Potty training my puppy

[sms]

I saw some questions about dogs so I thought I would come to you guys for some help. I'm having trouble training my 3mo. old chihuahua. I keep her in our laundry room during the day while I'm at work and she uses the training pads, but when she is loose in the house she just goes everywhere! Any ideas? Has anyone ever tried the wizdog? Please help,my house is starting to smell. I can't take it!!!

 

[JoiseyMom]

First of all you should get a crate and crate train her. You also need to walk her, and to reward or praise her when she goes potty in the correct place. If you aren't home then she doesn't know that going on the pads is good. You can google housetraining a dog and you will get lots of sites to read for advice.

 

[IDoDis]

Crate training is the way to go. Dogs don't like to lay in their mess so they learn to hold it in. When you let her out, take her to the designated "potty" area, watch her go and then praise her and say, "good potty." Whenever you take her out, say, "let's go potty." She'll learn the word.

Leave her out a few minutes afterward, and then she goes back in the crate. It may sound cruel, but it really isn't and it won't take long for her to learn. If your dog is 2 months old, she should be able to hold it for 2 hours, 3 months = 3 hours, etc.. They do better at night because they are asleep most of the time, but you may have to get up once to let her out. She has a tiny bladder!

You should also have your carpets professionally cleaned to get the smell out as much as you can. She can smell where she's gone before and will keep going back to that spot to go again.

We had two young pups at that same time and it was hard, so I feel for ya! One dog would go in the house and I wouldn't know which one did it. You really can't take your eyes off of them for a second while you are house training them.

One other thing, don't punish her if you find wet spots in the house because she'll have no idea why you are mad at her. The key is to catch her in the act and say loud and firmly "NO!" Then swiftly pick her up and take her to her designated potty area.

 

[doxdogy]

Another fan of crate training. Also using pads (from what I have been told) have good and bad points. As a previous poster suggested, when you see her getting ready to potty in the house take her outside. When she does her business outside, praise her and tell her what good dog she is for going outside. Dogs normally will not go in their crate. We have one doxie that will go in his crate. He has earned the nickname stinkpot.

 

[Tanuki]

There are tons of sites with advice on how to crate train.

I just went through training a puppy (not a chihuahua) this last year and it takes a lot of time and effort. I'd say overall it was about a year to get every element in place where the dog would know ahead of time and go over to the door and scratch and whine and ring her little bell when she needed to go out.

They can only hold it for sooo much time if they have a small bladder so the crate is just an area where you can monitor where they are and if they went potty in order to direct them to the correct place when you let them out. It is just as important to have her consistently go to the correct place when you know it has been a while and they ought to need to go.

My goal was to get her to understand "if there is a roof over your head then you don't go potty". That was really hard to communicate to a puppy. You have to watch them all the time when they are un-crated because even a minutes delay between them going and you scolding and redirecting them to outside is too long for the dog to make the connection. It was actually worse than potty training a child in some ways - because of the language barrier.

Dogs don't want to soil the area they consider their "den" (which is the crate) but once they get far enough away from the crate they consider it "OK far enough" and will go. My house was 3500 square feet so there was plenty of area for a dog to consider herself quite far away from the crate while I had to let her know any distance away inside the house was still off limits. I used little gates and those little fences that make an octagonal pen inside the house to restrict her to places where I could tell what was going on whenever she was outside of the crate and gradually increased the area room by room over several months.

If you punish a small dog for going in the house because you found a spot they went, they will find a place to go where they can hide the evidence from you. They can sneak into very small places that you won't suspect until the smell is ungodly. You don't want the dog to thing "master gets mad when they find it" you want them to think "I need to do this outside".

 

[Aimeedyan]

Your dog is only 12 weeks old. It takes MUCH longer than that to train most dogs, esp small breed dogs.

Crate train, umbillical cord train (she stays attached to you via leash), treat, and give it much much more time.

If you train her to pee in your house, even on those pads, she will always pee in your house. SEe the 4 year old Shih Tzu in my sig for a good example of that. A dog sees a roof over their head and thinks it's okay to pee. If you want to completely train her, you need to let her out to potty every 3-4 hours. Hire a dog sitter. Go home at lunch. Ask a neighbor to let her out. Crate train when she's home alone. IF you don't do those things, you're in for a long hard road.

 

[LMC]

I agree with the other posters that you need to crate. Don't get a huge crate. The pet store can help you pick the appropriate size. Also, I read in a dog training book (after my dog was grown) that if you use the pads it just signals the dog that it is ok to go on the floor. You need to take the dog outside to the same area everytime and use the same command "go potty" or whatever you use until they pretty much "go" when you take them there. My dog will still have accidents on the floor occassionally (even though we let her out every 2 hrs when we are home and she is not crated--she can hold it 8 hrs or more while we are at work during the day and she is in her crate! ) and even though she will sit at the door at times and we let her out then too. BUT, she still goes on the floor sometimes. Next dog, I will follow the advice that I have given here. Oh, as far as clean up, I read recently (good hskping magazine or something like that) that you should use 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water and spray it on the areas, #1, and #2.

 

[teacups]

I've had dogs my entire life.
Larger dogs, so there may be a differece... but my dogs are trained right away. Within a few days-a week tops. It takes dedication and consistency and knowing all the details of how a dogs body and mind work. 12 months to potty train?? I'd have to take a pass on that breed.
PM me if you want really simple details...but like I said, its consistency and dedication.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I've had dogs my entire life.
Larger dogs, so there may be a differece... but my dogs are trained right away. Within a few days-a week tops. It takes dedication and consistency and knowing all the details of how a dogs body and mind work. 12 months to potty train?? I'd have to take a pass on that breed.
PM me if you want really simple details...but like I said, its consistency and dedication.

Large dogs are a different ball game then small dogs. She has a chi - the notoriously hardest dog to train - she will not train it in days, weeks, but perhaps months. She def won't train it if she let's it roam free in a room and pee inside. Hopefully she knew that before getting this breed, though (I already had a hard trainer, and Chi's are even worse - thus we don't have one)

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

My advice, never mind - I don't like dogs much and don't think you would find my advice funny...

 

[JimmyPicker]

Another fan of crate training here.

I also want to point out that if the dog knows that she should go on the pee pads, you need to start putting a used pee pad outside and let her sniff that. Maybe she will associate the smell of pee with being outside. Something else that may help with that is, when you catch her peeing in the house, take her to the spot, tell her no, wipe it up with a paper towel and take both her and the paper towel outside. Put the paper towel on the ground and let her sniff it. Maybe it will click in her head if she knows you're unhappy about pee in the house and you put the pee outside.

And the best advice I can give you is to think of her as a baby. When she wakes up, she has to pee. When she eats or drinks, she has to pee. Small breeds have small bladders, they need to go out often. Be careful with her water intake as well. Don't go overboard with the water. And praise, treat, praise when she DOES go pee outside.

Good luck!

 

[SharkyGoddess]

Here's another option and one we're looking into for our Pom.

http://www.doglitter.com/GetPage.aspx?D=15430743&T=4769264

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Until a dog is potty trained they get no free roam.

Crate training and keeping the dog on a leash in the house is the preferred method.

Wee wee pads will make it so much harder to train your dog and the fact your dog is a small breed and young are also things you are going to have to have alot of patience on.

Allowing a 12 week old dog to run free through your house is setting yourself up for alot of problems. That has to stop today.

 

[teacups]

I've always been a big dog person.. but we did get an 8 week old mini schnauzer pup about 5 years ago. Potty trained fully in under one week. He's as stubborn as you could imagine even now. (I vote GET A LAB ) Why are "Chi's" so hard? Dumb? Stubborn? Bladder issues? Curious..........

 

[SharkyGoddess]

I've always been a big dog person.. but we did get an 8 week old mini schnauzer pup about 5 years ago. Potty trained fully in under one week. He's as stubborn as you could imagine even now. (I vote GET A LAB ) Why are "Chi's" so hard? Dumb? Stubborn? Bladder issues? Curious..........

I've raised Chows all my life (ok... since I was 16) and could swear those dogs were born house broken

But now we have a Pom who is trying his best to drive me insane. We're going to try the litter system per someone else's suggestion since he truly hates going outside, AFTER I work on crating him or confining him in the kitchen and working with a food/elimination schedule.

We need a support group for small dog owners with DOGS with bladder issues!!!

 

[hoosll]

First of all - this puppy is too young to hold it all day .... please do not place in a crate unless you are willing to come home at lunch and let the dog outside to pee. Otherwise, contain the dog with pads, take the dog for a walk when you get home and praise the dog when she pees outside. We placed pee pads outside in their yard and even built a deck litter box for the Boys (doxies). Establish a routine spot where they will recognize the scent of their urine.

Whenever she wakes up from a nap and becomes active, she needs to go outside. After each meal she needs to go outside. The leash option is also good because it keeps you tuned in/aware of the dog's movements.

Crates work great when you are home to let the puppy outside, also to limilt chewing destruction.

 

[DISUNC]

Just been through this with a 5 month old maltese poo.

Luckily someone is always home here all the time, so that is a HUGE help. No need to leave water down all day. My vet said just in the am & pm is fine.

For our dog. He was "sorta" trained when we got him, but he did have accidents. However I used the PRAISE, clap hands, give treats, thats when he went on the paper all the time.

The bad part about this is now, if we dont see him do it...he is all to happy to drag the wet pads all over the house to show us!

Also.....this is a BIGGIE.... DONT leave the papers anywhere near the vincity of where the dog eats.

 

[HOGFAN]

we have a mini doxie-they are HELL to train. takes about 2 years. He will hold it all day in his room(laundry room) but wont hold it after we get home. Pee and poop. even if we take him out every hour or two. driving me crazy as I get stuck with most of the cleanup/pickup. most of the time regret getting him.

 

[Shugardrawers]

I have a technique that incorporates a lot of these excellent suggestions. I finally wrote it all down into a single document and took it to my vet and trainer who both praised it highly. I've never had it fail on any breed or age dog although some (an 18 mo old female chi mix being one took a while longer than others).

If you would like to have a copy just PM me with your email address. No, I don't sell it, I give it free to whoever asks. It's just kinda long so it has to be emailed.

 

[Terry36]

Also.....this is a BIGGIE.... DONT leave the papers anywhere near the vincity of where the dog eats.

I am currently doing this with our 9 week old Maltese puppy. Please tell me why I should not?

I have a technique that incorporates a lot of these excellent suggestions. I finally wrote it all down into a single document and took it to my vet and trainer who both praised it highly. I've never had it fail on any breed or age dog although some (an 18 mo old female chi mix being one took a while longer than others).

If you would like to have a copy just PM me with your email address. No, I don't sell it, I give it free to whoever asks. It's just kinda long so it has to be emailed.

I would like a copy. I will PM you my email address.

We need a support group for small dog owners with DOGS with bladder issues!!!

I AGREE.