As a fur parent, chances are that you’ve experienced peeing mishaps.
Perhaps, the deed was done on your favorite furniture or your newly bought carpet. It even took you many scrubs to remove the scent.
If you’re still having trouble potty training your pet, it is best to start by knowing your dog and his urination frequency.
How Often Do Dogs Need to Pee?
Just like with humans, there is no absolute and definite frequency of how often a dog pees. Although, generally you should expect your canine to pee 3-5 times daily. This is considering that they have to relieve themselves at least every 8 to 12 hours.
Factors Affecting The Frequency of Your Dog’s Peeing
Age and Breed
In estimating how often your dog will pee, consider his breed.
If he belongs to a small breed, he will pee more frequently. They have smaller-sized bladders and therefore, will pee more.
If you have a Shih Tzu at home, expect that he will urinate more often especially if he’s drinking a lot of water.
Age also a crucial factor affecting pee frequency.
Pups who are still trying to learn how to control their peeing urges may relieve themselves more than usual.
You may have heard of stories about frequent urinating in older people. The same case applies to older dogs who are experiencing incontinence.
Older dogs who are taking medications may also pee more often. The same is true if they’re experiencing health conditions like diabetes.
In these cases, it might be best to bring them outside frequently so they can relieve themselves.
If you feel you don’t have enough time to spare for this method, you can have your dog wear diapers to prevent any mess.
Water consumption
Of course, if your dog is a heavy water-drinker, expect frequent urination.
If your fur baby is drinking more water than usual, it might be best to talk with your vet. This could signal an underlying condition that is making him extremely thirsty.
Signs that your dog will go no. 1
Be on a vigilant lookout for signals that your dog wants to pee. This way, you could avoid pee mishaps.
Below are the most common cues:
- Pacing and inability to sit still
- Crying or whining
- Barking
- Sniffing around
- Appearing restless
- Standing near the door
Holding pee for too long
As a pet owner, you should give your dog enough opportunity to urinate a minimum of three times every day.
A dog that is forced to hold it in for too long has a high risk of urinary tract infections, bladder infections, and/or kidney problems.
Bladder stones have a high chance of forming inside your dog if he holds his bladder for long periods. The presence of these can make the urine bloody and may cause pain while peeing.
Because of the pain, your dog might also hold the urination stance longer.
If not, it might make him avoid eliminating at all so as not o experience discomfort. However, this just prolongs the problem.
Aside from bladder, you also have to watch out for incontinence. Avoiding urination for long periods of time can lead to it.
Your dog will have to strain harder just to pee. It might even make him unable to completely empty his bladder, or hold his bladder at all.
Addressing excessive peeing
If you’re worried about too much peeing, the first thing you have to do is keep track of their urinating schedule.
Assess also his behavior.
Is he showing signs of discomfort like whining? Is he making drops or puddles of pee?
Do consider that bladder control concerns are not common in older dogs and large breed dogs.
You might also want to watch out for the weight of your dog. Overweight dogs tend to have difficulty regulating their pee.
When this happens, your buddy will be at risk of urinary tract infections.
If you suspect that your dog pees too much and too often, consult with your vet.
With puppies, they are likely to pee within fifteen minutes of drinking. Be sure to bring them outside hourly during the day.
Observe their habits too. After you notice your pup drinking water, try to take him out within 10 minutes.
Walk with him until he relieves himself. Doing so is the best way to train your little doggo so he can learn to associate peeing with being outside.
When it comes to dealing with older dogs, the best thing you can do is to be patient with them. This is not disobedience on their part.
It might be brought about by their inability to remember to go outside when they want to pee. To address this, make sure that you let them outside frequently.
Generally, senior dogs need to do their business every 4-6 hours. Also, observe their water intake.
If you are unable to look out after them when you go out for trips, give them pee pads.
Or, you might want to consider installing a doggy door in the backyard so they can go out whenever they feel like peeing.
Conclusion
While we can go straight to the comfort room, this might not always be the case for pets.
If not potty trained properly, your dog might wreak havoc on your furniture or plants with his pee.
To avoid this, make sure that you are giving him opportunities to relieve himself.
If away from home, make sure that someone will be looking out for him.
Or better yet, you can use training pads. Just make sure to not let the pads stay on for too long because otherwise, your dog might develop skin irritation.
Just like with their hoomans, canines have to eliminate toxins in their body regularly.
The answer to the question of how often they will do this mainly depends on how well you know your pet.
Once you get used to his cues, it’s easier for you to tell if your pup’s wanting to pee and merely wanting to go outside.