House Breaking My Dog

Well, this may sound mean but it works. Dogs do not like being around there own mess. While you are out try cage training him. The cage needs to only be large enough for him to stand and trun around. Once home, the FIRST thing to do is to take him straight outside to eliminate his waste. That means no playing with him, no talking sweet to him, etc. Being that he is a small dog and depending on how far the cage will be from the door you may need to pick him up. By holding him under his belly they generally can hold themselves until outside. When he uses it praise him excessively and give him ONE treat. This technique has worked on my Pom and Pit Bull. Good Luck!

Hello C.! No worries, this is very normal for chihuahaus. I have two, one is 5 and one is 3. Our 3 yr. old still has potty training issues. It is very common in small dogs because they are built so small,it is difficult for them to hold it and also to realize that they have to go.

Be consistent, take him/her out every hour on the hour when you are home and positive reinforcement!!

Good Luck,

D. R.
Richardson, TX

Hi C., Oh where to start... Ok, first crate your dog when you are at work or when you cannot keep an eye on her. Small dogs are notorious for taking as long as a year to train. Putting paper down only confuses the dog. Your goal is to get her to go outside. Crating is not cruel(as some people think)because dogs are pack animals and lived in dens. It is a place to call their own. Get one that is just large enough for her to move around a bit, but not large enough to soil in it and be far from the mess. They will not soil where they sleep, so this will help your pup. It will also cause her less stress, because you probably get upset with her when she has an accident. If she has an accident, just clean it up without reacting to it (they really can't recall more than a few minutes). One last hint, try to take her our every half hour when you are home. Take her to the same place in the yard and tell her "Go to your spot". Praise lavishly when she gets it right. Don't play with her when you are outside for a potty break, until she preforms. Eventually she will associate it all. Last but not least, if you cannot housebreak her (you have alot going on at home) find a home for her that can give her more time. The stress of having a dog that is not housebroken, kids and a FT job is not good for any of you. HTH, (Nana) L.

I wholeheartedly agree that crate training is the way to go. Make sure you get a crate that is the right size - people worry that they are too small, but if you get one that is too big then she'll just potty in one end and sleep in the other.

The one thing that might prove challenging for you is that you're gone during the day. If she's still a young puppy, she may well not be able to hold it the whole time you're gone. In that case, you'd need to find someone who could come let her out, or else not crate her while you're gone (confine her to a small room instead) - otherwise she'll go because she has no other choice, and then once she got used to having to sit around in her own mess, she'd eventually stop caring.

Crate train the dog. This is the quickest way, IMHO, to potty train the dog. Dogs do not like to go to the bathroom where they sleep so it teaches them to hold it longer. Since your dog is small, make sure you don't get too big of a crate otherwise it won't work. My dogs are larger and they were potty trained as small puppies very very quick. I think it's due to the fact that they are bigger(easier to train I've heard) and the crate. Of course, try to take her outside about every 20 minutes at first and praise her like crazy when she does go potty outside. I would make sure to not leave the dog, especially a puppy, in the crate for longer than 4 hours. Once the dog gets a little older, they should be able to go for longer periods, especially at night when they are sleeping in their crate. My dogs were trustworthy in the house loose when they turned 1 1/2 years old, but they haven't gone to the bathroom in our house since they were tiny puppies. They can hold it for 8 hours.

Good luck...lots of positive praise and consistency is the key.
N.

One thing I always tell my clients is to take them out to the same place each time they have to potty, give them the same word, and you'll be amazed at how potty trained they'll become :) It's that fun reverse psychology for dogs - you want them to WANT to go out there so it's not that they don't want to go IN the house, they simply want to go outside :)

D.
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We have a chihuahua mix and we bought Puppy Pads at Petsmart. These really worked wonderfully. She is now 8 months and has no accidents. I will still leave one out if we are going to be busy for awhile.

Crate training is the way to go.

I am jumping on the crate training train.. That is the BEST way to train your dog, it works wonders

do not leave your dog with free reign of the house when you're gone.... get a crate and use it. Crate training is a good way for introduction to house training. I jsut rescued a small dog from the pound on Monday. We've only had 2 accidents in the house. If you keep them confined to a crate and do not allow free reign everywhere... in your absence... they typcially do not urinate or defecate in areas they sleep... so they will learn to hold it.

I have a chihuaha mix and I housetrained him within two weeks! I also stay at home so it made it easier but I agree with everyone else, crate training is the only way to go! You should also get a spray like Nature's Miracle to clean the spots that your dog is going at, this should take the smell out so your dog won't be drawn to that same spot over and over again! What I did for my dog is I bought a little bell and hung a bell from the door knob to where he could reach. Every time I took him outside I had him sit and I took his paw and had him ring the bell and I would say "good boy!" and then let him outside. After just a couple of weeks he made the connection to ring the bell when he wanted outside. So now every time he wants outside, whether it's to relieve himself or just to play, he rings the bell, all by his little self! It's so cute. This way he doesn't have to scratch at the door or whine. And now that he knows that he eliminates outside only, I can leave the house for a few hours and he won't go inside, he waits till I come back home.

(Before I got this dog I housetrained my little maltese by getting her a dog litter box, you can maybe do this for your dog since she is a toy breed and since you're not always home. This also requires crate training, only let her out of the crate when you can watch her like a hawk, don't let her have one accident or she'll think it's ok to go whenever she wants! Take her to the box and give her the command to go, if she doesn't go after about 3 minutes, put her back in her crate for about an hour or so and try again. If she goes, then she can stay out and play. And remember that dogs , esp. little ones, need to use the potty after they eat, drink sleep,or play.)

You and your puppy will get the hang of it eventually, you just have to be consistent and try not to let her have any accidents! Good luck!

Depending on the dog's age, cart training works well. We have a scotty that was about 3 months old and I put her in a travel crate when I was gone and she would wait to go outside. They don't want to "go" where they sleep. After about a month she learned that outside was the only place she was to go. Now she is trained to go to the door. She even sleeps in crate if we leave the door open.

I was initially against crate training, but after adding a challenging new pooch to our family, have discovered that it is the best way to go. I used to confine our pup to my Master bathroom, but she got bored and chewed the wallpaper off the walls, so I tried crate training and it has worked out great.

I was a vet-tech and still am an animal advocate. Like everyone says, crate train, crate train, crate train. Most dogs actually grow to love their crates. After using it for training purposes for weeks, months or a year (some dogs catch on sooner than others), you can keep it out with the door wide open, and don't be surprised if it turns into your dogs favorite sleeping spot! Be strong and consistent and it will work for you.