There are several actors that affect how long our dogs can hold their pee. If you start coming home to urinary accidents on the floor, this article will help you understand why. This will also help you make sure your dog’s bladder health is in optimal condition.
Age
Age is the most well-known factor to take into consideration when you are considering how long your dog can hold his pee. When you’re potty training your puppy, it’s just a simple fact that a young puppy cannot hold his pee as long as a larger adult dog. As puppies, their bladders and urinary tracts are small, so they have a limited capacity.
In addition to capacity, there are many muscles at work that help a dog eliminate his urine. Small, young puppies just simply haven’t developed these muscles to the extent that larger, older dogs have.
On the other side of the spectrum, senior dogs can have issues holding their pee as long as they once did. As dogs age, their muscles begin to weaken. They can also have inflammation and mobility issues. They often even experience kidney and liver health issues. All of these factors combined make it difficult for senior dogs to hold their pee.
As a general rule of thumb, the veterinary community advises that a puppy can hold their bladder for approximately one hour for every month old they are (e.g., a 4-month-old puppy can hold his bladder for 4 hours). It’s important to note that this is just a general estimate and that there can be wide variances depending on the dog.
Just because an adult dog can hold his pee for 10-12 hours does not mean that he should. The average adult dog should be allowed to relieve his bladder at least every 6-8 hours.
Size
A teacup Chihuahua has a very different bladder size from a Saint Bernard. This means that how long a dog can hold his pee can even be dependent on the dog’s size. This is a good starting point when you want to consider how long a dog can hold his pee. This isn’t all-inclusive, though. Again, dogs are individuals! Not all large dogs can hold their bladder as long as other large dogs.
Every dog is different. It’s helpful to address potty training issues and accidents by these guidelines, but it’s essential to recognize the differences in every dog. Always treat a dog as an individual and do what works best for that dog.
Medical Conditions
Any kind of illness or medical condition is going to have a big impact on how long a dog can hold his pee. Dogs with diabetes or kidney disease may require more frequent urination, to name a few.
Similarly, medications also play a big role. Increased urination is a known side effect of many medications, like steroids.
If your pet is urinating more frequently than usual, it’s always best to contact your veterinarian and schedule an examination. You should make sure that there are no changes to your dog’s underlying health to cause the issue.
Diet
The type of food that you feed your dog can also impact how long your dog can hold his pee. Moisture-rich foods like wet or raw foods will increase your dog’s natural hydration level. Increased hydration means your dog may be more likely to pee more frequently.
Alternatively, dry foods may cause your dog to pee less frequently than usual due to the decreased hydration your dog is getting from the food.
Potty Routine
Now that we’ve established guidelines for how long a dog can hold his pee and factors that affect how long a dog can hold his pee, it’s important to discuss the importance of a regular bathroom routine.
Dogs thrive on consistency. Even though adult dogs can hold their pee for many hours, it doesn’t mean that they should or that it is healthy for them. When starting to potty train a puppy, it’s essential to keep them on a strict potty routine, so they know where to go to the bathroom. As dogs age, it’s still important to keep them on a bathroom routine.
Forcing a dog to hold his pee longer than he should can result in negative effects like urinary tract infections or even incontinence.
When dogs urinate, they flush out toxins in the bladder and urinary tract system. Holding their pee longer than they should increases the number of bacteria within the urinary tract, which makes them susceptible to urinary tract infections. Ultimately, this bacterial buildup can even lead to things like urinary crystals, which can form bladder stones. Bladder stones are urinary blockages that occur in the bladder. They can become life-threatening quickly and often require invasive surgery to fix.
It’s quite common for senior and ageing pets to become incontinent. Making dogs hold their pee longer than they should actually results in a distorted-shaped kidney. This can damage the muscles around the kidneys. This damage to the kidneys and surrounding tissues can even result in leaks. It’s important to try to prevent these issues from the beginning.
Helping Your Dog
Just because you work or are a busy person doesn’t mean you can’t have a puppy or dog. Learning to balance your lifestyle with the needs of your dog and his requirement for emptying his bladder is what owning a pet is all about.
- Many pet owners utilize pee pads for their dogs. These are a paper material that are scented to attract dogs. These are easy to clean up because you just throw them out when they’ve been soiled.
- Some owners, particularly of small dogs, litter train their dogs. This allows their dog to use the bathroom indoors anytime necessary. This requires consistent training and can be messy if your dog has a habit of kicking up litter after he pees.
- Doggy doors are controversial. Some people love them, but other people hate them. If you leave the doggy door open, that means your dog has unlimited access to the backyard. This is great for potty training and bathroom breaks. This can, however, be bad if your dog has a tendency to get into other problems, like eating things he shouldn’t. This could also become problematic. If a doggy door is open to let your dog outside, it means that something could enter your house from the outside.
- Dog walkers are probably the most common and sensible solution to letting your dog out on a consistent basis throughout your workday. However, this is an added expense. The good news is that your dog would be walked by a trusted individual, so you could ask questions about how your dog is doing.
- Taking a lunch break to walk your dog could be a great solution if you have an understanding employer with a schedule that accommodates this. If you can run home to check on your dog and let him outside, this is the best solution.
Bathroom Issues
In most cases, if your dog is having sudden bathroom issues like constipation or diarrhoea or discoloured urine, you should contact your veterinarian immediately. Otherwise, here are a few reasons why your dog may be having bathroom issues.
- Excited Pee. We’ve all seen puppies greet someone only to squat and pee immediately. As mentioned before, puppy bladder muscles are underdeveloped. Most dogs will grow out of this. In the meantime, you should be sure to ignore your dog and not make a big fuss over his accident.
- Marking. Many dogs have an instinctual desire to mark. This is especially true anytime there are new animals or people inside the home. Your dog is just excited to mark his smell over the smell of others. This is an instinctual behaviour that can be hard to work with and train. For this, it’s important that you get your dog fixed in a timely manner. If your dog has already been marking things for many months before neutering him, it’s likely that his behaviour of marking things won’t change.
How to Potty Train
When potty training your puppy, it’s important to use positive reinforcement methods. When behaviours are rewarded, they are more likely to be repeated!
When you bring a new puppy home, it’s important to keep them either tethered to you in the home or keep an eagle eye on them. You want to be able to notice subtle body language cues indicating that your puppy is about to pee. At that moment, you want to pick your puppy up and put him outside. Once he’s outside, give him the freedom to pick a spot to do his business. Once he pees, you want to reward him heavily with high-value treats. If he doesn’t pee, you want to pick him up, bring him inside, either confine him or tether him, and take him back outside every 10 minutes or so until he finally pees.
Puppies are notorious for getting distracted outside in the grass when they’re being taken out for potty breaks. It’s important to stick to the routine and always to bring him back inside if he is too distracted outside.
Teaching your Dog a Cue
As you teach your puppy his potty training, it’s likely that he will start displaying certain body language that you will be accustomed to. This body language indicates he needs to pee. If your dog starts making any noticeable behaviour movements like pawing at the door or sitting and whining, you want to reward these behaviours with high-value treats. Rewarding these behaviours will encourage your dog to do them in the future, which means that you have a dog who will tell you when he needs to go outside!
It’s important to always set your dog up for success. If you’re struggling to get him on a potty training routine, it’s useful to take your puppy outside to give him the opportunity to pee every 10-15 minutes.
If there is an Accident
On the off chance that your puppy does have an accident for any reason, it’s important to know that you should not rub his nose in his mess. You should also never tell him that he’s a bad dog. This is an outdated method that isn’t very nice for your dog. In addition, it really doesn’t teach your dog anything at all.
The most important thing about urinary accidents is making sure that you clean them up thoroughly and quickly. It’s important to use an enzymatic cleaner since this is what really helps break down the enzymes in the urine for a more thorough clean.
Crate Training
Most people are fans of crate training specifically for how useful it can be when you’re trying to potty train a puppy. If you’re struggling with regular methods of potty training your puppy, crate training may be useful. This confines your puppy to a small and specific area. In addition to that, most dogs naturally have no desire to pee where they urinate. As long as you are taking your puppy outside to eliminate on a regular basis every 15-30 minutes, the crate training method may be incredibly useful. Not only will it help your puppy with potty training, but he’ll also become more familiar with crate training!
Conclusion
There are many factors that affect how long a dog can hold his pee. It’s important to educate yourself on those factors and recognize that every dog is an individual. If your dog starts having accidents in the home out of nowhere, consider contacting your veterinarian.
When potty training, it’s important to set your puppy up for success and take him out frequently. Always maintain close eye contact with him inside to make sure he doesn’t ruin anything that he shouldn’t. It’s important to remember that accidents will happen, but it’s essential to remain calm.
