A very leaky Maltese

[joekenliz]

I have a 4 month old Maltese who pees about every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Sometimes even more frequently than that! He weighs 4.2 pounds and is expected to be about 6 1/2 to 7 pounds when he's fully grown. He can go from 11:00 PM to 7:15 AM every night, but during the day he's constantly ringing the bells on the door because he has to go out. As far as a crate is concerned, I keep it in the kitchen (the only room he's allowed in) and I keep the door open and he goes in frequently to nap during the day, but I'm SURE that if I closed the door and kept him "caged" he'd be hysterical. I feel like I blew my chance. I don't want to cause any problems as far as that's concerned because he's a really good, mellow dog with no barking issues (he's actually very quiet, thank goodness) and no separation issues. I realize he's pretty small with a small bladder but how much better will this get? Will he ever be able to hold it for 4 - 6 hours?? I was thinking of getting the Wizdog so that he could go inside when we're not here, but would that totally confuse him?? How do you teach him to ring the bells when we're here so that he can go outside but if we're not around to just use the Wizdog?? (btw, he has very few mistakes when we're around. He's pretty darn good about ringing the bells to let us know he needs to go out - except, of course, for today when he had 2 accidents!!! Very strange...) I got so used to my brother's Lab who can go all day without going out that I didn't even think about this issue with a small dog. My husband and I are retired and we're home a lot, but I'd like to know that we COULD someday go to a movie and dinner without coming home to pee on the floor.......

[Mattie]

At 4 months old he is still a baby and like human babies their bodies mature at different rates. It could also be that you haven't got the message across to him properly that he has to toilet outside every time. Before doing anything I would get him checked by a vet just in case it is a health problem. Once you have the all clear, I would take him back to the beginning and retrain him. Have a look at viewtopic.php?f=20&t=6125, it will tell you how to toilet train him, at his age I would take him outside every 45 minutes.

He can hold it during the night because like us, his body slows right down when asleep.

[joekenliz]

Thanks, Mattie. I read your topic article. He actually is really good about letting us know when he has to go out and I take him each and every time, even when I know it's just a ruse because he just wants to be outside. Yesterday, I have to say, was very unusual that he peed inside twice and never rang the bells (and I was right there with him in the kitchen). It might have something to do with the fact that it was the first day I put some vitamins in his food. But believe me, my husband and I have gone nowhere for the past month - we are very dedicated to his training.
I guess my question was more of how much better does it get for a small breed dog like a Maltese? At maturity, generally speaking, is a 4 hour hold out of the question?
And from reading your article I guess a WizDog would just totally confuse him!
I just want to see what the future holds........

[Mattie]

When he is mature he should be able to go 4 hours, there are some dogs that can't and like human males, dog males don't seem to be able to hold it like us females.

[laceygraves1995]

i suggest using the potty grass, its a matt with fake grass in it where the dogs can pee, and all you have to do to clean it is hose it off, it can also poo on it too so its better during the night or when your gone, this way you dont have to go out with it every hour or hour and a half for it to go to the potty, just clean the mat at the end of each day

[dontpugme]

i suggest using the potty grass, its a matt with fake grass in it where the dogs can pee, and all you have to do to clean it is hose it off, it can also poo on it too so its better during the night or when your gone, this way you dont have to go out with it every hour or hour and a half for it to go to the potty, just clean the mat at the end of each day

I think that the patch of grass encourages pooping inside the house. The link Mattie gave is very effective, and dedication is key.

[Mattie]

i suggest using the potty grass, its a matt with fake grass in it where the dogs can pee, and all you have to do to clean it is hose it off, it can also poo on it too so its better during the night or when your gone, this way you dont have to go out with it every hour or hour and a half for it to go to the potty, just clean the mat at the end of each day

This is an old thread, the pup was still maturing and should eventually be able to hold it longer. The owner only posted twice on this thread and nowhere else so I am assuming that she doesn't normally come on here to check if there are any more posts.