Hi there - my first post but looking for some advice with house training, well, more just some information. Thought we had our Golden retriever pup house trained as he's nearly 5 months old, but he has been having a few (rather big) accidents in the last 2 weeks.
How long should he be lasting by now? He's been dry overnight (11pm till 7am) for nearly 2 months now, so by my theory he can go a lot longer than he is managing in the day. As it's been summer and I'm home with him most of the time, we've been having play time in the garden and toilet trips every couple of hours so we haven't really thought about him not being able to last. We have been building up the time he's left alone in the day (we don't use a crate but have a small puppy proofed room he gets shut away in) and built it up to 3 hours or so, where he's lasted for a wee.  A couple of days ago it was raining-non stop, so thought I'd see without constant trips outside, just how long he will last (up to 3 hours like he has done before), but after 2 and a half hours he got a bit excited playing inside and did a huge wee on the floor (not just an excited dribble). Again today we've discovered a puddle, not sure if it was before or after he's just had his dinner and been taken out for a toilet, but he did a big wee straight after eating so it was very surprising to find it! Again, if it happened before his dinner, it hadn't been more than 2.5 hours since the last trip.
We don't pander to him after every drink/playtime/waking up from naps etc anymore like we did when he was tiny - just when we want to go into the garden; after he's been shut away for a little while; or after eating do we take him out which is quite often.
He hasn't been a bad puppy for house training but wouldn't have expected him to go in the house after just 2.5 hours - maybe when he was 8, 10, 12 even 16 weeks..but 20? How long do you leave your 5 months old pups for now and is he just falling behind completely?!
Thanks, Rachel

3 hours is far too long to expect him to wait. You have to remember that he is dry for 8 hours overnight but for virtually all that time he will be asleep. An absolute maximum would be 2 hours during the day but preferably less, say 1.5 hours. Also have to remember that he will be drinking more, so will want to wee more than when he was younger. You should still be letting him out after meals & naps, same as when he was a baby.

I think he's doing very well, to be honest! I try not to leave a fully-housetrained dog for longer than I myself can last without needing to visit the loo - and like your pup, I can last longer at night (though sadly not all night now!) than I can during the day. At night one's metabolism slows; during the day it speeds up and so you need to urinate and defecate more frequently. So three hours maximum, even when he's fully grown, is fair; much longer than that isn't.

I'm not nearly as knowledgable generally as many members on here but can give you my experiences with my irish setter pup who is almost 4 months old.

We have had a couple of occasions where it looked like we were making progress and then had a setback BTW so I wouldn't worry too much about that,it seems to be just how it goes with puppies!!

My lad will go overnight and for reasonable periods when he's napping during the day without a wee,but when he's awake and active I would say 2 hours would be the usual period of time he would go without.He probably could last 3 hours if he hadn't been drinking loads and wasn't playing or getting excited but that would be the maximum I should think.

My problem is more that my lad won't ask to go out,or even make it obvious that he needs to go,so if I don't leave the door open or take him out at the right time he will just go on the floor wherever he happens to be at the time,so you're not alone with the surprise puddles on the floor!!

I find house training THE most annoying and horrible part of puppy owning without a doubt (well that and wet muddy paws in the winter but am trying not to think about that yet lol),I am too OCD about hygiene to cope with toileting on the floor of my home,but hey ho that's part of the package.I think it's easy to get caught up with the setbacks and forget the progress sometimes,as frustrating as house training is at the time,in a few months it will hopefully all be a distant memory and will wonder what we got so uptight about.

Hang in there sounds like you and your pup are doing fine,and sure it will all come together soon enough.

Hi - thanks all for replies. Nice to know that it's me expecting too much and not him failing at house training completely! Won't try and extend the time in the day any more, if 2.5 hours is ok. Is that the same with adult dogs? Or just puppies?
Devonlass - we have the same problem with him not asking to go out. We don't let him have the back door open as our garden is an acre (of ripening fruit at the minute) and he'd never come in again! So I've always taken him out on the lead without him having to ask. He used to be an attention-barker though, so we've always ignored or "ah-ah'd" his barks, so wouldn't blame him for not barking to ask! That's why we try and pre-empt the toilet breaks and why I was asking about timings.
Hope it'll all be over in a few months..do we then get to the marking in the house stage!?!

Ah the barking thing complicates matters a little bit in regard to asking to go out,although not sure would make much difference.My lad isn't much of a barker but he's an expert whiner when it suits,but he never makes any noise or does anything to make it clear he wants out.Although he knows to do his business outside and will wee on command,he just doesn't seem to think of any of that when he get's the urge to go,am guessing it's a puppy thing and that either there is very little bladder control so when he has to go he has to go so to speak,or it's an attention span thing and he just can't think that clearly when doing something else and get's caught short?? Not sure but that's how it seems to be to me,hopefully it will improve with age!!

I'm not sure about the time they can go for thing,I assume it will be longer when older as I used to be able to leave my adult dog for several hours when necessary (didn't happen often I hasten to add but sometimes it was unavoidable like if something happened with kids or work etc and got delayed) and didn't have any accidents that I recall,and I know people who go to work for 5-6 hours at a time and leave the dog at home so assume they can go longer?? I think ideally 3-4 hours would be best in case they get uncomfortable and are waiting to go,but am sure if needed they can hold it longer than that as an adult.Apologies in advance if wrong only going on ones I know and my own experience not to say same goes for all dogs of course.

The marking the house thing,think I'll hope for the best about that or just live in denial lol

Fruit in the garden IS a real problem at this time of year - I have one that eats our cooking apples and plays Jenga with the wood pile.  It's less of an issue now he's 12 months but he still ain't cured!!  If you can find a way to do it I'd recommend creating a safe 'fruit-free' area nearer to the back door - can you borrow any sheep hurdles, puppy panels etc?

With regards to asking to go out don't expect too much.  Each dog can vary and even adult dogs can give quite subtle signs that no one but their attentive owners could interpret (none of mine bark).  In the meantime you should still be taking him out every hour, rain or no.

One of mine couldn't sleep past 6am til he was 5.5 months old and routinely wet his bed if we missed the early alarm call.  Incidentally he never barked to call us, we had to preempt it - or he practically peed whilst asleep!  Many dogs aren't fully reliable til they are 6 months or more so your case is not unusual by any means.  What breed is he?

I wouldn't leave a pup of your age for 2.5 hours - it's too long.  As a rule of thumb you should leave him only as long as he is capable of sleeping.  If he generally falls asleep for an hour or so during the day then try and get back at 50 minutes.  I know it's a bit of a bind but if you never stretch it too long you'll find that he will just get better and better at being left.  If he wakes up whilst you're out and then has to pee in his bed or indoors he may well be getting distressed and will take longer to settle next time.  My adult dogs can be left for up to 4 hours (after a walk).  My 12 month old is a real sleeper and he can manage that long in the evening (for a cinema trip!) but that's still a bit too long during the day (3 hours is ok for him - although not too often).  Each of my dogs seems to have had a different tolerance level as they were growing up but 4 hours (occasionally, not every day) for an adult seems to be the norm.

Edited to say: I expect 4 hours max is my comfort level rather than theirs - I don't like to to leave them longer than that

Very few of my dogs ever bark to go out for toileting unless older and really bursting.  Usually they come over and stare at me, and then walk in the direction of the door, and look really please when I finally 'twig' to what's wanted.

I don't want them to bark as it becomes a game of get Mum to open the door whenever i want.

I simply use the let dogs out after meals, waking, any excitement and regularly through the day so they have ample opportunities to relive them selves.

The back door stays open a lot of the time as long as the dogs are quiet, and it isn't too wet/cold/windy.

Any barking and it's everyone in and door shut for a bit.  the younger ones soon learn that barking equals boring not being able to see what's what outside.

I have a bell by the back door which mine have been taught to ring, bit of a novelty toy at first till they realised I would put them out no matter the weather if they rang it.

Puppies do tend to see which one can reach the cord first and swing on it but soon learn from watching the adults what it is there for.