how to extend potty times

[danenloe12]

Thanks for the last piece of advice. Now I have another question. My dog is potty trained. She is 7 months old. She seems to think she can only hold her urine for a short while during the day. She usually asks to go pee at least once an hour, sometimes more frequently. For some history. After I got her from the rescue she had a really bad UTI for about 12 weeks. The last two checks about a month apart were clean. How do I teach her that she can hold it longer?

 

She does fine at night. She can hold it all night (8-9 hours).

 

I'm afraid that if I ignore her signal to go out, she will think that her signal does not work anymore (she sits by the door and waits, and if I don't respond, she walks to me, looks at me and walks back to the door again). She's doing it right now! :)

 

Thanks,

 

Dan

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Danenloe21,

This can be challenging because when I used to work for the vet, I recall that sometimes, dogs with a history of having frequent or prolonged urinary tract infections for some reason were stuck with the belief that they had to go out frequently. Owners of these dogs often brought their dogs in to see the vet convinced their dogs had yet another UTI when in reality they were clear despite extensive testing. These dogs simply learned to pee often.

 

If there is a learned component and your dog is truly 100 percent UTI free and free of other conditions known to cause increased urination (read further down below for more info on this) and has shown the ability to hold it the entire night, then there are several things you can try. Here are a few options that come to mind:

 

-You can try to start gradually lengthening the times you take her out. So if your dog asks to go outside every hour, next time push it to every 70 minutes, then 80, then 90 etc. During the intervals, make sure your dog is engaged in activities that keep her mind off her bladder. Try to offer her toys that you keep out of sight and bring out only at certain times or provide a portion of her meal in food-dispensing toys. At other times, engage her in a game of tug or fetch, in some brain games or in a training session. At again another time, you can keep her crated with a chew toy to encourage a nap if she is crate trained. Ideally, try to engage her in these activities before she has a chance to go to the door.

-During this time frame, keep your dog confined to an area where you have clear view and where you can supervise her to ensure she doesn't sneak off to pee or poop somewhere.

-You can then wait for her to signal to go potty and reward it by opening the door and letting her go potty.

-Another thing that comes to mind is that can try to train her to go potty on command. This may come helpful as it puts the behavior under stimulus control so that it takes place when you tell her to. This can take a while to train, but it can come handy in many situations and many service dogs are trained this skill because it offers many advantages. Once learned, make sure to allow her scheduled potty breaks as dogs prone to UTI need to empty their bladder frequently as concentrated urine causes bacteria build-up in the bladder. Here's how to train it:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/potty-on-command/

 

Now, a disclaimer is warranted here: These tips are based on a healthy dog with no UTI or other conditions that may cause increased urination (diabetes, presence of crystals or stones in bladder (seen on x-ray/ultrasound etc.) Generally, a good way to tell whether a dog is truly clear of a UTI post antibiotic, is by having a urine culture done,-not just a regular urine test- (ask your vet if this was done) about 1 week after finishing.

 

This helps ensure that the infection is gone. Sometimes, some nasty infections may persist especially if the antibiotics didn't target the specific bacteria or when dealing with a particularly resistant strain. If the infection is truly gone and there is still increased frequency, checking bloodwork for kidney or endocrine related problems such as diabetes is ideal. So consult with your vet to inform about your dog asking to go out hourly just to play it safe if certain things weren't considered. It would be awful if she truly has a medical issue going on and we're trying to make her hold it longer.

I hope this helps,

Best,

Adrienne

Edited March 17, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli

[danenloe12]

Adrienne,

 

Thanks.

 

They did send her urine to a lab to find out the best antibiotic after two rounds of antibiotics did not cure it. The third round worked. And she was checked a week later and 3-4 weeks later when I thought she had it back again, although the urine was not sent out.

 

One more piece of information. When she had her UTI, I developed a habit of counting to myself every time she pee'd. In my mental counting, a 5 is a short pee and anything greater than a 10 is a long pee. Most of her pee's are 5's, but sometimes during the day, she will have a 7 or 8 with an occational 10 (usually, after a nap). I am concerned about diabetis, but I think it is a learned behavior really.

 

Another question. My dog seems to have difficulty with verbal commmands. She does much better with hand signals. She clearly has no hearing issue based upon other behaviors. Right now, I'm assuming it is just more repetition. She is only 7 months, and I'm not the best at training every day..... :( Is it just more repetition as I suspect?

 

Thanks,

 

Dan

Edited March 20, 2019 by danenloe12

[JMFS]

You're not alone on the verbal commands. Momo and Gertie both respond better to hand signals or whistles than verbal. They are all sorts of rambunctious when I bring Mo in for the evening and I can talk to them until I'm blue in the face and they'll continue to ignore me. Momo is more likely to do it because he's older and therefore better trained, but wiggly Gertie often gets him out of a sit. Once I give the hand signal for "knock it off you hooligans!" they'll sit - it's like the equivalent of Mom Voice. I think it's because dogs are much better at reading body language than understanding spoken. Especially since we use so many different intonations and emotions with speech. Hand signals are fairly consistent and neutral, making them easier to interpret.

 

Training daily will net faster results, but repetition paired with consistency in how you train is even more important, I think. For instance, Gertie doesn't have the opportunity to bark at Mr. Bicycle every day so we can't train it daily; however, each time we work on being quiet when he Does ride by she's more and more self-controlled. The waste pick up truck comes by twice per week so we only get to train that on those days. UPS and FedEx are completely unpredictable (unless I've caved to my Amazon or Chewy.com addiction) so that's yet another one we can't do daily.

 

Really, though, you Do train daily. :) Every time you take her out to go potty counts as training. She probably has to sit, wait, then potty, and finally come. Or, if you take her out on a leash then you're training her to walk on a leash. When it's time to eat she has to come, and perhaps wait until you cue her to eat. Pretty much every interaction we have with them is a learning experience. I find it easiest to have a routine. In the morning we get up, I do my morning stuff, let Momo out back, let Gertie out front, get their food and water, let Gertie in, feed the cat, feed Gertie, then feed Momo. That's all training, too. Then about an hour after she eats I let Gertie out again, and take Abbi, too. The day continues like that with our regular pit stops and all the waits, sits, okays that go with it. The more they learn the routine, the easier it becomes, and it counts as training. Ta da!

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Yup, dogs excel in responding to hand signals! If we think about it, dogs have been following human hand signals from the old days when they were used for a variety of tasks in farms and large estates. It's a known fact that dogs are very observant and can astutely spot movement, especially at a distance. Even prior to their partnership with humankind, dogs' ancestors have heavily relied on reading each others' body language. A dog's slight ear prick might have signaled the presence of prey to hunt down or a predator to escape from, which could have made a difference in life and death.

 

I have personally witnessed proof of this in several instances with multiple dogs taken on walks. My husband may walk one dog and I may walk another, and then at one point, should one dog pricks the ears and starts walking with the head high upon spotting something, the other would immediately go on high alert even without seeing what triggered the other dog's interest.

 

Back to dogs and humans, I have noticed an interesting phenomenon when some dog owners ask their dogs to sit and simultaneously move their head (often without even being aware of it). If such dog owners try this experiment: ask their dogs to sit without the head movement, just asking with the verbal cue "sit" alone, the owners are often surprised when their dogs no longer sit or perhaps sit but with hesitancy as if they are confused.

 

However, when they ask their dogs to sit using only the head movement without pronouncing the verbal cue "sit" the dog readily complies. This is proof that the dog has simply depended on the head movement to perform the task and to such can extent that the verbal cue has little or no validity.

 

According to research conducted by the Italian researcher Biagio D'Aniello et al. published on the interdisciplinary journal "Animal Cognition" responses to gestures prevailed. In the study, water rescue dogs who were trained to respond to gestural and verbal requests were tested. These dogs were asked to sit, lie down, stay and come using just only hand signals, then using only verbal commands and then using hand signals and verbal commands that were in contrast with one another (e.g. dogs were asked to "sit" with voice command but the hand signal for "lie down" was used or dogs were ask to "stay" with voice command but the hand signal for "come" was used.)

 

The results not surprisingly revealed that dogs followed gestures significantly better than words when they were used separately. When using hand signals and verbal commands that were in contrast with one another, the dogs were more likely to execute the action required by the gesture rather than the verbal command.

 

In any case, if you want a better response towards verbal commands here's an exercise. Let's say for example your dog sits reliably with a hand signal but you want a response towards the verbal command. Simply say "sit," and then make the hand gesture for the sit. Do several reps of this. Verbal command first, then hand signal and then reward.

 

By doing this, you are informing the dog "do you hear this word? It just predicts the salient hand gesture which tells you that it is time to "sit." After several trials, your dog should make the connection.

 

Then it's time to do a little test: try to say "sit" and pause a bit. If your dog sits, make sure to lavishly praise and reward. If your dog is hesitant and looks at you a bit puzzled, you can make the hand signal, but make sure to offer a smaller version of it. After several reps, you should make the hand signal less and less noticeable up until the point, you can remove it completely. Praise lavishly and reward once your responds to the verbal command alone.

 

Now, it's not a bad idea to have a dog trained to respond to both verbal cues and hand signals. There are several pros and cons to both.

 

Here are some:

Pros of using hand signals:

-More salient than verbal commands

-Easy to teach

-Can be used in the case a dog becomes deaf as he ages

-Can be used when you can't talk for some reason (you're on the phone, baby is asleep)

-Dogs tend to get habituated to hearing our voices

 

Pros of using verbal commands:

-Can come handy in the sport of agility so that the dog doesn't need to keep on checking on the handler

-Can come handy when it's dark

-Can come handy when the dog owner is out of sight

-Can come handy when your hands are full (e.g. carrying bags)

-Can be used in the case a dog becomes blind as he ages

 

Training both can therefore come handy in different situations. However, it's a good idea not to offer them simultaneously considering the fact that hand signals would likely block the verbal command and this may weaken it. Doing routine sessions with either one or the other so that the dog responds to both, may be helpful if you're up to that.

 

About the urination, forgot to ask you, is she spayed? Just checking as intact females may ask often to be let out to urine mark as they reach their estrus cycle. Just thought to rule this possibility out...

 

Hope this helps,

Happy training!

Edited March 22, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli

[danenloe12]

Thanks to both of you for your comments on the verbal stuff. I'll continue to work with her.

 

On the peeing (going out) issue. I'm starting to think that she wants to go out just to go out. For example....today....I'm watching basketball on TV. Starting at 1406, I took her out...she pee'd (a 7 on my timing scale). 1416 she asked again...I ignored it. 1419....asked again, when this happens so close together, she will walk right in front of me as if to say..."Hey look at me, its time to go out". I took her out thinking maybe it is a poop...she eliminated nothing. Asked again at 1434 and 1440. I ignored both.

 

It just so happens that today I took her on a 1.5 ish mile walk. And spent ~20 minutes with her specifically training her on different tasks.

 

I'm also starting to use a "gentle leader" because my wife is not a very good master and gets pulled a bit. Sophie is now 60 pounds and can pull if not controlled. We used this on our last dog (80# golden) and it worked well. She is still getting used to this new collar.

 

Thanks for your advice.

 

Dan

[Adrienne Farricelli]

When medical causes are ruled out, then it can be assumed that if she is asking to go out and nothing is being produced (or little trickles are produced as seen dogs who engage in urine marking), then there is a quite high possibility that she may be asking to go out just because she enjoys being out.

 

The outdoors can be highly reinforcing to dogs because it offers an ever-changing kaleidoscope of smells. On top of this, they get to stretch their legs and move around. Some dogs are also prone to wanting to patrol their properties and investigate everything on a random basis and urine mark. Urine marking is not peeing for the mere purpose of the emptying the bladder, it's peeing with a purpose and that purpose is leaving scent around.

 

Dog tend to repeat behaviors that are reinforcing, and therefore, learn that by going to the door, it opens, unveiling all the magical things associated with the outdoors. On top of that, dogs learn that they get one-on-one attention the moment they walk towards the door. With all this reinforcement going on, many will want to repeat this experience over and over. If that's the cases, here are a few tips that can be tried:

 

-Investigate what your dog enjoys doing outside, this can help get an idea of what we can offer to our dogs to satisfy their needs or solve some problems.

-For instance, many dogs want to go out if there are critters in the yard. If you suspect critters in your home or yard, hire an exterminator, preferably one who uses pest management options and products that have low or no adverse risks.

-Many dogs ask to go out if there are noises to bark at or a new dog or cat moved in the neighborhood. If there are noises or a new dog moved in town, for the time being, you can try to put on some white noise (radio, tv or fan noise) and see if this can help calm your dog down.

-Make sure your dog receives sufficient levels of exercise, walking, play time, training and mental stimulation.

-When indoors, offer your dog interactive toys such as stuffed Kongs, Kong Wobblers and Buster Cubes. Rotate toys so that your dog never grows bored of them.

-If your dog's passion is sniffing, engage his brain with fun treasure hunt games and canine nosework.

-If your dog is asking too often to go out, every time your dog asks to go out, put your dog on a leash and take her to a designated potty area and stay out only five minutes. If she truly needs to go bad, she'll usually rush to potty. If he doesn't go, go head straight back inside and try again later repeating the same process. This should help reduce the behavior of asking to go outside just for the fun of it because it becomes boring. However, this doesn't fix the issue, we need to know the underlying cause to tackle it accordingly.

-When you come back inside, if your dog hasn't gone potty, make sure that you can keep your dog confined to an area where you have clear view and where you can supervise your dog to ensure she doesn't sneak off to pee or poop somewhere. Watch for dog pre-potty signs such as sniffing the floor, pacing, circling, whining.

-If your dog does go potty, reward her and let her enjoy some time off the leash (if your yard is secure).

-Now, something to consider: some smart dogs may learn that peeing in the yard grants them fun time afterward, so they may learn to purposely pee just for the fun of that. In such cases, it may help taking them out first thing in the morning when they are likely to pee (and other times of the day), and then spend a good amount of time outdoors until they get tired and bored. Often times, we take dogs inside when they have haven't had the opportunity to sniff and get tired. This makes the yard super appealing. That's also why we stop training sessions on a positive note when the dog is having fun, because we want to maintain a good history of fun with training so that the dog wants to do it more and more.

-Feeding your dog food at the same times throughout the day can help her elimination patterns become more predictable. It's a good idea to jolt down when your dog goes potty so to schedule her outings accordingly.

-Last but not least as already mentioned it may be also helpful training your dog to go potty on command. By doing this, you can ensure that, once sent out, your dog goes potty so that you know she's empty and can hold it until her next scheduled potty trip.

 

Gentle leaders are good for control, however, their biggest flaw is that it's not easy to acclimate dogs to it and dogs may paw at it, rub their faces on the ground and act subdued. Some dogs though do better than others.

Hope this helps!

Best,

Adrienne

Edited March 24, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli