# Appropriate time to hold potty for puppy age?



## pancake (Oct 2, 2012)

9 week old puppy, how long should she be able to hold her pee? I have been religiously letting her out every 1.5 hours (at most 2 hours) and sometimes 40min to 1 hour all day. How long before she can hold it longer? It is extremely draining. 
She cries when she has to go potty but I haven't tested it and I certainly don't want her to go in her crate and make a habit of doing that. Going potty in her crate even once would be such a huge set back. Her crate is big (full 40" size) but she hasn't gone potty in there because I never let it happen. It would certainly help if I can crate her for 3 hours even or even 2.5 hours to get work done or some sleep. 


I've never crated her all night. 

At what age should I start up-ing the time in the crate (at one time)? I don't have a divider for the crate so I'm worried she might end up going in the other end of the crate.
She will be 10 weeks old this coming Sunday.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

at 9 weeks old i took my out every hour or so. we first
came home (at 9 weeks old) he was every 15 minutes.
i slowly worked up to a hour. over night at 9 weeks old
he was out every 2 hours. i remember from 4 months to
8 months old he use to wake one of us up at 4:00 am
to go out. he was never refused. just after 8 months
he slept through the night. i think potty training
depends on the dog. being inconvenienced is a major
part of owning a dog but it becomes routine so it goes
unnoticed.


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## Peter. (Aug 22, 2012)

I also have a 9 week old puppy, and yeah we're probably taking him out every hour or so just to completely avoid accidents.. The first night we had him, I took him outside every time he woke up (in his crate).. which ended up being every hour. The second night it was every two hours. Within a week he's only waking up once in the middle of the night.. but is also ready to get up for good around 5-6am.

Just my experience so far, I'm sure every pup is different, and I'm sure they will be able to hold it longer as they get older. Baby steps


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## Mandy L. (Jun 12, 2012)

What I read at 11wks their bladders get bigger. When Deaven turned 12wks he would hold it all night. Well 11-5am


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## SukiGirl (Aug 31, 2012)

I always subscribed to the theory that a puppy can/should only be able to hold their bladders for hours based on their age. For example, at 4 months, a puppy should be able to hold their pee for about 4 hours (that is if they are in the crate/crate trained). Suki will be a year old this month, and she can go a whole work day without a tinkle and no accidents in the house. You really have to work up to it. 

But you really should have a smaller crate right now, or buy the divider for your current crate. As you start testing the puppy's limits with bladder control, you are risking the puppy going potty in one corner of the crate and sleeping in the other corner. The puppy should only have enough room in the crate to stand up, turn around and lay down. Once a puppy starts soiling in the crate, it is very hard and frustrating to get them to stop.


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

My border collie puppy (15 weeks now) was sleeping through the night at 9 weeks with no accidents for 8-10 hours. Now, he can hold it in his crate for over 4 during the day, but I'm not sure really how long. 

When he's loose in the house he can hold it for 2-3 hours, but he goes out every half hour while we're at the park drinking and playing rough. 

I'd try crating her through the night by all means. If she has an accident, just cut back the time or set an alarm to take her out in the middle of the night. 

I have not found a hard time getting a dog to stop pottying in the crate if they aren't a shelter dog. My puppy used to have accidents in his crate all the time, but as he aged and I paid more attention to how long he could stay in there without going and he started letting me know, he stopped. For the last 2 or 3 weeks, there have been zero accidents in the crate.


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