12 week has held it for 8 hours! Rather than toilet outside :-o

[NickiFury]

I'm stumped.

I've got him on a long lead so I can keep him on sight on the house, every time he looks like he's about to go, I take him outside. He meanders about and doesn't go but I know he needs to.

What next? I'm feeling rather desperate.

Oh and he's eaten two meals and drunk much water since he last went, which was at just past 12 pm.

You have no choice but to have a standoff I'm afraid! Get wrapped up and go out and don't budge until he's been.

What breed have you got? My dachshund is terrible for this. He's 10 months and still would go inside given the opportunity, he's getting better but especially if the weather is crap, it's an effort. I have to take him out regularly. You'll get into a routine.

He's a Scottish Terrier. He finally went at half 8 and so it begins again as he hasn't gone before bed. I've just crated him anyway and will hope for the best :-/ I just didn't think it was possible for them to hold it this long at that age!

Are you taking him out on grass or a hard surface? Lots of pups won't pee on a hard surface because it splatters!

Please keep trying. If he holds wee too long you'll end up with a really poorly dog!

Both grass and paved area questionable. I couldn't sleep for worrying about it so got up at 2.40 to try again - didn't go. Got up again at 4 - didn't go, got up now and he finally went.

What could happen health wise, if he keeps this up? And what should I do?! Should I just go back to puppy pads for a bit?

I've had terriers before, so am aware of how they can be . Just never come across one who could hold it so staunchly! Funny thing is once he's decided to go, he goes immediately and without any obvious anxiety around it.

I wouldn't use pads personally as it teaches them it's ok to go indoors so can be confusing.

When we got our dog (young adult so bigger bladder, but still!) she did not want to toilet in our garden. I think she saw it as a continuation of the house and was not at all happy about it. We used to walk her several times a day so she would go then, but in the end we decided to try and crack it and get her to use the garden as it wasn't always convenient to walk her at 11pm!

It was an enormous standoff initially, she actually managed to hold it for 30 hours at one point and I was worried she'd get ill. However, it worked and she now happily goes in the garden whenever she's told.

The other things that helped were teaching a command word for going and only feeding her after she'd been. She races out to go now as she knows it means dinner afterwards!

See that's what I thought George. Move straight to outdoors rather than confuse the issue......

I think it's just a case of persevering. We tried with out dog and then gave up a few times, which in hindsight was the wrong thing to do as I was just teaching her to hold it and I'd give in! Ultimately now she knows go quickly and you get fed! I think also she accepts now the garden is an OK place to go.

If you've been using the pads you can put one down outside and gradually make it smaller as pup learns. A bite of something tasty after a successful wee will help to speed the process!

Well it's been a stressful couple of days but I have persevered and he's going outside now. I basically took him out about forty times a day and crated him in between. If he wasn't crated he was on a lead right where I could see him. He held it and held it the first two days and then finally gave in. I know it's early days but fingers crossed.....

Sounds a bit like what I did! Hopefully all going well now.