House training a Chihuahua mix.

[popmom]

We just recently adopted a male chi mix from our daughters' rescue. He is 3 months old. He came from a hoarding case. I've read some articles online about training chis, but they didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Yep, he's a stubborn little creature. Yep, his smallness makes it super easy for him to slip into the next room and poop in about 2 seconds flat. 

I've heard they are notoriously hard to house train. If you've been successful at this, please give me pointers! 

We have a small crate. We are following the usual protocol for crate training. He's just SOOOO stubborn. When he goes out, he'll usually pee pretty quick and then wants to run back to the door. If I make him stay in the grass, he bucks and whines and pulls. Or he'll just lay down. The longer he is here, the more comfortable he gets being himself--which is more stubborn than he was when we brought him home a week and a half ago. 

It's a good thing he's adorable. ?

[sassenach]

I really feel like 75% is the best anyone can hope for with a chi. Ours still sneaks a poop in the house when it’s cold or rainy. We usually have to tell him to poo or he’ll try to just pee and come back in. 

[popmom]

11 minutes ago, sassenach said:

I really feel like 75% is the best anyone can hope for with a chi. Ours still sneaks a poop in the house when it’s cold or rainy. We usually have to tell him to poo or he’ll try to just pee and come back in. 

? I wonder if I could get him to use the cats' litter boxes.

[alisoncooks]

How fun!

We had our chihuahua for 14 years. Snow days were guaranteed "poop-in-the-house days," long after he was reliably house trained. And by "long after", I mean his whole life.

I don't have much advice, other than to say: check under beds occasionally. When our dog was around 2 years old, we found evidence that he'd been pooping under the bed. A lot. (In his defense, we'd just moved and I was working full-time and he was given free-reign.) But it was still shocking. 

 

[alisoncooks]

2 minutes ago, stephensgirls said:

? I wonder if I could get him to use the cats' litter boxes.

We litter box trained ours when we first got him. He peed in it okay, but always managed to poop over the edge. 

I gave a friend who is physically handicapped, who just rescued a chi mix. She can't do much walking, so her dog goes inside, on puppy/pee pads. 

[popmom]

2 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

We litter box trained ours when we first got him. He peed in it okay, but always managed to poop over the edge. 

I gave a friend who is physically handicapped, who just rescued a chi mix. She can't do much walking, so her dog goes inside, on puppy/pee pads. 

I really don't want to do pee pads. The litter box idea interests me. Our boxes have tall sides. I don't think he could poop over the edge unless he aimed at the entrance lol.

[ktgrok]

51 minutes ago, stephensgirls said:

We just recently adopted a male chi mix from our daughters' rescue. He is 3 months old. He came from a hoarding case. I've read some articles online about training chis, but they didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Yep, he's a stubborn little creature. Yep, his smallness makes it super easy for him to slip into the next room and poop in about 2 seconds flat. 

I've heard they are notoriously hard to house train. If you've been successful at this, please give me pointers! 

We have a small crate. We are following the usual protocol for crate training. He's just SOOOO stubborn. When he goes out, he'll usually pee pretty quick and then wants to run back to the door. If I make him stay in the grass, he bucks and whines and pulls. Or he'll just lay down. The longer he is here, the more comfortable he gets being himself--which is more stubborn than he was when we brought him home a week and a half ago. 

It's a good thing he's adorable. ?

If you know he needs to poop you don't let him run around the house. He needs to be on a leash or in a crate or in your arms all the time until he's housebroken. Sorry. 

So in this case, he pees outside and you go back in, and if you think he needs to poop put him in the crate for 10 or 15 minutes and then take hm out again. Or have him in your arms, etc, and keep repeating until he goes. Oh, and try putting some of his poop in the grass where you want him to go. That can help. 

[Spryte]

Congrats on your new addition!

Ours was a princess who didn’t like to get her feet wet.  So rainy days or snow days - she went in the house no matter how hard we tried.  I can’t tell you how many things we tried over 16 years, in addition to the usual stuff.  She was fine on other days, once she really got the concept.  It took a while, and we just kept working with her.

 

I miss her, potty accidents and all.

 

ETA:  she did not like to go unless the grass was very short, so we kept an area with no grass to make it more appealing to her.

[Ellie]

1 hour ago, stephensgirls said:

We just recently adopted a male chi mix from our daughters' rescue. He is 3 months old. He came from a hoarding case. I've read some articles online about training chis, but they didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Yep, he's a stubborn little creature. Yep, his smallness makes it super easy for him to slip into the next room and poop in about 2 seconds flat. 

I've heard they are notoriously hard to house train. If you've been successful at this, please give me pointers! 

We have a small crate. We are following the usual protocol for crate training. He's just SOOOO stubborn. When he goes out, he'll usually pee pretty quick and then wants to run back to the door. If I make him stay in the grass, he bucks and whines and pulls. Or he'll just lay down. The longer he is here, the more comfortable he gets being himself--which is more stubborn than he was when we brought him home a week and a half ago. 

It's a good thing he's adorable. ?

I sort of fostered a mini dachshund,  who turned out to be not housebroken [insert long story on how she came to live with me and why I thought she was housebroken]. At first I thought it would help if I were more direct and used voice commands--you know, "French Fry! Let's go outside and potty!" "Good potty!" After about three days it became apparent that this was not working, especially that time that we were dozing in the recliner (and she was an awesome cuddler) she oozed off the chair, went into our office and pooped/peed/something, oozed back into the recliner. o_0 So I had a moment of inspiration: I tethered her to me. All day long, I kept her leash on her and either in my hand when I walked from room to room, or tethered to a kitchen chair leg while I worked in the kitchen, or to the leg of the recliner while we dozed, or to the leg of the desk when I was at my computer, or whatever. We went outside every couple of hours, with her still on the leash tethered to me, and we stayed until she pottied. (We crated her at night.) For some reason, this did the trick for her. After two or three days, she was reliably housebroken.

[Heathermomster]

We adopted our chiweenie when he was about 8 months ago.  He’ve had him now 5 years, and he’s 100% potty trained.  He sleeps in a crate at night and is kept there when the family is gone.  If I tell him the word “kennel”, he runs to it and has been known to open the door with his paw.

When we adopted him, I walked him at 530am every day and used the words, “Go potty,” and “do business.”  I also use words like “Go outside,” and “inside.”  He is fed once per day at 800am.

My dog has a serious desire to please me.  He is very attached.  When he arrived, he was not house trained, and we were the 3rd owners.  Whenever he didn’t urinate, I placed him back into the kennel, waited, and then tried again.   He is very intelligent and figured things out eventually.  He urinates in the snow and pouring rain too.

[popmom]

23 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

If you know he needs to poop you don't let him run around the house. He needs to be on a leash or in a crate or in your arms all the time until he's housebroken. Sorry. 

So in this case, he pees outside and you go back in, and if you think he needs to poop put him in the crate for 10 or 15 minutes and then take hm out again. Or have him in your arms, etc, and keep repeating until he goes. Oh, and try putting some of his poop in the grass where you want him to go. That can help. 

This is what we are trying to do--not too successfully. The problem is trying to understand when he needs to poop and when he doesn't. My other dog only poops at night. She's very predictable. I'm trying to figure out a pattern with this little guy, but no luck yet. There are times when I think...well he just pooped a couple of hours ago, so he's probably okay.I don't want to make him stay outside if he truly doesn't need to go, yk? How sad to be forced to try to poop when you don't need to! And I know he can hold it a LONG time. We're just having a hard time figuring out his schedule. Thanks for the tip--I'm going to put his poops in the yard instead of flushing them--great idea.

[popmom]

16 minutes ago, Ellie said:

I sort of fostered a mini dachshund,  who turned out to be not housebroken [insert long story on how she came to live with me and why I thought she was housebroken]. At first I thought it would help if I were more direct and used voice commands--you know, "French Fry! Let's go outside and potty!" "Good potty!" After about three days it became apparent that this was not working, especially that time that we were dozing in the recliner (and she was an awesome cuddler) she oozed off the chair, went into our office and pooped/peed/something, oozed back into the recliner. o_0 So I had a moment of inspiration: I tethered her to me. All day long, I kept her leash on her and either in my hand when I walked from room to room, or tethered to a kitchen chair leg while I worked in the kitchen, or to the leg of the recliner while we dozed, or to the leg of the desk when I was at my computer, or whatever. We went outside every couple of hours, with her still on the leash tethered to me, and we stayed until she pottied. (We crated her at night.) For some reason, this did the trick for her. After two or three days, she was reliably housebroken.

Wow. That was fast. I'll pass this info along to my 17 yr old dd who is helping. She doesn't get it yet--how diligent we have to be. We need to do this. He needs to be either crated or tethered at all times. 

[popmom]

18 minutes ago, Heathermomster said:

We adopted our chiweenie when he was about 8 months ago.  He’ve had him now 5 years, and he’s 100% potty trained.  He sleeps in a crate at night and is kept there when the family is gone.  If I tell him the word “kennel”, he runs to it and has been known to open the door with his paw.

When we adopted him, I walked him at 530am every day and used the words, “Go potty,” and “do business.”  I also use words like “Go outside,” and “inside.”  He is fed once per day at 800am.

My dog has a serious desire to please me.  He is very attached.  When he arrived, he was not house trained, and we were the 3rd owners.  Whenever he didn’t unrinate, I placed him back into the kennel, waited, and then tried again.   He is very intelligent and figured things out eventually.  He urinates in the snow and pouring rain too.

You give me hope. :) 

[popmom]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to show this to my daughter who has to take care of him when I'm not around. She doesn't fully grasp how diligent we have to be. 

Just out of curiosity...how often do your chis poop each day? Trying to figure out when he really has to go. I can't expect him to poop every time I take him out if I'm taking him out 6 times a day. 

[Selkie]

6 minutes ago, stephensgirls said:

Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to show this to my daughter who has to take care of him when I'm not around. She doesn't fully grasp how diligent we have to be. 

Just out of curiosity...how often do your chis poop each day? Trying to figure out when he really has to go. I can't expect him to poop every time I take him out if I'm taking him out 6 times a day. 

I don’t have a chi, but have raised several puppies and they have all pooped several times a day. Puppies poop more frequently than adult dogs. When housetraining, I take the puppy out at least once an hour during the day, sometimes multiple times per hour.

[Paige]

I have a chihuahua mix and she's been by far the hardest dog I've had to potty train. She's 3 and I still don't trust her. She's supposed to be crated or someone is designated to keep an eye on her at all times.

I took her to obedience school for forever and she was the star of the class. She does awesome in agility. She's smart. But she doesn't care about potty training.

I agree that keeping her close to you at all times is best. We had the best luck with teaching her to use a doorbell to go out. She was 90% good with that, but our doorbells keep breaking! Our problem when she was tiny was that her accidents were so tiny that we sometimes weren't sure if she'd gone or not! She had a thimble sized bladder. She hates the snow and rain. She's also a happy piddler...but she's cute and we love her. I don't think it's stubbornness. I think she just hasn't figured out what we really want or maybe she's like a child and doesn't know she needs to go until it's too late.

[Carrie12345]

Our Chi-mix is technically housebroken. The issue we have is with trading off on who is in charge of him.  When my kids aren't around, zero accidents. When they are around, they don't put in the work. They find it easier to clean up after him.  I'll admit, it *is* easier to just clean up after him, but that's stressful TO HIM!  He knows he's not supposed to do his business inside. He doesn't want to.

For the record, I do wish we had litter box trained him. 

As far as the training, it wasn't much different than when we trained our large dogs, but it is more frequent still, and was A LOT more frequent in the beginning. Potty trip EVERY time he came out of the crate, no matter how short the stay. Waited for a poop after every meal, no matter how long it took, until he picked up on the clear routine. (We do 3 meals a day.) And ours has never been given free roam of the house. Frankly, it's just too dangerous for us, with a 14lb cat and Lego-loving kids.  He has to have a human on-duty :::snicker::: when he's loose.  It's very much like having an infant... for a decade or more.

[Pawz4me]

At only three months old, only having had him a week and a half, and a tiny dog . . . at this point I would have very little expectations for house training success. I'd be actively working on it--yes. But my expectations for success would be rock bottom. And that is doubly true given he came from a bad situation. My goal would be to have him fully house trained by the time he's a year old. Hopefully you'll get there significantly sooner, but in order to avoid frustration that would be my goal.

How often are you taking him out? IMO and IME if it's not at least every thirty minutes when he's awake then you need to up your game.

Try to make being outside fun for him. Don't just take him out, wait for him to produce and then go right back in. Find a shady spot, sit down with him and play a bit, or walk him around the yard. Many dogs need some degree of physical activity to help stimulate the need to poop. If nothing else with a male puppy you want to give him opportunity to pee multiple times. They rarely get everything out in one go.

Do you have any surfaces in your yard besides grass? You might find that he'd go better on mulch, dirt or something else. Some dogs can be weird about surfaces.

A puppy that young, who I am assuming you're feeding multiple times a day (as you certainly should be at this point) may poop several times a day. The poop may be at bit loose or runny if he's recently received worming medication. That's normal. The frequency will lessen as he gets older and his number of feedings is reduced. Most adult dogs who are fed on a reasonable schedule will develop a pooping routine. Our current dog poops on his morning walk (he's one of those dogs who needs activity before pooping) and very rarely any other time. I've had dogs in the past who would poop after each meal (I always feed my adult dogs twice a day), but that was their routine and I knew when to expect it.

Certainly you can litter box train a small dog. Purina used to make boxes and litter specifically for small dogs, although I don't think they sold very well and I haven't seen any in a long time. The boxes to me were just re-labeled cat boxes, but I never saw any of the litter (just the bags) so I don't know if it was different at all from cat litter. If I were litter box training a dog I'd layer pee pads inside of a litter box and not fool with the mess of litter. A dog won't instinctively bury its poop like a cat does and may not like the texture of litter, so I don't see what would be gained by using litter other than a lot of mess and heavy litter to deal with. It's much easier to pick up a pad and throw it away than deal with dust, tracking and litter getting kicked out. Ick. Puppy pads are wonderful things and have a multitude of other uses (I use one when I'm cutting up a melon, we use them when we're painting, we've used them when we thought something was leaking from a vehicle, etc.). I always keep some around.

[ktgrok]

7 hours ago, stephensgirls said:

Wow. That was fast. I'll pass this info along to my 17 yr old dd who is helping. She doesn't get it yet--how diligent we have to be. We need to do this. He needs to be either crated or tethered at all times. 

Yup, this. No free roaming for dogs that are not housebroken. Period. 

[ktgrok]

Oh, and do NOT have the dog use the actual box the cat does....good way to be sure the cat never uses t again. Then you have the dog and the cat pooping on the floor, lol. 

[hippiemamato3]

We have one chihuahua who is completely housebroken, and one who is 12 years old and never will be 100%. He just doesn't seem to get it.