Accident at 9 months

[Sharae & Winston]

Winston just had an accident in the house last night. He's 9 months old... I feel like this is unacceptable. It's been over 2 months since his last accident and it was probably longer before that one. My bf says I let him have too much water... We recently started leaving it down for him all the time and just regulating it a little. He will literally drink bowl after bowl if you let him so we have to do that somewhat. We take him out about every 3 hours and he did it at the 2 hour mark. Last time we were at the vet i told him we take winston out every 2 hours and he said at his age we should only be taking him out every 3-4 hours at least and that he needs to learn to hold it. We slowly started extending it to 3 but it seems like if he has to pee before that he just goes.

I'm absolutely at my wits end. It's like right when we start to trust him a little and let our guard down this happens. Maybe he is going to be one of those dogs that just always pees in the house, I'm not sure, but I don't know how I'm going to handle that. Moments like this make me wonder why we ever got a puppy :(

[F, Calla & Luca]

I think it's important to realize that one accident at 9 months is hardly a major thing. One of my dogs vomited at 3:30 this morning. Living creatures sometimes have problems and we have to deal with them.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Yup I had the Green Machine out at 7AM cleaning up after Murph....it happens every now and then at all ages. I always feel bad for them....it's not what they wanted to do.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Did our dogs get into the same thing last night, F?  I cleaned up a big pile of undigested food early this morning. And threw away the second dead lizard present left on our rug this week.  Yuck!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Well, I can almost swear it wasn't a lizard since they are really not around here. And of corse, he's been fine since for which I am grateful.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I did NOT know dogs could catch lizards so easily when cats often get only the 'tail'  Although we haven't seen any of our dogs with a lizard actually in their mouth, Clancy is our obsessed lizard 'watcher'  so we are pretty confident that he is the culprit.  He patrols our wall several times a day.

[Julie and Charlie]

Nothing, I repeat nothing, gets me out of bed faster than a retching dog about to vomit. I've taken to keeping a towel by the bed to prevent middle of the night sheet and comforter changes!

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

I hear ya' Julie- I have actually put my hand out to catch what I can!  

[Becka]

Sharae, you are making sure to clean up the pee with something like Nature's Miracle to remove all traces/odors of the accident, yes? Remember that he is still very much a puppy--it's too early to feel like he's just going to be "one of those dogs that always pees in the house." Be patient, and hang in there!

[Adrienne]

No worries.  Accidents will happen from time to time until they are fully mature.  And, even then, there are no guarantees.  

[Ginny Nightingale]

All good advice--he seems to need a way to let you know that he can't make it to three hours and the bells are a great idea--but the excessive water drinking should be addressed first, as Karen suggested--just to make sure there is nothing else going on. One of my doodles, who is almost 5, drinks and drinks, but only does that a few times a day and never more than one bowl. Then she does urinate a lot a few hours after one of her "big drinks" but rarely has an accident in the house. I think that may be because one of us is home most of the time and she can get outside when needed--but once in a great while, the timing is off and we are not home when she needs us to be!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I would guess that Winston is giving you signs of needing to go out but you haven't discerned what those signs are yet but you will.  Bells, are a good idea.  Over the years our different dogs have each used their own way to tell us things.  We have had dogs who pawed us, who stood at the door, who thumped their tail against a door, wall, piece of furniture, who stared (but you have to be looking for that stare), who silent barked and so on.

The other thing is, if taking him out after two hours is what works, then take him out after 2 hours again but work on teaching about the bells or another signal you think would work.

[Julie and Charlie]

Dirty little secret- it happens to all of us at some time or another. One day at maybe 8 months Charlie decided (?) to pee on the carpet behind the sofa. At this point, he was going a few hours between potty breaks and had been outside an hour before. Blips happen, clean up and move on. He hasn't gone in the house since that time.