How long after eating or drinking should an eight week old puppy be taken outside? I’ve been seeing a bunch of conflicting information. Yesterday, I tried taking my puppy out immediately after he had food or water as one site said, but he just ran around outside then fell asleep for a half an hour when he came back in. I took him out after he woke up, but he just wandered around, then peed as soon as he came back inside. So the next time, I decided to wait fifteen minutes before going out, but he started peeing after about five minutes. This whole process is a little more difficult since he’s always sniffing and squatting whether he’s getting ready to “go” or not.
It seems like he goes into sensory overload outside (he seems to be thinking: OH MY GOD SNOW, ooh a pinecone!! wow, a blade of grass) so I think he might be forgetting to go pee while he’s out there. Then he starts shivering, so we have to go back inside. Any suggestions? Should he be on a leash while he’s out there? Should he be allowed to run and play before he uses the bathroom? Are we going to have to live outside for the next few weeks?
Hoping at least one dog expert hasn’t left for holiday visiting yet…
He should be on a leash. You should take him directly after eating. You should say, “Go pee,” in a businesslike manner, or whatever command you want to use. He should be given a few minutes during which you repeat the command several times with his name. Then if he doesn’t pee, he should be crated on return to the house. Half an hour later, take him out again, same routine. When he pees, lavish praise on him and bring him inside for some playtime and out of crate time!
This will result in a dog who wants to go out and do his business directly after eating, which is what you really want at 6 AM when you’re trying to get out the door for work.
Gorgonzola, that’s great advice.
I had no idea that a dog could learn what “go potty” means, but they do. Our Boomer is older, but he’ll do the same thing as Omega Glory’s puppy when he goes outside. He gets distracted by other dog scents and birds and rabbits and will run around for ten minutes without pottying and then want to come back in.
“Go potty” gets the signal to his brain that he forgot something. It amazes me every time.
Thanks for the advice. I’ve been giving this a try, and things are going pretty smoothly so far. Now I just need to figure out what his name will be, so that can be added to the “hurry up” command.
You don’t really need to add the name. My dog (well, now my sister’s dog) Lucy still pees/poos on command when I say “Let’s go. Hurry up.” It’s just a notification that this is not a time to chase the cats, or sniff the property line; I’m cold and I wand to go back inside. Do your business and let’s be done with it.
Repeating the name of a dog with a command might just lead to confusion, as in the case of my friends dog Casey, who now only responds to, “Casey no bite.”
Thanks Elmer, that makes a lot of sense. Another question: If I take him out every hour at night, can he be expected to go back into the crate for around eight hours without playing? Ex: If he goes into his crate at 11 PM, then I take him out at 12, 1, 2 etc, is it okay for me to put him right back in after coming back inside? After coming back inside, he usually wants to play, but I don’t want him to get used to me waking up at night to entertain him.