Shih Tzus can hold their bladders for about one hour up to three hours depending on their age. A one-month-old Shih Tzu puppy can keep it for only an hour. As these breeds get a month older, they will be able to keep it for another extra hour.
Understanding the peeing behavior of a Shih Tzu is crucial to potty train your dog well.
For this reason, I’ve compiled a couple more related questions that you need to know about this topic.
Let’s get into it!
Contents
How often do Shih Tzus pee?
Shih Tzu breeds pee often, but it depends on their age. The younger these dogs are, the more frequent they pee.
Let’s say you have a one-month-old Shih Tzu pup. Generally, it’s bladder is still small enough, so it needs to pee for every hour.
As your pet gets two months older, it should pee every 2 hours. The same thing with three-month-old pups; they should pee every 3 hours.
As a general rule of thumb, always extend the time as they grow. Doing so would allow your pet’s bladder and bowel muscles to become stronger.
You can take your puppy outside and allow it to pee after waking up from napping or sleeping during the night.
It would be best if you also allowed it to pee 20 minutes after taking their meal and 20-30 minutes before their bedtime.
Last, it would be best to allow your pet to pee before and after every walking time.
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Do Shih Tzu have bladder problems?
Like any other pets and dog breeds, Shih Tzus can experience bladder problems.
Any dog breed can get a urinary tract infection. However, Shih Tzus and other similar species, they are prone to urinary tract stones.
According to AKC, our dogs experience similar symptoms with UTI or kidney stones like us.
Such bladder problems happen most in dogs ages seven years old and up.
Further, female canines are more prone to such problems than their male counterparts. The reason is that males have a longer urethra, making the bacteria take longer to travel upwards.
One common cause of such problems in dogs is bacteria. Most bacteria that enter through the urethral opening come upwards. Dogs that have a weak immune system are likely to suffer from such.
Accordingly, these problems should get attended to and solved immediately. Prolonged suffering can make matters worse for these animals.
Why does my Shih Tzu pee everywhere?
A Shih Tzu’s pee doesn’t mean emptying their bladder all the time. Sometimes, it can also mean they are doing some territorial marking.
Your Shih Tzu may be urinating in a specific area for one time, and then it may pee suddenly anywhere.
If your dog pees everywhere, it might mean he is marking your home. Here are the things you can observe to see if your dog pees to mark your home:
- Your pet only sprays urine and does not empty its bladder.
- Your pet does it in one or more spots inside the house.
- Your pet does it in vertical objects such as table legs and sides of the furniture.
If this incident occurs to your pet, you may address it by forcing some house rules and potty training your dog.
At the same time, there are products containing enzymes similar to those found in your dog’s pee.
Applying such to the areas your pet pees on will help prevent peeing there in the future.
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How long can dogs hold their pee overnight?
Dogs can hold their pee for 8 to 10 hours overnight, as long as they’re asleep.
Since it’s such a long time for dogs, it would be best to allow them to pee 20-30 minutes before bedtime.
Further, they would need to pee after waking up even from a nap or a long night’s sleep. By doing so, you can prevent peeing incidents during the night.
Another thing to do is to take them out, especially after a meal or a drink.
The frequency of their pee depends mostly on age. Thus, you should consider that factor if you’re training your pet.
While it’s useful to potty train your pet, forcing them to hold their pee for a very long time can be harmful to them.
For this reason, it would be best to train them in moderation and to allow them to pee frequently.
How long can a Shih Tzu be left alone?
Generally, Shih Tzus shouldn’t be alone without any company if they are nine months old or below.
However, it can’t be helped sometimes to leave them to do some work, go to school, and even run some errands or tasks.
For this reason, Shih Tzus of any age can be alone for 7-9 hours. Still, it’s not an ideal thing to do, especially to Shih Tzu pups.
For this reason, it would be best to make arrangements with someone to keep company for your pet.
If you have plans to leave your home for a day or two, the best way to solve this is to get someone to cover for you. Do so, especially if you can’t let your pet come along.
By having someone around, you wouldn’t worry about your pet’s food and its peeing routine.
Shih Tzus are the breeds meant to be your companion. For this reason, leaving them unattended and alone can be a bad idea for them.
Since they are companion pets, they may suffer from separation anxiety more than other pets.
For this reason, try your best to have someone to accompany your pet while you’re away.
Is your Shih Tzu’s hair not fluffy? Read this article to find out why!
Summary
Shih Tzus can hold their bladder for an hour at an early age, and it can increase as they grow older. Thus, a one-month-old should pee for every hour, and a two-month-old for every 2 hours.
Understanding how often they pee is useful, especially if you want to train your pet. Simultaneously, knowing when your pet is marking is essential to know the proper response to your pet’s action.
Resources
AKC’s article about UTI in dogs
Image Credits – Photos by Nikolay Tchaouchev and Maxime Agnelli on Unsplash
