However, times change. You're so happy to have moved into a home with its own backyard, making it much more convenient for the dog to pop outside. But the dog has other ideas. Having accepted for so long that the right place to go is a square of absorbent white paper, he's now reluctant to change his habits. Indeed, you put him outside for hours at a time, for him to run back inside to urgently ease a full bladder on the puppy pad.
What's to be done?
But don't despair, you can train a small dog to toilet outside. However, it requires dedication and patience, to consistently instruct the dog where is the correct place to relieve himself.
In addition, helpful equipment includes:
The breeder trained our puppy to use a liter box with dog pellets. We are trying to train our puppy to go outside on artificial turf. We tried spreading the pellets on the turf and take her out on a regular basis. Bella seems to hold it forever and refuses to go outside. As soon as we bring her in she immediately goes potty in her liter box. Any suggestions?
Hello Nancy, I suggest making the transition more gradual. Put her current litter box outside and use a new one inside (so that the familiar one is outside). When you take her potty, tell her "Go Potty" and if she goes, give her four treats, one at a time - this will teach her to go on command more quickly and motivate to go there the next time - instead of just occasionally. Once she is used to going in that location in the box, gradually remove the pellets and have a piece of grass turf underneath, so that she hardly realizes anything is changing. Wait until she is going well in the outside box before you start removing pellets though and make the transition slow over a month or so. If she struggles to use the box outside even though it's a litter box like inside, then crate train her and take her to the potty outside quicky as soon as you let her out of the crate (keep her moving so that she doesn't have an accident on the way). If she doesn't go potty when you take her, put her back into the crate and try again in thirty minutes. Repeat this until she goes during potty outside on of the trips and you can reward her with treats. For more details on crate training, check out the "Crate Training" method from the article linked below. https://wagwalking.com/training/litter-box-train-a-chihuahua-puppy Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden
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