# Evening potty training



## corinnecrow (Jun 23, 2013)

We have a 13 week female GSD. She has virtually no accidents during the day; has always slept through the night (about 8 hours). During the day we take her out every two hours, and she does her business during those trips. In the evening, everyone is home. We train her, she gets a lot of attention, she plays around... and she has accidents. The accidents seem to be increasing. There is absolutely zero sign that she has to go. She is walking right next to us and goes. We yell no, no to interrupt her, scoop her up and bring her spot and praise her if she goes again (no disciplining). I have figured out that she drinks more during the evening and she pees due to excitement. My predicament is: 1) do I crate her during the evening to avoid all accidents - my concern is that she will sleep in the evening and not at night and will become a handful due to no interaction with the family; or 2) do I just take her EVERY 15 minutes to avoid accident. For either version how long do I have to do that to get a habit going? Can I take her water away after 6-7 PM? Our dog is low weight and we have trouble getting her to eat so we've been lienent with food and water intake times. Our dog has not shown any signs of wanting to tell us that she has to go.


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## pyratemom (Jan 10, 2011)

Sounds like her more active times are when she is forgetting she is supposed to go out. Just like a little child when potty training -when they are playing they forget they have to go and wait too long. I would suggest limiting the water intake after 7 or so. Take the puppy out in the evening and play outside until it goes potty outside. Always praise when the pup goes outside, even if it's just a little bit. You mentioned that the pup will come right next to you inside and pee - could be you are either missing her cue to you or it may be excitement or submissive peeing. Either way, taking her outside now while the weather isn't too cold and playing outside are important. She will learn to go outside if you are consistent. You mention a regular schedule of out every two hours during the day but does that continue in the evening. I would suggest an outside time before play time if you can't do playtime outside. Once the pup goes then play some more. You are correct in the no punishment thing. This will work, you just have to keep trying.


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