Toilet Training My Puppy

[seniorcit]

I have an 11 week old Shih tzu male puppy.
I began getting up at night to put him on training pads. After 3 weeks of this I am shattered, so have put a pad at the end of a larger ccage for him to use. My worry is that he is going 7 hours without peeing. When I let him out in he will go straight to his daytime pad, pee and open his bowels. I understood that at such a young age he could only hold himself for about 4 hours. I'm pleased that he is so clean but worried it may harm him holding on for such a time. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

[Goofy]

Gosh you are lucky! My puppy is 12 weeks old (today) and does not last the night.
I wouldn't worry about him going 7 hour. I once had a puppy aged 8 weeks that lasted 8/9 hours no problem. Didn't seem to do him any harm as he lasted until he was 15 years old!

[ladybirder]

Sorry I can't help you senior, I'm just replying to get this thread back in the latest posts so someone who has experience of this might reply. I have had many dogs in my life but all older rescue dogs so never had to toilet train a puppy. You seem to be doing OK though. x

[rsvp]

seriorcit I think an 11 week old puppy going for 7 hours without toileting is remarkable and not natural - are you absolutely sure he's getting enough water? House training takes a while to establish and (our perceived) mistakes will happen for quite a while. I'm also very surprised that at that age he sleeps for 7 hours.

[seniorcit]

Thanks for all the advice.
My puppy pees very well during the daytime and I was advised by the breeder to soak his dry food for the next few months so he gets extra fluid in his food in addition to the water for soaking. I have read that some puppies need to be encouraged to drink and my little boy does need encouragement in that respect. He doesn't often go to his water bowl but I do give him extra fluids using a toddler drinking beaker.
As regards his sleep, he does wake up at night. I just hoped he would use the pad which I have placed in his crate. I was getting more and more tired toileting him during the night as I was unable to get back to sleep again afterwards. I am certainly doing my best to ensure that he has enough fluids. He is a very active, happy little puppy. He has a vets appointment this week so I will speak to someone then. Thank you.

[Tilly2]

Dogs are not happy to soil their 'den'. Your little puppy will probably never use his in crate pad.

Try leaving the door open with a pad in a near vicinity and he might come out of his crate, use the pad, and go back in the crate to resume sleeping.