's bits, otherwise play with it alot in the garden so that it gets really excited and then he'll pee and then you can praise him, although be carefull he doesn't get confused.

Another option is to get someone else who has a dog and get them to bring it round and get it to go in your garden and then your dog may sent mark as well.

Good luck

Hi

Just to explain further, my first SHih Tzu used to pee herself in her sleep but I'm sure she was slightly retarded anyway...

The Shih Tzu i have at the moment is 99% accurate on paper but will NOT go outside - never has and I've had her since she was 8 weeks - she's now 2... I'm experienced with dogs so am well aware on how to train them... but her litter sister has also not been able to be trained apparently despite the breeder having 10 shih tzus these 2 seem to be terrible at it...

Shih Tzus have a mind of their own thats all i can say but I'm going to try to train the litter i have at the moment as best i can before they leave... but for me I'm left with a bitch and an expensive paper bill - I get through about 2-3 broad sheet papers a day... i've tried the sprays and the special absorbant mats the lot!!! I still remain convinced that some shih tzus cannot be toilet trained and I for one do not hide the fact.

what i would also like to add is that unlike other breeds who pee when they wake, when they play, after meals - shih tzus dont tend to do this - they just damn well pee whenever they like - so as we all know when a puppy wakes - take him outside - well take a shih tzu outside and you can wait all day if you like, bring him in and he's guaranteed to pee - thats my experience...lol

I'd love to hear from other shih tzu owners/ breeders to prove me wrong lol ;-)

Hi Emily,
I have a question for you..just curious to know. When you trained your shi tzus, did you first encourage/train them to go on paper and then eventually try to switch them to going outdoors on grass or concrete?

If this is so, it sounds as if your bitches gained an early preference for a certain material to relieve themselves and refused to switch over to anything else. It happens..but usually at an older age 6+ months for majority of dogs. They will go along with the 'official' change to non-paper easier.
But toy/small breeds can get fussy at a younger age possibly due to faster maturity. I have no idea why. :)
regards,
toodles

Hi Toodles

with my first Shih Tzu she was paper trained and then trained to go outside which. during the day if no one was home she was in the kitchen/diner and had her own doggy door to go outside but she would still just pee anywhere and at night she would just pee herself in her sleep...

with my current shih tzu she was never interested in paper and just peed anywhere despite me taking her outside at all the 'right' moments (ie. on waking, playing, feeding etc) but i've found with both of them that they didn't have the 'typical' moments that you would expect and that i experienced with the Yorkies.... I tried to crate train them but they jsut cry constantly so gave it up although i might give it another go soon as I've been reading the message board about older dogs being trained this way... My Yorkies have always cried when they need the loo but I've found the Shih tzus dont give any signs until they're sat in a puddle.

em

Hi Emily,
With your first dog, did you ever have the vet check her out for sphinter area muscle problems or a urinary infection? Going in her sleep is not a normal dog thing :( :(

I really feel for you , though.. It sounds as if you have a massive headache in this area. Do other Shihtzu fanciers have the same problems? Could it be an inherited problem from specific dogs/bitches in the different lines?

Having a dog that doesn't relieve itself outside is a definite life threatener ... There have been a lot of people come through on here during the time I've been on (10 months? ) who were seriously at their last straw before euthanizing :( :( I don't know how many rehomed or put the dog to sleep for this. (I'm not talking about normal puppy weeing, either.)

It sounds cruel to dog lovers, but living with an incontinent dog, as you well know, can be an absolute nightmare with the smell and sanitation :( :( Even the best tempers can be completely lost in this type of frustration. I just remember dealing with the last year of Pepper's urinary infections and beggining kidney failure to have some sympathy with other owners :( :(
I hope you manage to get your pups on the right track and I hope that crate training will help you out :)
best wishes,
toodles

To be perfectly honest with you I have always seen this as an untrainable problem rather than a medical problem - I will take my bitch to the vets soon as she's due vacc anyway... I myself can put up with it - I hate the problem but I dont take it out on my dog - I know many others would!!! the problem is when i get a male dog in the house they mark their scent all over the place coz they can smell here and thats when it really stinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have slate floor and she's banned from the carpets now! we have paper down for her which i change everytime she wees and i mop the floor each day too!! its high maintenance - but i have 2 puppies to train now...

I know alot of people with shih tzus who have problems and i always put it down to the breed...

When I saw one of the messages saying that some were impossible to housetrain I mailed an experienced Shitzu breeder/owner. Her is what she said:

"Hi Barbara

It's not entirely true.

My 10 month old shih-tzu puppy BooBoo pees on paper, she goes outside and
pees, she has now stopped peeing in her bed, and only does it on the paper
at the end of her bed if desperate! I have to watch her in the house as she
can have the occasional wilful accident. My older shih-tzu girls are 100%
trustworthy and always have been.

I am sure it's in the breeding!"

I imagine by this she may mean that some have a bladder weakness in this area that is inherited, or inherit a total lack of proper instinct about keeping clean.

I know the breeder only really had problems with her litter sister... but compared to other breeds I've had esp. the Yorkies we had them trained by 3-4 months and one in particular was excellent from day one... Perhaps she has got a weak bladder which I am going to get checked out... and I'm going to make an extra extra effort to train this litter as best I can before they go to their new homes....

It's just that I find the Shih tzus alot more difficult as they dont have the usual toilet patterns... and there are a few posts here about shih tzus toilet training... but even as you said in your post about a 10 month old puppy still going on paper whereas most others would be trained by this age... I'm not criticizing at all its just something i noticed!

I will still stick to my word and say that Shih Tzu are a rule unto their own... and thats why we love them... but i certainly wouldnt recommend them as an easy to train dog as that is my experience of them... but then again they are renowned for having a mind of their own anyways which is all part of their character...

anyway I'm still getting mine checked out and I'm still going to approach toilet training this litter differently and experiment a little...