My Pet World: Training a dog to hold off on urinating until he is walked

By Cathy M. Rosenthal, Tribune Content Agency on Jan 28, 2020

That might be a bit restrictive on your time and pocketbook, however, so option two involves determining your dog's threshold by noting how long until he has to urinate and making sure he gets outside to relieve himself before it happens. For example, if your dog has an accident after five hours, then you know he needs a break around the four-hour mark. This gets ahead of his five-hour window.

You can let your dog out to relieve himself before you leave the house and know you have four hours to return or for a dog walker to arrive so he can go outside again.

These things can work, but only if you are consistent and aren't confusing him by putting pee pads on the floor of your home. If you use pee pads, it can be difficult to get your dog to understand he needs to hold it until you get home. However, if all else fails and you can't get him on a schedule, then put a pee pad down on his favorite spot and be aware that you might have to refresh it daily.

Dear Cathy,

My calico cat is obsessed with licking plastic bags. It could be a plastic grocery bag, the plastic wrapping covering cases of bottled water or plastic food bags. Is this dangerous for her? Is it OK for her to lick clear plastic, and are the chemicals dangerous to her if there is print on the plastic?

- Kathy, Henderson, Nevada

Dear Kathy,

No one knows for sure why cats like to lick plastic bags. There are many theories, from the taste, texture and smell of the bag to the sound the bag makes when they are licking it. Licking plastic bags is only an issue if a cat ingests part of the bag or it becomes an obsessive behavior that is hard to stop.

Your best bet is to take the bag away from you cat when she starts licking it and say "no." You're not going to train your cat to leave the plastic alone, so the responsibility for halting this behavior lies with you. Keep all plastic out of her reach and use reusable grocery bags and water bottles (which also are much better for the environment) or paper bags (which cats love to hide in), whenever possible.

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(Cathy M. Rosenthal is a longtime animal advocate, author, columnist and pet expert who has more than 25 years in the animal welfare field. Send your pet questions, stories and tips to cathy@petpundit.com. Please include your name, city, and state. You can follow her @cathymrosenthal.)