Potty schedule for my new dog (barking, housebreak, train, surgery)

[Townandcountrygal]

We adopted a 2yr old female from the shelter last week. She's a 40 lb. mixed breed we named "Lola". Lola is recovering from her spay surgery 3 days ago. I had been taking her outside to potty about every 4 hours. At night she's crated for about 10 hours with no accidents. When we went out for 2 hours today, she was crated. Came home, no accident in crate so we gave her another 2 hours before taking her out; meanwhile I had to leave the house. Lola had peed a huge puddle (on the wood floor--arrgghh) while I was gone but I did not scold her. (I blame my sig. other who as asleep on the couch). Two questions: how long should a 2 yr old be able to go without having to go outside? How do you train a dog to tell you they have to go out? ie., bark at the door.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by Townandcountrygal

We adopted a 2yr old female from the shelter last week.
She's a 40 lb. mixed breed we named "Lola".
Lola is recovering from her spay surgery 3 days ago.

I had been taking her outside to potty about every 4 hours.

At night she's crated for about 10 hours with no accidents.
When we went out for 2 hours today, she was crated.

Came home, no accident in crate so we gave her another 2 hours before taking her out;
meanwhile I had to leave the house. Lola had peed a huge puddle

but I did not scold her. (I blame my sig. other who as asleep on the couch).

I'd blame you both.

how long should a 2 yr old be able to go without having to go outside?

Every dog is different and especially re-home adoptions so the burden is on YOU to learn these things by observing her.
But it could take several months to be fully acclimated to each other.

How do you train a dog to tell you they have to go out?

Being consistent about the how/when/where you take them out.
Just like for a puppy

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by Townandcountrygal

We adopted a 2yr old female from the shelter last week. She's a 40 lb. mixed breed we named "Lola". Lola is recovering from her spay surgery 3 days ago. I had been taking her outside to potty about every 4 hours. At night she's crated for about 10 hours with no accidents. When we went out for 2 hours today, she was crated. Came home, no accident in crate so we gave her another 2 hours before taking her out; meanwhile I had to leave the house. Lola had peed a huge puddle (on the wood floor--arrgghh) while I was gone but I did not scold her. (I blame my sig. other who as asleep on the couch). Two questions: how long should a 2 yr old be able to go without having to go outside? How do you train a dog to tell you they have to go out? ie., bark at the door.

From what I understand, she should be able to hold it that long, so I don't really think that's the problem. It's more likely that she's still adjusting to a new home and is recovering from surgery and maybe isn't quite sure what's expected of her yet. I've been told that you should take a dog out (when she's still in training, at least) after every nap. If she'd been in her crate basically inactive, you should probably have taken her out immediately after letting her out of the crate. Otherwise, you're probably doing just fine. It'll take some time. I'm still working on housebreaking my two dogs and it's a pretty time-consuming process, involving a lot of guesswork on your part.

[gouligann]

We have two dogs, one coming up to 6 and the other coming up to 2. They both hold it all through the night with no problems.

We still crate the 2 year old when we go out, and even if I have been gone only one or two hours through the day, I take them both out when I get home.

They are like, us. Most people don't need to get up through the night to go, but go often through the day.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Right after surgery, dogs have to pee more . They are still processing out the anesthetic and it is also possible that the bladder got bruised.

Always when you have been away from home, the dog goes out whenever you get home. No matter what length of time you were gone. You get home, the dog is excited to see you. Excited dogs sometimes need to pee.

[simplepeace]

Barking, or bells makes me crazy personally (mostly I expect because all the dogs that I know personally that have them bark, or ring them way to often). I feel like they really are saying come do my bidding! the people I know that use them don't focus well (or rather they are so fucused on something else they would miss clues), so the bells/ bark are a godsend to them.

I prefer that I tell them when we go out. For a New dog pretty much on the hour day one, every 2 hours on day 2, every 3 hours day 3. More or less.

Once the dog knows I will take them out they can relax instead of trying to figure out the next move. Pardon the pun!

When they come out of the crate, they go outside period (at least at first, and normally always).

And hey when we go to someone else house I do the same thing out every hour, etc... (while watching like a hawk).

If my dogs give me "the look" in the house I know they either need to barf or can't wait to potty I do RUN to do their bidding
When I have to have a pet sitter I just tell them the main 5 times of day that my dogs go out, that has worked well.

Originally Posted by Townandcountrygal

We adopted a 2yr old female from the shelter last week. She's a 40 lb. mixed breed we named "Lola". Lola is recovering from her spay surgery 3 days ago. I had been taking her outside to potty about every 4 hours. At night she's crated for about 10 hours with no accidents. When we went out for 2 hours today, she was crated. Came home, no accident in crate so we gave her another 2 hours before taking her out; meanwhile I had to leave the house. Lola had peed a huge puddle (on the wood floor--arrgghh) while I was gone but I did not scold her. (I blame my sig. other who as asleep on the couch). Two questions: how long should a 2 yr old be able to go without having to go outside? How do you train a dog to tell you they have to go out? ie., bark at the door.

[txdemo]

I can say 10 hours is too long. How would you like to hold it for 10 hours?

[Mikala43]

I don't understand that you came home, and decided not to let her out? Maybe I am reading it wrong?