My pup was a CRATE WETTER & a DIRTY DOG. He would pee in his crate and then lay in it ... and it was a BIG Crate. He certainly didn't need to lay in it.

In the end for other reasons (namely Diahreah from JUNK DOG FOOD and who knows what else), from Weeks 12 through Weeks 15, we were OUTSIDE to go POTTY litterally EVERY 30 MINUTES. In the process of all of this, he stopped peeing in his crate, and I stopped bathing him and cleaning his crate EVERY morning. I can tell you that I was EXHAUSTED, because we had this routine not just at night but all day long.

However, to this day, I wonder if he hadn't had Diahreah and I wasn't FORCED to take him OUTSIDE EVERY 30 MINUTES (remember it was WINTER), I'm not sure he would be housetrained or crate trained yet.

Now he can hold it for hours, through the night or through the day. He has been so good about holding it, that I will now let him have water prior to being crated. He is (8) months old now.

If you are at home, I would literally take your pup out at very specific increments, and then gradually increase the increments.

Prior to (12) weeks of age, I noticed that my pup seemed to have more accidents during a certain time of day ... if I recall correctly, it was afternoons. Basically, we would go along and every 2 hours I would take him outside, and then bang he'd have an accident in less than an 1/2 hr from the previous outing. My point here is, try to judge what the minimum amount of time is that he is holding it, and start your increment of time there.

Cheers!

I agree! I kept my pup's crate next to the head of my bed so her whimpers woke me up. Thus, she only had like 2 accidents in her crate and potty training was a snap! I have heard of the tethering thing - never tried it but people I know who HAVE said it was great! I kind of treated it like my kids. Babies need to go potty more than grownups so she was offered hourly until I figured out her schedule. Have you tried writing down the times he goes? If his food/water schedule is consistent, his toilet patterns will be easy to identify and you can anticipate it better. BTW, work on the COME command. I think that's probably one of the most important things a dog can learn is a solid recall.

Julie, this is a 5- or 6-month-old thread.

Good post -- just letting you know that it's probably not an issue any longer to that forum member.

Oh snap. lol. I didn't pay any attention to the date either but the content information is good just the same. lol.

I do have a question that has been bothering me though about puppies holding it. My pup is 4 months old and can sleep through the night for over 6 hours with no accidents. Why can't she hold water for more than an hour during the day?

Because shes a puppy and they live to annoy you

At night they go to sleep, its quiet. During the day they are awake, theres more noise, light etc. So they are moving around and alert which keeps their bladder working.

Also, at night you give them water no later than 6pm. During the day they should have more access to water so need to pee more often.

From a scientific standpoint...lol....
During sleep the metabolism slows down. This is evidenced by slightly lower body temp. Have you ever woke up, lain in bed and suddenly become too warm under your covers? That's the old furnace kicking in. So when the pup is up and moving not only are they getting more food/water, their metabolism is much busier processing/excreting it.