I'm just curious here... not really planning on changing anything, just looking for information.

Currently I take Trink out to go potty before I leave for work, come back at lunch to let her out (sometimes she goes, sometimes she just sunbathes for a while), when I get home from work, and before bed. And occasional other random times, depending on if she seems to need to go. This works reasonably well, but I am wondering how long an adult dog can reasonably be asked to not go to the bathroom, mostly in case I need to run an errand on lunch or on the way home.

I would say longer than 6 or 7 hours is too long for to leave your dog where it can't go to the bathroom. After 6 or 7 hours the dog will probably need to go, if not badly. I would suggest finding someone to come and let your dog out if you'll be gone longer than that.

Much of it depends on the dog's activity level. This is one big advantage of the crate. It is hard to be active in a crate that only has enough room to stretch out in. When I have had to leave 7 week olds in the crate 4-5 hours, usually they were OK. So far, Xanthe, at 7 weeks, is making it over night. I discourage people from leaving a dog more that 4-5 hours, but many people leave the dog all day, even loose in the house, and the dog seems to manage.

Froggy, it is not so much if the dog can hold it as it is the schedule you now have her on. She is accustomed to doing her business during your lunch hour. An adult dog has control over his/her bladder & bowels and the odd time that you can't come home in the middle of the day shouldn't be an issue for Trink at her age. Think in terms of how long can the dog hold it overnight. What time is your last walk with her in the evening and what time is she walked in the morning? She has managed to hold it without any issues for those hours. I would imagine, when you aren't around, Trinkett is for the most part, inactive. Most adult "house" dogs go to sleep and lay around until their owners get home. So, if once in a while, she is left for 8 hours, it shouldn't be a problem. The only way to know for sure is to test her.

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Originally Posted by RubyPitbull

The only way to know for sure is to test her.

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I agree 100% I also think it has to do with the dog and how it was raised. Also what schedule it's used to of course. We got Abram at 8 weeks and he's never been crated. Once he was potty trained fully around 12 weeks, he's never had an accident. He can be trusted to be loose in the house while we're away. We thought it would be difficult to accomplish that, but since we worked on it when he was so young, it really wasn't that hard. During potty training, he stayed baby gated in a bathroom. Brandy however, stays in a crate. For two reasons. One because, odds are, she may have an accident if left loose, and two because, when her and Abram are together, they're like a small tornado swirling through the house most of the time :) We tried to teach Brandy to be like Abram, behave loose in the house, but she was older when we got her, and together with Abram, it was hopeless. She is much more comfortable in the crate anyway. We also go home at lunch time to give a potty break. But like Ruby said, you won't know for sure unless you test Trink. One day something came up where neither of us could come home for lunch and they went 8 hours without being let out. And both were fine. We're not making a routine of that though.