Re-potty train?

[Lisa & Maisy]

Help! My Maisy (15 weeks) was doing so well with potty training, and now all of a sudden she is having lots of accidents! She uses the poochie bells, but she seems to want to go out all the time, and even after just being outside will have an accident inside. We had her urine checked for a bladder infection and it came back negative. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem, or if she is just too young yet to hold it. I am hoping I don't have a dog that pees every time she gets excited! Thanks for any advice!

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

She is still very young!  Your not going to have to re-train, but continue training.  Even when I was certain, Enzo was housebroken, I still did not wait for her signal of hitting the bells.  I got her out at intervals, depending how much water, I knew she drank.  Also, if she is going right after she has gone outside...stay out with her longer.  Many dogs and Enz was one of them....was a double pee'er!  She'd pee, walk a bit and then go again.  Only THEN were we done and could come in.

[Lisa & Maisy]

Thanks, Rosemary! We let her out on a very long cord out back by herself (where we can always see her). Do you think we should still be going out with her? Also, just tonight for instance, we returned home and she was so excited when she exited her crate, she peed...didn't even have a chance to get her outside. I am just getting frustrated!

[Gail and Bailey]

She is still just a baby....give her time.  I would take her outside on a leash every hour and praise her when she pees.    The excited peeing should get better too.  The way I would approach it is to ignore her for the first couple of minutes you get home and then without speaking to her just open the door to the crate, pick her up right away and calmly take her out to pee.  Then make a big deal out of it when she pees.  Walk her on a leash...even if it is around the yard until she pees.  She will get better as she matures a bit.  She certainly is a cutie!!

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

15 weeks is very young to expect consistency. She maybe close to 5-6 months before she can be fully considered housebroken, which is very normal.

[Marcia & MoneyPenny]

We had the same thing with Penny. Maisy js still very young & control comes with age. I think I read that you cannot consider them totally dependable til 8 or 9 months. That doesn't mean you will have lots of accidents but that the muscle control isn't mature enough til then. For Penny, we had an accident or 2 at 8 months & totally dependable ever since. Perhaps leaving her out a little longer may help.

[Jen W]

I agree that she is still very young.  I also think you need to be going out with her at this age so you know for sure that she's going.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Agreed...at this point, you should still be bringing her out, let her do her business, praise and bring her right in. She has no idea when you put her out, if it is playtime or pee time. And like Jen mentioned, now you are sure she has gone.

[Lisa & Maisy]

Thanks so much, everyone! It helps to hear all of the reassurance.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Your very welcome!  Thank goodness for the Puppy Madness Group!  Misery loves company!!!!! :p

[Julie Rose]

We are having the same problem with our four month old. We did take her to the doctor and she did have a urinary tract infection but it seems like the accidents have gotten worse since she gas been on the antibiotic.