help My golden/lab mix Riley is 11 months old and has been a slow potty trainer. We are to the point where it is weeks or months between accidents, however for the last month she has been having an accident around 8ish pretty frequently. I’ve taken her out not even 10 minutes before! I’ve started being more strict and increasing breaks (back to basics) but tonight she peed on my couch when I wasn’t in the room! I feel like I am missing something! I am now trying the bell system to see if that also helps
Hi Erin and welcome to the forum, that sounds rather tiresome. Have you take her to a vet to rule out any physical problems? And do you clean up with a special enzymatic cleaner like Simple Solution, leaving it on to soak into the stain for a while? Most household cleaners won't completely remove the smell to a dog's sensitive nose, so it makes it smell as if the indoors is an OK place to pee.
Hi and thanks! The vet is my next step, I will ask during her next visit in a few weeks. I do clean with a special cleaner to avoid leaving any kind of trace she can still smell.
Sounds like it could be a niggling little UTI. ‘Tho it could be a habit thing. How about putting a lead on her before eight and keeping it on until she’s done her wees outside, followed by lots of praise and treats? .
She has been spayed. If it’s a UTI I’ll definitely move up the vet apt to get it taken care of. Since I noticed the 8oclock thing I’ve kept such a close watch on her during that time. I can try the lead and see how that works!
Has she been having an evening playtime and then drinking a bunch of water? My half-lab started doing that and then peeing shortly after everyone went to bed. He was a little less than 2 years. After watching him for a bit, I realized he was drinking a ton of water after his evening exercise and then not peeing before he came in for the night. I ended up exercising him earlier or making sure to let him back out an hour after he drank a bunch of water. Now we have a dog door and it's the best purchase we've ever made!
Dog doors are a huge help. We never worry about having to take the dogs out at home. They go out when they need to, and all we have to do is clean up the yard every day or so. I would recommend them to anyone that has a secure fence, and a dog(s) that don't bark incessantly. We have friends with Samoyeds that bark continuously at dogs on the other side of the fence, and consequently are not candidates for a dog door. It seems to be a Samy trait, and makes me very happy to have Labs. At our cabin we don't have a door or a fence, so we do have to keep track of their needs, but both of them are really good now, and can spend all day in the house if they have too.
