# How long can an adult chi 'hold it'?



## Rustysma (Dec 5, 2013)

Hi! I've never had a chi before and had a question. My husband and I adopted an adult chi from the animal shelter a couple weeks ago. He's estimated to be about 1 year old. He's been pretty good, but has been pooing in the house while we are at work. We are both gone at work for about 9 hours a day. Rusty can hold it all night, and we do let him roam the house. I have tried keeping him in the bathroom for very short periods of time, and he goes nuts, so we let him roam during the day. I guess my question is...how long can he be expected to be able to hold his poo? At his age, should he be able to hold it all day? I do take him out before I go to work, and he pees and poos. 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!


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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

Anxiety can make a dog poo. It sounds like a stress response to me, specially if he only does it when you leave him.
You will need to work on building his confidence and training him to be left alone.
If he is fed regularly, he should also poo regularly, so you need to work out a schedule for feeding and walks so he is empty when you need to leave him.


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## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

Is there any way you could come home at lunch? Other than that, maybe a playpen would solve the problem.?


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## Rustysma (Dec 5, 2013)

Thank you both for your responses. I at first thought it might be anxiety, but this morning when I got up I saw that he had peed and pooed in the house. I'm starting to think he may have been pee pee pad trained in his prior home. That won't work for us. Neither of us can come home at lunch so we may have to try something like a playpen. I guess we have a long road ahead of us. 

Thanks again for the help. You may be seeing more questions from me in the future. I've always had large dogs that were fairly easy to train so this little fella is quite the opposite.


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## NinaN (May 13, 2013)

I'd say, too that he's stressed. But even with a dog completely feeling at home and used to be alone I think 9h is too much. During the day he's more active which will result in a faster digestation. You can look up how long which food takes. It also comes down the dog how often he/she will have to go. Doesn't have to pee, too? I take Pixie out at least to pee and poop around every 6h except during the night. While she doesn't poop every time she will pee.


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