Can my Lab hold in his bladder?
Puppies should be taken out at least once every two hours (or within a half hour after eating or drinking) and guided to the same spot where they can smell having relieved themselves before. Immediately after they “do their business,” they should be praised lavishly in a high-pitched, excited voice. Crate training does not speed up the housebreaking process: Puppies do not develop full bladder control before 6 months of age and are physically incapable of “holding it” for very long. Take your adult pooch out at least four times a day and allow him or her time to linger and smell the fire hydrants. If you can’t go home at lunchtime, enlist the help of a neighbor or professional dog-walker. Crating has recently become a popular practice often used on adult dogs by people who say that they are protecting their dogs. Often, however, it will turn out that the true reason for crating is to protect furniture or simply because it’s convenient. But this practice deprives dogs of basic necessiti
