Hi there. I have a 6month old female lurcher. She is very stubburn (have feeding probs and recal probs with her) but what i want advice on is I currntly dont work atm but am looking for a full time job, but I dont think I will be able to come home to not complete mayhem. When I leave her alone atm its only for 3-4 hours at the most and I always come back to paper ripped up everywhere (i try to get rid of any b4 i go but she sniffs it out and sometimes the post comes while im out) and most of the time she has weed or poo'd. Has any1 got any advice on stopping the destruction and a way of teaching to 'hold it' for longer so she waits till I come home b4 she wee's (i no tht with a puppy you should expect accidents now and again but its ALOT of the time). She has had a water infection in the past (about 2 months ago), while she had that i was advised to take her for a wee very often, so think this has something to do with why she has not yet learnt how to 'hold it' for long. Any suggestions ?? xx :)

At 6 months of age I wouldn't expect a bitch to 'hold it' while you are out at work all day.  It isn't fair to have such high expectations. 

You say that she wees indoors a lot of the time.  Go back to basics, take her outside for a wee, every hour, on the hour, just as you should with an 8 week old puppy.  And, importantly, stay with her.  Be ready to praise the behaviour that you are looking for.  Have you taken a urine sample to your vet, just to check if all has cleared up?

And I would expect a pup to rip paper up if left for 4 hours.  Perfectly normal pup behaviour IMHO.  Have you tried giving her something to occupy her (stuffed kongs come to mind.)

At 6 months of age I wouldn't expect a bitch to 'hold it' while you are out at work all day.  It isn't fair to have such high expectations. 

You say that she wees indoors a lot of the time.  Go back to basics, take her outside for a wee, every hour, on the hour, just as you should with an 8 week old puppy.  And, importantly, stay with her.  Be ready to praise the behaviour that you are looking for.  Have you taken a urine sample to your vet, just to check if all has cleared up?

And I would expect a pup to rip paper up if left for 4 hours.  Perfectly normal pup behaviour IMHO.  Have you tried giving her something to occupy her (stuffed kongs come to mind.)

At 6 months of age I wouldn't expect a bitch to 'hold it' while you are out at work all day.  It isn't fair to have such high expectations. 

You say that she wees indoors a lot of the time.  Go back to basics, take her outside for a wee, every hour, on the hour, just as you should with an 8 week old puppy.  And, importantly, stay with her.  Be ready to praise the behaviour that you are looking for.  Have you taken a urine sample to your vet, just to check if all has cleared up?

And I would expect a pup to rip paper up if left for 4 hours.  Perfectly normal pup behaviour IMHO.  Have you tried giving her something to occupy her (stuffed kongs come to mind.)

At 6 months of age I wouldn't expect a bitch to 'hold it' while you are out at work all day.  It isn't fair to have such high expectations. 

You say that she wees indoors a lot of the time.  Go back to basics, take her outside for a wee, every hour, on the hour, just as you should with an 8 week old puppy.  And, importantly, stay with her.  Be ready to praise the behaviour that you are looking for.  Have you taken a urine sample to your vet, just to check if all has cleared up?

And I would expect a pup to rip paper up if left for 4 hours.  Perfectly normal pup behaviour IMHO.  Have you tried giving her something to occupy her (stuffed kongs come to mind.)

The plain and simple answer is containment, who lets a puppy have the run of their house? Your asking for trouble. You have to treat a pup and sometimes adult dog like a toddler/child, your home needs to be kept safe for the pup and from destruction.

Get a cage for your letters to drop into, or an outside letter box and get a dog gate so that your pup is contained in one room, where wires are not left to chew and items are put away in drawers and cupboards.

Leaving a pup all day (as you are intending) is asking for trouble, most of the destruction is due to boredom, I'd probably rip up papers if you left me to sit in a house all day too. :-D

Have you got a dog walker or someone to pop in during the day if you do go back full time? It really is unfair to leave a pup all day, they need company, and the toilet training will go out of the window if you are not there to continually open the door and let her out to pee and poo with praise and reward so that she understands where she is to go.

You can not teach a dog to hold it for longer they will go when they need to go, they get used to routines and once fully mature are able to hold their bladder better, but at 6 months she is not fully developed, and most dogs will only last up to 4 hrs, dogs do not teach themselves to toilet train, you have to do it.

Good points carrington , would op need advice as to how to crate train at 6months ?
My pup is now beginning to not be left in locked crate when I go out but confined to one room which is very different from this pup. However mine is not left for more than a couple of hours and then only on a few occasions. As you say op is going to have a more difficult problem if she intends full time work without anyone being with pup for what could be many hours. Not a good situation imo 

off cause if i was at work for the majority of the day I would be popping back lunch time or so to let her out and take her for another short walk (as well as a long walk b4 work and after work), and anyways I have a 5year old son so (apart from the 2 week days he is at his dads for) I would not be leaving till 9 and would be back by 3 as to dropping him off at school and picking him back up. Off cause I would not leave her all day and expect there to be no accidents but I just wanted to no how I can stop her weeing for the 3 hours that she would be on her own. I make sure she is very well exercised and has loads of things to keep her ocupied.

Putting aside the water infection which may or may not be a factor and the fact that pups can not hold their bladder for too long, what are you cleaning up her toileting with? If you are using bleach or a pine disinfectant on the floor it will actually entice her to continue to wee in the same spot/s, she will think that is the place to go, you need to use something without any ammonia in it. (If not doing so already)

Leaving 9-3pm is 6 hrs, there is not much chance of her not wishing to toilet in that time it's pushing it, but if you are popping back at lunch times she will get her toilet break then and it should suffice.

Are you completely ignoring any accidents she makes in the home? As if you grumble or tell her off she will just think you don't like her going to the toilet so will wait until you have gone to go again. If you are ignoring her accidents and making sure you clean up the accidents with a non ammonia biological washing powder/liquid and also giving her praise and reward in the garden when she goes where you want her to, then quite simply she just can't hold for 3hrs and hopefully this will improve with age. :-)

Thnaks great advice :) I did not no you had to ignore the weeing on the floor, I always let her no I was not very happy, but from now on I will deffinatly not say a word next time. I have some proper dog cleaning up stuff from a pet shop wich I use and i always praise her when she goes for a wee outside. Maybe I am just being unpatient :)

It can be hardwork my 7 month old still has the odd accident and sometimes will not go out even if the door is open . The other problem is she doesnt usually let you know she needs to go out so I have to be thinking dog /wee all the time not easy when you are dealing with family stuff as well

Yes i agree, young kids with a pup is a nightmare, but a well worth one i must add :) But then again i think my boyfriend is a harder job, trying to stop him teaching both my son and my pup bad habbits is the hardest job :) I did teach my pup to bark when she wanted to go out, but that was when she was very young and so I still took her out on my own accord een if she did not ask to go out so the barking as really faded out :( although i can pick up very well on the other ovious signals she gives out :) She is perfect when I am in the house, she can hold it for 3 hours with no problem and wont pester me to go out either, and during the night (8hrs) she does not toilet once or wake me up to toilet (she sleeps with me and i am a very light sleeper, and the cats sleep with us to and if she got restless they would sure wake me up), it has been like this since the day I had her, sleeping through 8hrs, i have had her 3 months now and have only had to get up in night or before 8am about 4 times :) So i no she can hold it when she wants to :)

>So i no she can hold it when she wants to

Not needing to toilet during the night, when your metabolism has slowed for sleep, is very different to being able to hold it during the day when you're awake and your body functioning normally.

May I ask how long you can last between toilet visits? Or your son? You can't expect your dog to be able to last longer than you ...

I really dont think a personal question such as how often my 5 year old child goes to the toilet should be brought into the conversation, no matter how much you want to get accross your point, and i certainly will not answer the question. But i do agree that i did not think about how your body functions change during the night and thats why she holds it fine, I just saw somewhere else on here some1 having probs with their dogs during the night with going to the toilet indoors all over the place so I thought that during the night was the same for a pup as it was during the day, didnt realise that maybe her problem was a result of another issue. But I would have thought a pup of 6months could hold herself for 3 hours, where as mine does not?? Am i expecting too much too soon ?? I am not expecting the world.

FF you are not alone Merlin is still having odd accidents x

> I really dont think a personal question such as how often my 5 year old child goes to the toilet should be brought into the conversation

:)  It's a rhetorical question.  You are not meant to answer it just ponder on the implications.

I think 9 to 3 is too long to leave a dog, you really should be considering other arrangements such as a dog walker.  It's not just about bladder control there is the boredom.  Dogs have been developed to desire human company after all.
What are you planning to do on the two days when you are not tied to the school hours?

At between 5 and 6 months you start to get glimpses of the adult dog you're going to get.  You suddenly realise that they are a little bit more sensible, more responsive to your cues and a bit more on the ball when it comes to routines however 6 months is still a puppy.  This is a dangerous age when you can forget that very thing and start to expect too much, and certainly more than they are capable of delivering.

Many of us will still be taking a 6 month old out for a pee nearly every hour - I was.  I'd also never leave mine for longer than 2 hours at a stretch during the day.  He wasn't capable of staying dry for that long so I thought it unfair to put him in a situation where he had no choice but to pee indoors.  If you leave a puppy too long too soon then all that happens is they learn to pee indoors!  Ideally you want every time to be outside so that they get the message sooner.

Toilet training is NOT about their willpower and control it's about their bladder capacity and some dogs simply cannot hold much liquid.  Successful toilet training is entirely down to the owner teaching them what is expected by setting them up to succeed and lavishly rewarding success.  

Getting to grips with her mealtimes will also help you to help her.  Most dogs follow a set pattern of intake and output which in most cases can be fairly accurately timed.  After a decent sized meal most dogs will need to pee.  The fact that yours is being picky will mean that all her toilet timings will be out of whack too.  Have you tried the alarm clock feed yet?

Hi there. As soon as you said about the alarm clock i did it that day and today and both times she has successfully eaten the amount she should be and all in one go not keep  going back to it :))))) Im so happy with her, just shows u have just got to find the method that is right for your dog :) Im hopeing it will stay like this and not trying to get to excited atm as it is only 2 days :) But thank you so much for that great advice, it seems to  have worked wounders :)

>> I really dont think a personal question such as how often my 5 year old child goes to the toilet should be brought into the conversation
>:-)  It's a rhetorical question.  You are not meant to answer it just ponder on the implications.

Exactly. If a small child isn't expected to last several hours without using the toilet then I feel it's unreasonable to expect a puppy, who can't be made to understand the concept of time, to manage. I know when my son was 5 years old and at school they were encouraged to use the toilet at break time in the middle of the morning and not expected to last until lunchtime. Even so, accidents weren't unheard of!

All correct. but what i was trying to ask wos not how i can teach her to last all day or say 6 hrs, it was really how I can teach her not to wee in the house when im out for 3hrs (as i would cum home to let her out or arrange otherwise), as i no she can to do with ease (weather other pups can or not) its just when im out !!

When you're out she's probably more anxious, and we all know what anxiety can do to the bladder! You can't teach her to last all day - she might get to that stage as she matures, but it's not something that can be hurried. Personally I would never leave an adult dog for more than 4 hours without making arrangements for someone to let it out.

If, when you leave her, you've made sure she's had a walk and a wee before you go, and is settled with something to keep her occupied, such as a stuffed kong, then she'll be more likely to be happy till you return.

The bladder has to grow/stretch to cope with the longer period between wee breaks, you can't be doing hourly breaks when you are home and then expect them to go 3 hours when you are out because the bladder won't be big enough to cope with the extra wee so they have to go.

If you know you are going to be leaving her for longer periods then train her to use a wee pad/litter at least any mess will be in one area, confine her to a room that has an easily cleaned floor,usually kitchen or utility room till you are sure she won't soil other areas of the house or be destructive.

Black Kongs[the only colour my dachsies have never chewed up] stuffed and then frozen will keep them amused for a few hours and they will get used to this nice treat associated with you going out. Don't restrict access to water as this will lead to very concentrated urine which may then lead to infection.

They are puppies for such a short time so set them up to succeed not fail.

Phew that makes me feel better clair x