The daily routine of your dog’s potty schedule should be a natural process and should neither stress you nor your dog.
If there are issues related to your dog’s potty process, there is always a chance that either your dog has some issues that are making it unable to potty correctly or it has some behavioral issues that are not making him potty when he goes outside.
I have seen many dog owners facing these kinds of issues with their dogs.
My “dog whines to go out but doesn’t potty”. This is a common complaint that i hear from many dog parents.
Don’t worry, this is a common issue faced by many dog parents. But why is this happening?
Why do the “dog whines to go out but doesn’t potty”?
What do you do when your dog whines to go outside always?
You might have all these questions in your mind.
This article provides you answers to all the above questions and provides you with a solution to your dog’s whining and potty issues.
Let us talk about your dog’s potty process
As i told you, your dog’s potty schedule should be a natural process and it should not worry either you or your dog.
A healthy adult dog usually needs 3 to 5 potty breaks in a day. I take my dog for its potty break thrice a day. And sometimes four times a day and these schedules are perfect and comfortable for both of us.
Every dog has some specific places or some specific smells that it gets associated with and decides to potty there. After the association, the dogs usually prefer to do it at the same place and in the same kind of environment.
Your dog also prefers to take a potty break usually after meals or after a long nap. All these things are usual and normal behaviors for your dog or for any dog.
When your dog whines to go out but doesn’t potty
There can be a variety of reasons why your dog whines to go out but don’t potty.
There can be health reasons, situational reasons, or behavioral reasons.
Let us talk about them one by one…
1. Health reasons
If your dog whines to go out but doesn’t potty, there is something you need to consider and rule out in the first place.
Is your dog’s digestive system and bowel movement healthy?
Or is it facing any kind of constipation or other issues that is making your dog’s pooping process difficult? Have a look at the Labrador digestive problems in this article.
Check if there are issues related to its diet that are causing difficulties for your dog to poop. Various other issues you need to consider and rule out in the first place are…
Urinary tract infections
If your dog has a UTI it might make him/her urinate urgently and more frequently. This might make your dog whine more asking for going out.
Your dog might even strain to urinate, you might notice your dog whining while peeing and may also notice a small amount of blood in its urine.
If this is the case, your dog might have the frequent urge to go out but doesn’t poop every time. It is better if you contact your vet to deal with this situation.
Issues like hip dysplasia and arthritis
Your dog might have the urge to poop, but issues like arthritis and hip dysplasia might make them scared of going out, walking to its poop place, and positioning itself to poop.
Many dog owners may not notice these kinds of issues as conditions like arthritis can be slow and progressive. Check if your loving dog is facing any such issue.
Urinary incontinence in older dogs
In older dogs, issues like urinary incontinence might create the urge to pee frequently. Hence it might whine frequently to go out.
Other health issues
Other health issues like diabetes or kidney problems, parasites and gastrointestinal issues, issues related to anal glands, and the presence of tumors can create the urge to poop in your dog, but it might be difficult for him to poop, as he goes outside.
So, whenever you face this issue of your dog whining to go out but if it doesn’t potty, it is very important to rule out all the health issues that might be causing this kind of behavior in your dog.
2. Situational reasons
There can be situational reasons that could cause this behavior in your dog.
Reasons can be many such as…
Weather
This issue happens with my dog whenever the weather outside is bad. I usually face this issue during the rainy season.
My dog won’t go to the bathroom outside when it rains. I faced this issue a lot especially when my dog is in its puppy stages.
This can be a reason why your dog whines to go out but doesn’t potty.
Making your dog habituated to rain and wet paws, or using good rain gear like this to cover your dog will help.
Using a command to potty can also be helpful as your dog’s brain gets conditioned to eliminate as soon as it hears the command word irrespective of the weather conditions.
Surface preference
Most dogs have a surface preference for potty. It remembers the smell and feel of the surface when it starts potty training and prefers to potty on the same surface type.
Some dogs may prefer the grass or some may prefer the mud or rocks. It differs from dog to dog, For example, my dog usually prefers to poop on the mud.
Hence if there is any change in the surface area when you take your dog out to potty, it may not prefer to potty on that surface.
Distractions
Distractions are a major reason why your dog might be exhibiting this kind of behavior.
When your dog comes out for a potty break, a lot of things come into the picture. For example, it might start sniffing and forgets to potty. Or it might get distracted by other dogs and forgets to potty. Or it might get distracted by other people in the surroundings and tries to play with them forgetting to potty.
Even this used to happen with my dog many times.
If this is the case, make sure that he doesn’t get distracted, stand in a single place, and do not allow your dog to move here and there towards new things or new people. This will work.
3. Behavioral reasons
Stress and anxiety
Various issues can induce stress and anxiety in your dog. Things like fireworks or any kind of loud sounds and other forms of bad experiences that your dog has previously faced could make pooping scary for your dog outdoors.
In that case, you need to consider implementing things that could reduce anxiety in your dog and ease him.
One of the main behavioral reasons is the wrong association with respect to potty breaks
If your dog constantly whines to go outside but does not potty, the main reason could be the wrong association.
Your dog figured out the way to go out and it starts whining whenever it feels like going out. It understood that whining will take her out.
This can be a big problem as your dog constantly whines whenever it wants entertainment, whenever it feels bored to go out or whenever it wants to explore outside surroundings. There are steps you could follow to get rid of this behavior completely…
1. Break the association
It is important to break the association of potty breaks with fun activities.
Your dog should not associate potty break with any of the exciting activities such as sniffing, playing, exploring, and watching and enjoying other people and other dogs.
Your dog constantly whines and asks for going out if it is allowed to play, sniff and explore during the potty break.
So break the association by taking your dog to potty on a particular spot and don’t interact with your dog, if your dog doesn’t potty or pee within a few minutes, bring him/her back.
2. Make it a boring trip
Your dog should understand that potty time is potty time and there will be no exciting activities during that time.
Make your dog’s potty trip a boring one, no fun walk, no sniffing around, no games, and no playing with other people and dogs.
Just take your dog to a spot, do not play or interact with him as i said, and bring her back in a few minutes, if it does not go to the potty.
3. Take your dog on more walks
This walking trip should be a fun trip and not a boring one.
Walking is not all about physical activity, your dog needs time to sniff its surroundings, explore and relax. This kind of mental stimulation truly relaxes your dog and makes it happy.
Even your dog needs recreation and you need to take her out, or else it gets bored and these issues of searching for entertainment arise during potty breaks.
Routine walks help a lot and if you take your dog out regularly, it might not ask you for taking you out during other times of the day.
I take my dog out for an evening walk or play and it usually does not ask for going out during the day.
4. Stick to a schedule
Taking your dog on a potty schedule would be really helpful.
I usually do not wait until my dog asks me to take me out to potty. I understood how often my dog needs to potty, and his timings and i stick to that. Hence sticking to a particular schedule, feeding your dog at particular times, and taking him out at a specified time, conditions your dog’s brain regarding his potty timings.
It can be early in the morning or late morning, evening after work hours, after the dinner break, or finally before you go to sleep. you can design the schedule depending on your dog’s and your convenience.
Take him out on a leash, go to a particular spot, wait for 5 or 10 minutes, and bring him back if he does not potty.
Train your dog’s mind in this way to avoid these kinds of problems.
5. Potty on the command
This can be another good technique to avoid issues related to your dog’s potty process.
It is good to use a command word such as “potty” or “go potty” while taking your dog out for potty breaks. Whenever you use the word, your dog understands that it is potty time and it associates the word with the process.
After that potty process, appreciate your dog with a reward. It understands that it has performed the process correctly.
This can also help your dog to go potty quickly as its brain is already conditioned to poop whenever you take him out and say the word.
