Is it OK for a medium sized dog to go out for peeing and pooping twice a day?
This is a programme that seems to be OK with him, he has two long walks, morning and evening, during which he pees and poops. He doesn't pee or poop in the house, although he would if he felt the urge. What I am asking is: is there any maximum of hours in the house for a healthy life? Is 12 hours Ok to hold his pee and poop?
2011-05-27T15:34:57Z
Just to make it clear: he is NOt the type of dog who holds it if he needs to pee. He pees in the house all right if he feels like it. But with the twice a day programme he has stopped going in the house. If I take him out more often, as I wanted, for a small walk, after he pees at the small walk he poops in the house, because he needs a long walk to poop outside. And then after he poops in teh house he doesn't poop enough on his long walk so he poops again in the house in teh middle of the night. So practically 3 walks = twic pooping in the house, whereas two walks = no accidents, unless he has to pee in which case he doesn't hesitate. But what I'm saying is that this is rare. The question is not if he is comfortable, but if he is healthy holding it. BTW, the possibility of dog walkers and neighbours are not available where I live.
Adriana V2011-05-27T10:34:23Z
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Some dogs can hold really long. I had one who could hold until the apocalypse, but the question is, how comfortable is this to the dog? Females can hold longer than males, so if you have a male you can`t have him out only twice a day. No way. If you have problems to take yr dog out in the middle of the day, you can do as I did once: I found a very nice old lady nearby who liked dogs and owned one herself, so I gave her the key to my house and asked her if she could let my dog out around noon. She then took a VERY LONG walk every day - about 4 to 5 km - with my dog and hers (she was actually happy that her dog got some company) around 12-14. I ended up picking my dog up at her place when I came home from work at night, because she had decided that it was too lonely and it should stay with her while I was away. Awesome.! I still am grateful for those 4 years my beloved dog got walking in the woods with her. So, look around. There are a lot of people (kids, but also adults) who can`t have a dog but who would really like to at least walk one, people who jog and get bored if they are alone, and so on. I really hope you have my luck!
An adult dog should not be made to hold its urine for more than 8 hours at a stretch. Add: No one is saying you need to "walk" your dog more often or to shorten the two walks he already gets. Two long walks a day is fine. But he should be taken out briefly more frequently and given the opportunity to eliminate. You can even rather easily teach a dog to go to the bathroom on command. No dog is comfortable holding it for 12 hours. When he has an accident it's because he is physically incapable of continuing to hold it any longer, and by that point, he has been uncomfortable for a loooong time. If he urinated every time he felt the urge, he'd be having a LOT of accidents in your home.
How old is she? Where did you get her from? How big is the crate? The younger the puppy, the more often they need to go to the bathroom. For some puppies, this means every half hour to forty-five minutes. If you got her from a pet store, it's near impossible to crate train her because her instinct to eliminate in a place other than her sleeping area is broken. You may be leaving her in her crate for too long, and she has no choice but to go in her crate and lay in it. Her crate should only be big enough for her to sit, lay down, and turn around comfortably in. Some dogs just do not take to crate training, and respond well to a schedule. You can try getting rid of the crate, and setting up a schedule for her. Take her out as often as every half hour throughout the day, 10-15 minutes after every meal, after every play session, after she wakes up from every nap, half an hour before bed, and right when she wakes up in the morning. You may even have to get up in the middle of the night, at least once, to take her outside. Consistency and patience is key. When she goes to the bathroom outside, praise praise praise her. You can even give her a small treat. Be sure to show her what a good girl she is for doing her business outside. If you catch her going to the bathroom inside, clap your lands loudly to startle her, firmly say no, and take her immediately outside. Again, praise if she does go outside. If you do not catch her going to the bathroom, and found she had an accident, clean it up well along with an odor remover to take the temptation of going there away. Do not punish her in any way. Even a light tap on the behind with a newspaper is not necessary. Take it as a lesson learned that you need to watch her more carefully and look for signs that she needs to go out. This can include excessive sniffing, turning in circles, whining, etc. If you find that she is going to the bathroom too much in the house and you're not seeing her do it, you can try keeping her on a leash in the house so that she's attached to you and you can keep an eye on her. Remember, puppies are just like babies and it takes time and patience to teach them. Dogs respond very well to positive reinforcement, so try to refrain from yelling at her when she does something wrong. Instead, praise her when she does something right. Just be consistent and patient with her.
Urinating twice a day is not healthy. It's just asking for urinary tract issues. The body needs to void much more often than that. I swear that my dogs are out a MINIMUM of 10 times every day. I go that much myself-why wouldn't I let my dogs?