6 month not potty trained

[mandyd33]

I'm starting to get worried that my 6 mo. chihuahua will never be potty trained. I live in a townhouse and I take her out to the front yard to go since my only other option is a deck. She goes first thing in the morning and right when I come home after work. Sometimes she's take a small poop and then I feed her dinner. If I take her out too soon..she gets distracted and plays with the leaves. If I don't take her out in time...she'll go wherever she wants with no sign that she has to go. She doesn't bark, she doesn't sit by the door, she doesn't whine, nothing. She only circles 2 sec before going...and sniffing around...she does that all the time!!

Let me back up. When I first got her. We tried to train her on pads. Which was great at first. Then she started missing the pads by a few inches. Then she started eating her poo. So I took away the pads and put her on Deter (medicine to stop the poop eating). When she was using the pads, she would never have accidents downstairs (even on the carpet)...but upstairs was another story. She would have accidents all over the place. So now I take her outside at every chance. I'm starting to think it's too late, cuz now she thinks it's ok to go in the house. I tried all the positive reinforcement when she goes outside...but she still goes inside.

It gets worse...now I'm moving into a house with my siblings. Medium sized house with a backyard. The problem is that it's too far for me to go home for lunch and take her out. So what do I do? Confine her to her crate all day? I couldn't do that after she'd been in it all night long. So, I'm considering going back to the pads. But before I do that, I want to make sure I'm not making a big mistake. I'm sure I'll be confusing the hell out of her. The deter seems to be working, that's the main concern. But I don't want to have to feed that to her forever. If anyone has any suggestions...ANYTHING! Please help.

 

[RD]

Chis are a NIGHTMARE to housebreak according to most owners.

Personally I think using pads is a big mistake unless you want to have the dog going to the bathroom inside the house for the rest of her life. Pads teach the dog that it is OK to go to the bathroom inside, and then the dog starts to push the limits. (They usually start going farther and farther away from the pads)

I say, confine her in her crate or put her in an exercise pen if you insist on using pads.
In fact, I don't know why you aren't doing that now. If you think it's inhumane to keep her in the crate while you're gone, consider how irresponsible it is to let a 6 month old pup run around the house unattended for hours on end, and how bad the consequences will be if she gets into something bad on accdent. (If I must, I'll compare this to letting a 3 year old child be alone in the house for hours)

And are you enforcing that it is NOT ok to go in the house? That's the most important part, is that she learns that going to the bathroom in the house is not an acceptable behavior. If you catch her going to the bathroom inside, give her a firm NO, pick her up (yes, even if she's still going. It's not the most pleasant thing but she needs to get the idea that she can't finish that inside) , take her outside zippy-quick, and if she finishes the job, praise and treat.

Again I'd suggest confining her or having someone else take her out if that's possible.

good luck. I know what you're going through, my Papillon took ages to be reliable in the house.

 

[funnyfarm]

bells

I would also suggest the cage. It works good as long as you have a one the right size. The other thing is hang a bell on the door. Every time you take the dog out ring the bell and praise the dog. My terrier mix learned within a week that ringing the bell meant going outside. Another thing is when they go in the house take it outside with them and put it on the ground where they see you. Granted you'll have to pick it right back up again to keep the yard clean, but they see that what they left for you belongs outside.

 

[Apollonaro]

When we got our yorkie, she was 6 months old, and fluently peed on the carpet. with the occasional poop and when we let her outside she never did anything. It may sound crazy, but i used to do it and i've read that other people do it as well. When the dog makes the accident, get mad at the ACCIDENT.... be like "look at this mess, what a bad bad pee" or whatever, and get frustrated at the pee or poop itself. The dog will come to the conclusion that you don't like to see that, and that it makes you angry and it's just not fun in general and eventually get the point to stop peeing in the house. Athena never asks us if she wants to go out side, sh enever barks, or spins, or scratches at the door or barks. We have to ask Her "athena do you have to go outside" and normally she'll run to the door if she needs to go. You could always try that. And of course the oodles of positive reinforcement when she goes outside and u tell her how good she was and what a good pee itwas and i don't know. It's a suggestion, it worked for me. Good luck with your house-training!

 

[Renee750il]

That's a unique spin on the problem, Apollonaro, and it makes perfect sense!

 

[avenlee]

Hi Mandy,

First of all you need to understand that any dog at 6 months can not hold their bladder or poop for a long period of time. Just like a baby I have a 11 month old Westie that still will poop in the house occasionally and a 3 year old Cocker Spaniel that will never poop or pee. Well, I shouldn't say never, she will right at the door if I don't notice her wanting to go out. Then, I can hardly scold her for that and just say "ohhh sorry Sadie".

What I'm trying to say (I know I ramble) is that you need to consistantly reinforce to your dog that pooping or peeing is not tolerable in the house, but yet understand that at 6 months old, its hard for her to hold it. And, it will get better! The dog will mature and be able to hold her bladder for longer periods of time.

What I do for my dogs is, never feed them after 6 pm and I always pick up their water bowl after 8 pm. A puppy will pee during the night if they are continuously drinking water throughout the night. At first, I thought, "What if they're thirsty", but they will not die of thirst through the night, especially when they should be sleeping ! lol

When Nora, my Westie, was real young, I would bring her out every 3 hours and stand outside with her for a period of time. She has gotten to know the whole idea of the poop outside stuff from that, but will have occasional OOPS!

Sorry for so long, but really wanted to post my opinion on this subject.

Good Luck to You and remember, It will get better !