Quote:
Originally Posted by Nishasmom  Maybe I am a softy  . I don't like knowing that my baby has to hold her bladder till morning  . |
The sphyncter muscles are developed quite well by 12 weeks of age. By 4 mos of age, a pup is now a young dog and very much capable of holding it all night long, as long as he/she is in good health. I'm not talking about sleeping in till noon on a Saturday morning all night long, but 6-8 hours is very do-able.
As long as the young dog's feeding schedule is consistent, and he/she is taken out right before you retire, all should be fine.
A 4 1/2 mos dog is doing this for one of two reasons:
It has it's owner's number, or it has a bladder/kidney issue. (UTI, for instance)
Bella Rose, if your pup is urinating a lot, (needs to go, has little output usually or squats and can't go), or if you have other reason to suspect your pup may have a UTI (very common for young females), then get her to the veterinarian to rule this out.
Barring any physical abnormality, perhaps you might rethink who is telling who what to do. Behaviors like this tend to grow into more behaviors like this, and are very self rewarding for the dog; think about you ringing a bell for service, and your own personal butler runs each and every time to your beck and call, and not for any particular reason other than you enjoy the company! You might ring that bell more often!.
Have you ever gone to formal obedience training? Perhaps finding a puppy class with an instructor who teaches operant conditioning techniques, dog learning theory, and basic canine behavior would be worth looking into.