Expert: Angela Donald - 4/9/2010

Question
Hi Angela,
I am concerned that my 6 month old boxer is still having accidents in the house. He will hold it while he's in his crate for up to 5 hrs (I haven't tried any more than that yet), but when he's walking around and playing in the house, he goes to the door almost every hour or hr and a half to be let out and sometimes while he's walking around he'll just pee a little while he's walking. It's not that he's had so much water to drink or anything. It's hard to tell he's doing it until he's already done it and you can see his sprinkled trail in the carpet. He's gone a month without doing it and then he'll do it again. I talked to my vet and he said it seems behavioral because it seems to go away and come back. Still, even if he doesn't have accidents, he can only seem to hold it about an hr on avg while he's active. At my parents house, he'll go out and pee and come back inside and pee again like 15 min later. I asked another trainer and she said I probably inadvertently conditioned him to have to go so often, but she didn't suggest as to how to correct the problem. I'm just getting very frustrated. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Samantha

Answer
Hi Samantha,

The boxer puppy isn't harder to housetrain as most people claim, the problem arises because of a under developed bladder.The bladder muscles are weak and this contributes to the sprinkles you are seeing. He should grow out of it with proper training.The boxer puppy in general can hold their urine for about one hour per month of age, so about five-six hours is great at his age. It is best to put him on a daily routine and stick to it, same times out,same place to potty,same feeding schedule,etc. Anywhere he has had an accident needs to be thoroughly cleaned and the odor completely out. One of the best products for odor is called Zerodor found online. The puppy will use scent to determine where he will eliminate so that is the key to get the odor out or you are fighting a loosing battle. It is equally important not to scold the puppy for this type of accident as you will only be re-enforcing the behavior. Please go to my website and look under boxer articles for more information at www.hitowerboxers.com . Thank you for your question.

Angela Donald
Canine Behavior Consultant
Hi-Tower Boxers
www.hitowerboxers.com