# How often to take outside potty



## trkl

For those of you that have adult dogs, how often do they go out to do their business?

Lacey is about 20 weeks old and right now is being trained to go on the pad, she seems to need to pee a _lot! _ every 30 min or so, she poops at least 4-5 times a day. I just don't have the time to take her out that much. So we are doing the pads right now but I am hoping to train her outside one day. 
She's crated at night and for the past week didn't have any accidents in the crate so I know she can hold it at least 5-6 hours. 
Am I overfeeding her? I always have food and water available because she's so tiny (3lb) and a picky eater. 

My question is how whe fully grown how often do your maltese have to go?


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## jmm

Playing pups can go up to every 15 minutes. Very normal. When they are calm/resting/crated, they should be able to go their age in months plus one. So a 3 month old pup can go 4 hours. 

The frequent stool is likely because she is not fed distinct meals.


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## LolasMom33

Lola has been difficult to potty train as well. She is now 8 months and she is doing much better with it, but we haven't been able to eliminate the potty pad completely. She is very good with the pad and has been for a long time now. From the beginning, the vet recommended feeding her at set times and not to worry about under-eating because if she is hungry she will eat and she'll learn fast that if she doesn't eat when the food is out she will have to wait awhile until the next feeding. That was working for a while, but then she started going again inside right after going potty outside. She loves being outside and going potty out there, but I guess she likes to smell it on the pad inside as well! I don't know if this is because we didn't get rid of the pad quick enough or what! I was concerned that maybe she had a bladder issue so I took her to the vet, but there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her. 

She does, however, prefer to eliminate (bm) outside. She tries to let us know by getting really riled up jumping of the walls and sometimes mouthing us. She just kind of goes crazy. I just bought a bell the other day and am going to start bell training her. Ringing it every time we take her out to potty and give her access to it so she can learn to ring it herself when she needs to go out. A cousin of mine recommended this and her Maltese took to it right away! Doing research, I found that this is an effective method for a lot of dogs. She is going to be spayed soon so although starting this now, I don't know how rigorous the bell training will be until after she has recovered, but I'll keep you posted to let you know how it works. 

To more directly answer your question though, Lola generally has to potty anywhere between 10-30 minutes after drinking and eliminate 20-80 minutes after eating, but can be very unpredictable at times. This is when she isn't crated. Our living situation has Lola being alone to a minimum; there is usually someone home with her throughout the day, as a result she isn't often crated anymore. Unfortunately, not everyone takes her training seriously enough though! Additionally, I don't trust some of them (roommates) taking her outside by themselves! 

I know it can be difficult to train when you’re not able to be there with her all day to take her out, but I would suggest feeding her 2-3 set times everyday. And you might want to consider trying something like bell training. Make it exciting to go outside to potty. However, if you still find that Lacey is going a lot even with the set feeding times, I would take her to the vet just to be sure that everything is working right. Good luck!


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## camfan

I remember when Ollie was a pup he peed/pooped that often as well. It gets better as they get older. He's almost 3 now and goes pee maybe 3x's per day and poops every 12 hours--7 am-ish and 7 pm-ish.


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## LJSquishy

It's amazing how often puppies can go potty, isn't it? lol

Just as JMM said, playing/napping/eating puppies can have the urge to go as often as every 15 minutes sometimes. Lacey is about 5 months old, and is the same age as Preston -- I started outdoor training Preston the day I brought him home (he was started on pads at the breeder's house) and I would take him out every 30 minutes...every single time he went outside, he would pee and/or poop. I don't take him out that often anymore, but he still goes potty every single time outside.

To be honest, if you are planning on outdoor training Lacey, I think you should start doing it now. The reason why she may potty so much on the pads is because she knows she never has to hold it. If she was only allowed to go outdoors, she would be learning to hold her bladder/bowels until she was outside. Does that make sense?  lol That is just my opinion, but I think if you want her to be trained a certain way in the long run, it's best to start from the beginning if possible.

London is almost 2, and I take her out potty every 3hrs or so (sometimes more, sometimes less)...but I am a housewife so I'm able to let her out more often than some people I suppose. If no one's home, both London & Preston are put in their crates and they never potty in there. London has peed a couple of times in her crate, but it was because she really had to go badly. Sometimes it's hard to get her to go potty right before we leave...she can sense that we're going somewhere. lol


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## lorraine

We are a bit betwixt and between here. My pups are largely outdoor trained and I always let them out before I leave the house and last thing at night... on a promise of a treat if they perform. However, I am a SAHM so when I had the pup I could take him out every 30 minutes or so... didn't do too much to help his weight though lol.

At night, however, there are always pee pads. This is because the oldest cannot always hold it all night. So... if she 'breaks in' a pad like as not one of the others will follow suit


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## CrystalAndZoe

QUOTE (LJSquishy @ Aug 31 2009, 05:10 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=824551


> It's amazing how often puppies can go potty, isn't it? lol
> 
> Just as JMM said, playing/napping/eating puppies can have the urge to go as often as every 15 minutes sometimes. Lacey is about 5 months old, and is the same age as Preston -- I started outdoor training Preston the day I brought him home (he was started on pads at the breeder's house) and I would take him out every 30 minutes...every single time he went outside, he would pee and/or poop. I don't take him out that often anymore, but he still goes potty every single time outside.
> 
> To be honest, if you are planning on outdoor training Lacey, I think you should start doing it now. The reason why she may potty so much on the pads is because she knows she never has to hold it. If she was only allowed to go outdoors, she would be learning to hold her bladder/bowels until she was outside. Does that make sense?  lol That is just my opinion, but I think if you want her to be trained a certain way in the long run, it's best to start from the beginning if possible.
> 
> London is almost 2, and I take her out potty every 3hrs or so (sometimes more, sometimes less)...but I am a housewife so I'm able to let her out more often than some people I suppose. If no one's home, both London & Preston are put in their crates and they never potty in there. London has peed a couple of times in her crate, but it was because she really had to go badly. Sometimes it's hard to get her to go potty right before we leave...she can sense that we're going somewhere. lol[/B]


I agree about learning to hold their bladder/bowls with learning to go outside. Most fluffs who are housetrained to go outside only piddle 3 or 4 times a day and poop once or twice a day. But this only happens as they get a little older and more trustworthy in their training. So many people I know who piddle pad train say their fluffs piddle every 1-2 hours and poop tiny poops several times a day.


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