Alice is 8 weeks and sleeps in our room and holds her bladder up to 6 hours. However during the day she has accidents in the house. I take her out right after she naps and about half hour after she eats but she will still pee on the floor -and a lot. She does drink an awful lot. Should this be lessened or does anyone have any ideas?
When my dog was 8 weeks old I took him outside pretty much every half an hour and if he did a wee I would give him a treat. If I had to pop out or was busy doing something I would put him in his crate. Pippa's book the Happy Puppy Handbook has a really good section about house and crate training might be worth a read. Good luck!
Don't limit water at all. More frequent visits outside, perhaps every 15 minutes for a little while. Your puppy is doing nothing wrong, so lots of praise outside. Don't wait after feeding, go straight out and give your puppy a little while to 'go'. Dedicate lots of time to this when your puppy is awake and accidents shouldn't happen. Your puppy won't want to wee inside when it clicks what outside is for. Don't make your puppy wait so long that it is forced to wee in its crate, be really vigilant about this. It's early days, good luck!
As others have said frequent trips outside and lots of vigilance to prevent accidents. At 8 weeks they are very much a baby still and don't give much warning of needing to pee. They very quickly learn about going going out for a pee though. Always take them out after a nap, play, or eating and frequently inbetween.
I was taking Murphy out at least every 30 mins at 8 weeks and 4 days when we got him and he still had accidents then! sometimes it can just be through excitement or forgetting where there are! limit the space they have so they are not wandering around a big room, and keep going out - they will get there! Murphy is almost 13 weeks and now dry in the house!
I would only add that when Molly performed I would say "be clean". This has become our word for having a wee. Last thing at night I send her into the garden to "be clean" and she has a tiny bit of a digestive biscuit before snuggling down in her bed for the night. Although the Now is very important when training a pup, it is always advisable to keep in mind what you ultimately want from your adult dog.
Nala is 11 weeks old now, I've been getting up doing the night to take her out of her crate for a night time visit, this has always worked well, until the last couple of days and now when I come down during the night she refuses to come out of her crate! I've been tempting her out with a treat but last night that didn't work and I had to resort to grabbing her out of the crate. When we went out she did a wee and was rewarded. Should I leave her if she won't come out? This morning she was eager to be out and went straight out to the garden!
Personally speaking I wouldn't grab my puppy out of her crate. It is her safe little den. I was actually really surprised how quickly Mabel was able to last at night without needing to go outside to the toilet and I never restricted water. For me your little puppy is saying I don't need the toilet. I'd probably set my alarm and get up earlier in the morning or go to bed later at night. I agree with the other comments, for me vigilance was key. We have a very puppy unfriendly house and for ages she went to the hall door rather than utility door she just forget which door she needed. For little puppies life is fascinating they tend to forget and when they need a wee, then they need one now . Enjoy your puppy times flie by so quickly
Agree with Pilatelover on not grabbing your puppy to get her out of the crate. I would leave her if she doesn't want to come out as she is unlikely to wee in her crate without making a lot of fuss first. Sounds as if she is ready to go through the night, perhaps set your alarm for a bit earlier in the morning and the gradually extend the period to your normal alarm time.
I offered her the chance to go during the night, (our bathroom is downstairs, past the kitchen where Nala sleeps) when I had to go, but when I opened the door she turned her back on me, so I left her. This morning when I got up, opened back doors, let her out and she ran straight outside to do her business. Very good girl.
