I'm concerned about Lukas potty training. He's 6 months old, and theoretically should be able to hold his bladder for 6 hours... But he doesn't. We've tried tethering, we've tried crating... The longest he's ever held it is an hour and a half, maybe an hour and 45. In that time maybe every 10-20 minutes he'll go scratch on the door to go out.

Now I am of the opinion that he's just a slow potty trainer and that taking him out everytime he asks is the best way to go. My husband, however, has me at my wits end insisting that he shouldn't have to go out this often and should only be taken out at set times and that if he scratches at the door to go out we need to ignore him and then yell at him when he pees in the house.

I guess my questions are:

1. Am I wrong that he needs to be able to ask to go outside to potty?
2. Is this behaviour maybe normal and it's just too much to expect him to actually hold it that long right now (as I keep telling my husband, you can't throw logic at a puppy)?
3. If it's not normal, how do you get the puppy to "extend" the time between potty breaks?
4. Should we just suck it up and chalk it up to being impatient?

Just as a note on our "tactics" so to speak. We've tried tethering and crating, both to no avail. Tethering just was a complete disaster, and he keeps escaping his crate no matter what we do (my husband even tried heavy duty zipties-not my idea-which he chewed through). I've taken over walkies almost exclusively- my husband would literally take him to the edge of the driveway for maybe 3 to 5 minutes and come in frustrated, so now I take him out when he asks (with obvious need, not "oh hey mama I think I saw a squirrel I wanna play with"), and I'll stay out there until he pees and poops, sometimes for nearly 20 minutes. He fully empties his bladder when he goes, and he's not crying or straining while he's going so I don't suspect any utis. Pooping in the house is uncommon for him, it's mostly peepees. I'm almost completely certain his accidents in the house aren't incidents of marking, either. He also holds it thru the night. We have him in his sleeping area for bedtime after a final walk at 1030 pm, and he sleeps thru the night until 530-6 (without soiling his area). During the work week my husband comes home to walk him during his lunch break.

Any feedback or advice would be wonderful!!!

Dev, thru reading here, my assumption is that males may take longer than girls to have bladder strength. With that said, I thought my gsd puppy would never learn to hold her pee as well, poop accidents were rare. She was at least 4 months old, maybe a little older, when it all clicked. I was frustrated to say the least, it seemed like she had to go all of the time, and just couldn't hold it. But slept thru the night. I haven't the foggiest idea what determined when she could just hold it for more than an hour or two, it just happened one day, lol. One thing I did start to do, was ask her to wait, maybe 5 minutes before taking her after she nosed bopped me and went to the door. If she peed in he house I just let it go, unless caught in the act, then I would pick her up and take her out and reinforced go potty and reward, so never anything negative, but a quick response. I then just practiced increase of the wait. If she could hold it 5 more minutes, a few days later it was 10 minutes, it was a slow process, but we succeeded. I wonder is he super little for his age? Sofie was and I think that may have something to do with it, as well as she drank water all the time, and lo and behold I find out she is a water dog, loves playing in it, haha. So is he the type that drinks a full bowl of water until it is empty? If so, patience on y'alls end is key, with it being hot he needs it, what I did was at night especially, say 7 or 8 pm, where there is no more eating, no more playing/exercise, I would limit the amount, I did not do away with water, however, I would fill the bowl say a 1/4 full vs all full, so that way she would learn she didn't have to be an orca whale and drink an ocean. I think some puppies just forget how much they are drinking, same with food, she inhaled her food at that age as well, it was like all or nothing for her, and she was just ravenous for food and water, lol, which obviously she really wasn't hungry nor overly thirsty. Be patient, he will get it. Hope that helps some.

He does LOVE water... His father did too according to the breeders. We've almost gotten to the point of gorilla gluing the water bowls down to keep him from overturning them, lol.

I have a hard time telling if he's smaller for his age. Last time we took his weight he was only 5 months and 32-34 lbs (I fudge a few pounds on my vets scale, the receptionist never seems to wait for the scale to stop going up). He's as long and tall as my 3 year old husky, but not as heavy.

He's due for a vet visit soon for his impending neutering.