Home » Essential Puppy Bladder Facts You Need to Know

Essential Puppy Bladder Facts You Need to Know

Posted: Wednesday, January 16, 2008

by Kenneth Foo
http://gloryinlife.com

What to Expect

First of all, you can't expect your puppy to be fully housetrained and fully reliable before she's six month of age. That being said, a dog can be housetrained between one to six weeks. A lot depends on your puppy's size and breed and mostly the efforts you put into house training her.

There is also the fact that your puppy won't have adequate bladder and bowel controls before she's 16 weeks old.In other words, she's not able to "hold it" for long periods so you must be extra vigilant during that period.

But that doesn't mean that you can't start housetraining her the minute she put her paws into your home. It just means that you have to expect your puppy to have a couple of accidents. But don't worry, this Guide contains everything you'll need to handle these little mishaps, from how to react to how to clean up.

When Will my Puppy Need to Eliminate?

One of the key to housetraining success is being able to predict when your dog will need to eliminate. Your puppy will most likely need to relieve herself:

First thing in the morning

After meals because the expansion of the stomach will exert pressure on the bladder and the colon

After drinking water

After waking up from a nap During and/or after playing or exercising

After chewing on her chew toys

After any excitement(someone knocking at the door, guests arriving

for example)

After a ride in the car(that's why the first thing you must do when you bring your puppy home is to bring her to her Elimination Zone (EZ) or her Toilet Stop(TS) so she can relieve herself)

During the"active" periods(between six and ten in the morning and five and nine in the evening)

After smelling another dog's urine or seeing her urinate

When she leaves her crate

Last thing at night

As you can see, your puppy will need to go out quite often. But don't despair, as she grows up she will need to be taken outdoor less often.

Finally, your puppy will usually want to defecate between 1 and 30 minutes after eating and to urinate within 20 minutes of drinking a lot of water.

Of course, these are general estimates. If you use the blank schedule, your puppy's internal clock won't have any secret for you in no time. You'll be able to predict when she needs to go and since dogs learn by repetition, everytime she goes at the right place she reinforces a good behavior.

During the first week, the more the better. That's why it is a good idea to take sometime off when you bring your puppy home. By establishing good habits from day one, you'll be able to spend the rest of your life together enjoying each and every moment. If you decide to take a week off, don't make the mistake of having the puppy with you all the time because you won't be there all the time when you go back to work and you'll make it harder for your puppy to adjust.

That way, you'll kill two birds with onestone: 1) you'll speed up your puppy's housetraining process by bringing her out door or to her designated place in door more often than you could if you were working ; and 2) you'll help your puppy learn that being alone is not the end of the world.

Kenneth Foo is a dog trainer and the author of The Dog Training Tips. You can read more about How To Train A Puppy at TheDogTrainingTips.com

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)

» left by Anonymous 3 years 299 days ago.

Explained how a puppies bladder gets better through time as they get older. Just like a real baby, they can't help having to go at a moments notice, but as time goes it gets better.

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