If someone made me go 10 hours without urinating I think I would explode. I can’t even make it thru the nite without getting up to go. So how is it my dogs can go 10 hours when I am at work with no problem? They don’t even rush to go when I walk in the door. The little one doesnt drink much, but the lab drinks like crazy - I must fill his water bowl up 3 times a day. Is the bladder control just something they get used to? Could I train myself the same way?
BTW, they never go in the house.
Have you checked your plant life?
Maybe he’s pissing in the toilet. I firmly believe that when we leave dogs alone they humanize. The dog stands erect on two legs, smokes cigars, watches animal planet, steals one sock from a pair in your dirty clothing basket, etc…
Are you sure they don’t go in the house? How are your house plants doing? 
j/k
My dogs could go for hours upon hours without going. Super doggie bladders. Even when momma dog - Kela - got to be 11 y.o. she could go for ages before asking to go outside.
My dogs were wonders at holding it too - but now that they’re older (all over 10), they need to be let out sooner. I can’t let them go for over 4-5 hours now. I think that once they know your routine, they know not to guzzle as much water. I notice that if I’m gone for awhile, they will drink fully upon my return home.
(G) My
© Dog
(E) Has
(A) Pee!
ArchiveGuy, it makes me happy to know someone understood my little play on words 
Darlin’, with the number of typos that get done around this place, a play on words can appear a typo.
Care to enlighten the no-so-enlightned as to your play on words?
Oh, and welcome to the boards 
Your lab doesn’t pee in the house? Can I bring Ernie around for lessons? He’s a 1 1/2 yr old choc lab that I can’t seem to housebreak, although lately he’s been getting better. (Having typed that, I’m sure I’ll go home to a puddle…)
WTF???
My dog has fleas
So does Louise
It makes me sneeze
To think of fleas
Lou-eeeze]
That was the mnemonic for tuning the ukelalie(sp?).
ah, Gotcha ya!
thanx
Casey,
What steps are you taking to housetrain Ernie? Are you crate-training, or otherwise confining him? How long is he left alone? What do you feed him? Has he been in to the vet recently?
Peace,
~mixie
:o [sup]Have you sniffed the corners of couches and chairs as well as the door jams? A little here, a little there adds up.[/sup]
My dog has the amazing ability to go without urinating for long periods of time as well. I’m grateful for it. Since we have hardwood floors, any “mistakes” she made would be readily apparent, and I’ve never smelled urine on any of our furniture.
The only mistake she has ever made was when she had an upset stomach. Not fun to clean up, but at least she was polite enough to go down into the basement and do it on the cement floor.
We let him out first thing in the AM (around 6:30), mid afternoon if I come home for lunch, 4:30ish when the wife gets home (though that’s just so she can get the boy settled from day care), after dinner (he usually shits then, too), and then again before bed (10:30-11:00). We’ve been doing this since we got him as a pup, so he knows the schedule. He is confined to the kitchen, as it has linoleum floors, but we let him out only if we’re sure he has eliminated outside. Alot of times he’ll hang out in the basement with me, and aside from “marking his turf” in the beginning, he’s pretty good down there. Living room is only if I’m alone & lonely. Once he starts sniffing around, though, outside he goes. He’s alone during the week from about 8-4:30 if I don’t get home for lunch. He eats Dads Chunx. He’s good as far as vet goes, and is in excellent health.
Overall, he’s pretty good and will bark or growl if he needs to go (he’s really getting better at that, and gets praise and a treat whenever that happens). His accidents are only every now and then, but if he has one today, he’ll likely have one tomorrow as well. I don’t rub his face in it or anything, and I’ve been told that unless I see him do it, I can’t really punish him. One time I did see him start peeing, so I rapped his nose and he stopped until I got him outside, then he forgot what he was doing and just barked. I’ve learned that while Labs are generally pretty intelligent, they do have quite a bit of stupid in them sometimes.
He’s a really good dog, but I want to stop the accidents so he can come out into carpeted rooms more often.
Its the way one supposedly tunes a soprano ukelele. GCEA although in reality yu can say anything in the right tone, “my dog has fleas” almost, sorta approximates it naturally.
-PSM
What’s Dads Chunx? Do you know the top three or four ingredients, offhand? Is it a food you buy at the grocery store, or Wal-Mart, or a pet/feed store?
**
They’re right about the “don’t punish him unless you catch him doing it” thing. For example, imagine youre a dog. Your person comes home, and you’re lounging around, staring out the window and occasionally licking your butt. Person sees a puddle of pee, calls you over, and whacks you upside the head when you get there. You’ve just been punished for coming when called. Anyone who tells you “my dog knows when he’s been bad, because he acts guilty when I come home” clearly knows little about animal behavior. Your (general “your”) dog isn’t “feeling guilty” because he knows has done something wrong, he’s afraid of getting smacked upside the head or yelled at for an indiscernable reason. Anyway, it’s good advice.
Negative reinforcement when you catch him in the act is generally beneficial. Timing is crucial when working with dogs. If it happens again, say loudly, clearly, and firmly “NO POTTY”–then hustle him outside, and stand there and wait until he pees, even if it takes twenty minutes. Praise him like crazy when he does. Every time you take him out for potty, use a command, like “go potty!” or, you know, whatever. You could say anything you want, he doesn’t know the difference. Just use the same word/phrase each time. Praise him like crazy when he goes.
Now for in the house. Your schedule is a good one, as long as you are consistent about coming home midway through the day. If you can’t make it, it’s a good idea (translate: very neccessary at this stage) to have a neighbor kid or dog walking service to come by and let him out once halfway through the day. I’m always amused when people tell me they have a puppy who’s left for eight or ten hours alone, free-roaming the house (or confined to one room) and “why won’t he stop peeing, damnit?!”
Anyway, my suggestion would be to crate him when you are gone. Crates are really really great tools if you use them correctly. This doesn’t mean you should leave the dog shut in a box for eight or ten hours at a time without a pee break. This also doesn’t mean you should leave the dog in the crate 24 hours a day, except when you take him out to go pee. Again, crates are excellent tools when used correctly, but sometimes are used as cheap cop-out neglect aides. This is NOT what I’m advocating.
Make sure it is a crate large enough for him to stand up, turn around, and lie down in comfortably, but not so large he can pee in one corner and sleep in the other. I tend to prefer solid sided, plastic, Vari-Kennel style crates, rather than open wire Midwest type crates for house training. They take advantage of the denning instinct, and dogs tend to feel more comfortable and secure when the crate is mostly enclosed. If you feed in the morning, feed him first thing, a very light meal and water. Wait fifteen or twenty minutes, then take him out to go pee (“go potty! good boy!”) and crate him before leaving. Come home, take him out to pee and for a few minutes of play/pets/loves, then crate him before you leave. Again, you DO NOT want to leave him in the crate so long he gets into the habit of peeing and lying down in it. You have NO idea how hard it is to break a habit like a loss of toilet inhibition. The goal is to take advantage of the natural adversion to peeing and pooping in the den area so you can supervise and direct when and where he goes to the bathroom–and praise him when he gets it right. At the moment, he has no idea what he is doing is wrong. He’s got to pee, no one is home, what’s the problem with going in the corner of the kitchen? You said he lets you know when he has to go when you’re home–so obviously he makes the connection that you want him to go outside, but at the moment I doubt he realizes you really don’t want him to go inside. He sees it as “well, given the option I’ll ask to go out, but if that’s not possible, I’ll just pee over there”.
Ugh, sorry this is so long. I’m almost done, promise.
Now, when you are home, supervise the dog at ALL times. I mean it. Keep him in the room with you where you can keep track of what he’s doing. You’re not going to get him house trained if he’s shut in the kitchen, peeing in the corner, while you’re in the living room. If neccessary, do the umbilical cord thing. Get a ten foot training lead, and attach it to your belt. Keep the dog by you all the time. He’ll appreciate the attention, and you can keep a very good watch on him.
Unless he’s got some underlying health problem, I can almost guarantee this will work–if you’re dilligent. But ya gotta be dilligent.
Good luck!
Peace,
~mixie
I almost forgot to mention–don’t leave food or water in the crate with him, just a good quality, safe chew toy; a Kong with some peanut butter smeared around the inside is great for this purpose. Labs are very mouthy dogs, but generally are not very destructive chewers. Even still, steer clear of cow hooves, bleached bones, Nylabones (when unsupervised), rope toys (when unsupervised) or anything else that may be dangerous.
Peace,
~mixie
Cheers psychomonkey! Learn summat new every day dontcha?
Welcome to the SDMB
One of mine is a chocolate lab as well, the other is a peke-a-poo.
They are 5 and 8 respectively. I crate trained them both and it worked wonderfully. They weren’t out of the crates 24-7 untill they were about 9 months old, and between them both, have had maybe 5 accidents in the house.
They have thrown up in the house quite a few times thought. EWWWW