its peepee 0'clock at my house!

[londontami 4]

hi everyone, i am new here and very glad to be here. i am in total love with my 1 year old shih tzu/bichon mix but he is driving me a little crazy with the peepee.

when i first brought him home he was very happy to use the peepee pads and i also took him outside every 2-3 hours and he was the perfect puppy and went outside too.

then he began eating the peepee pads so we can't use them anymore and just try to be diligent in taking him outside every 3 hours at the most.

there are occasions when i cannot take him out that often (i am temp. in a wheelchair) and he runs upstairs and pees in the bedroom.

he is 1 year old and can't hold it? seriously? i dont quite understand why he can't hold it any longer than 3 hours - i could understand when he was a little puppy and was playing hard with our cat and he would just stop and pee, but even that was usually on a pad - in fact, during those first several months he never peed on the carpet, he always either made it to a pad or went outside.

3 hours does seem to be the max, except over night - and that has always been a blessing, he sleeps all night and always has and never wakes us up.

Romeo is smart, there is no question about that - if he didnt eat the pee pads i would be using those, we also just got new carpet and you can imagine its a tad bit upsetting!

i use the cleaners that have those enzyme additives that basically eat the urine so there is no odor. i realize that he is a dog and can smell more than i can but still.... i'm at my wits end as i am sure you can imagine.

any feedback would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

[xr4man 7]

possibly a gate at the bottom of the satirs may help. maybe it's not that he can't hold it, but ratehr that he likes a particular spot upstairs.

[tzukeeper 12]

I had issues with my dogs eating the potty pads as well. I purchased the potty pad holder that looks like a tray. Now they don't do anything but go potty on them. Here is a link to the one I purchased. Maybe it would help solve some of your issues as well

http://www.walmart.com/ip/17747635?adid=22222222227014563975&wmlspartner=wlpa&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=&wl3=13698822310&wl4=&wl5=pla&veh=sem

[londontami 4]

thank you, i will check that out - i guess my concern is really more along the lines that he is having to pee every 2-3 hours. is this normal?

[GMA 981]

First Welcome to the Board! I know there are going to be others to come in with great advice, but I remember when I was having problems with Bosco and Pam suggested that I start crating him. You are right that at 1 year he should be able to hold it longer than 3 hours. I was told that when they have to much space (run of the house) accidents will happen. I bought Bosco an exercise pen and put in the pad, bed and toys. He now uses the pads when we let him out in the house and he is walked in the morning, afternoon and nighttime before bed. Now he does still have an occasional poop incident in our dining room, but we are working on that.

[luvmybabies 165]

Crate training a dog help them to learn to hold it longer. I am looking after three extra dogs right now who were not trained and they are 3, 5 and 7 yo. I have a very big crate that I put all three in and they are just about trained to outside. I put them in there with a closed door overnight and sometimes if I am busy I put them in there till I have time to let them out. I trained all mine, except the Golden, to pee on my washable pee pads. Now I see the new ones do now and again use them so they caught on what to do if I leave them too long with the door open. Another good thing that has come out of this is that sometimes mine will now go out, two really like to but I cannot talk my two Tzus into going outside!! I guess I will wait till spring and then push them out and they can stay out till they do their business. It is too cold right now to play the waiting game with them.