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 :(

[Adina P]

Rosco is 7 years old...and although I consider him house trained if he drinks enough and does not have a way to get out to go (let's say nobody is home or we are sleeping) he can only hold it so long.  It used to be that he'd drink so much in the evening that we couldn't even finish a 30 min sitcom without getting up once to let him out.  Tests showed nothing was wrong...no UTI, no diabetes.  He's not quite as crazy about drinking any more, but he also still can pee like a horse.  Sometimes he gets so tired of peeing in one spot, he'll walk over a few feet and continue.

[Star and Goldie]

I agree with everyone who mentioned the bells. Potty bells are AMAZING! Goldie will ring the bell when she needs to go out and I don't need to watch the time or monitor anything. She just let's me know.  I'd start on them as soon as you can. It's best when they are trained with them as they are potty training but I'm sure he will still pick them up pretty quickly.

[Sharae & Winston]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I feel a little better knowing this has happened to other people. I'm just such a type A perfectionist in my life that I expect my dog to be that way and take it really personally when he isn't. I know I need to try to relax a bit more...

Went to petco today and they are out of bells, darn! I'll check back later this week. We already always say "outside?" before we take him so ill just update it and said "Winston outside" after I ring the bells and hopefully he'll catch on! I'll keep every one updated:)

[Diane, Baker & Oskar]

I bought ours at one of the better pet stores in the area & they were only $16.  If you have access to a store other than Petco, you might want to try there.  Good luck :)

[Adina P]

You could make your own from craft store supplies.  Or what we actually have is a narrow wind chime that hangs off a nail on the wall near the door.  Nothing is on the door itself.

[Sarah and Willow]

Good luck! My only advice would be to take his nose or paw and have him ring it and not you. I waited until my pup was older to introduce the bells because I didn't want her playing with them.

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

I use Christmas bells!  You might have some in your holiday "stuff" 

[Sharae & Winston]

Ok everyone... I know I'm reviving an old thread but I wanted to give an update and possibly get some input. Long story short, I had bloodwork and a UA done on Winston after this happened, he turned up with crystals in his urine and an enzyme that was too high (they didn't say what). We did 2 weeks of clavamox and he started to improve. Not one accident since and going 3-4 hours between. They did follow up tests about 2 weeks ago but i never got called with the results so thats something i need to find out.
I simultaneously started doing bell training because I didn't want to worry about watching for his less than obvious cues. It took him about 3 weeks to a month and he has finally started ringing them to let us know! He pees almost everytime he rings them. Now we have a problem I didn't think we'd have to deal with- all he does is ring those darn bells! He has rang them 4 times in the last hour, and everytime he a squirted a little pee out each time. Idk if he just wants an excuse to go outside or if he wants treats but it's driving my bf and I nuts! I know people mentioned this might happen, but what did you do when it did? Just hang in there and they'll eventually stop doing it so much? I don't want to stop taking him out when he rings them because I feel like it will undo all the hard work we did. Help!