How to Litter Box Train a Chihuahua Puppy
Introduction
Although your Chihuahua will still want and need to be taken outside for exercise, you may prefer to not have to take your dog outside to use the bathroom. If you live up several flights of stairs in a big city, having a dog that can use a litter box is very convenient. If you have to be gone for long hours during the day at times and do not have someone to take your dog outside to go to the bathroom, having a dog trained to use a litter box can be essential. Perhaps you are older or have physical limitations that make it hard for you to get outside frequently; litter box training might be a huge help for you.
Many people utilize pee pads to train dogs to eliminate inside the home, but some dogs will confuse the soft fabric of the pee pads with other soft, absorbent materials in your home, such as an expensive living room rug or doormat. Using a litter box instead helps your dog to differentiate between his toilet area and the rest of your home. The rest of your home likely does not contain litter or gravel, after all. Litter can also be cheaper than pee pads, and you can purchase varieties of litter that mask the smell of poop and pee.
Defining Tasks
Expect this to take between two and five months for your Chihuahua to learn. He may learn to eliminate in the box sooner, but it will take him time to remember to go there when you are not helping him. It is very important to remain consistent while training this. The more accidents that your puppy has in your home, the longer and harder this will be to teach. Your consistency, attentiveness, and hard work will pay off with quicker training results.
Be careful not to give your Chihuahua any unsupervised freedom. It is extremely important that you watch him closely any time that he is free, and that you place him somewhere such as an exercise pen or crate when you cannot watch him. This is because the more that he is unsupervised, the more opportunities he will have for an accident to occur, and you will not be there to interrupt him and to show him where to go instead. Your puppy likely will not remember what he did once the incidence has passed, so any punishment after the fact will be ineffective. Simply pay closer attention next time.
Remember to be patient with your puppy. He does not understand what the difference between your rug and the litter box is. That is why you are showing him where to go, closely supervising him when he is free, and rewarding him for eliminating in the correct place. Because he is small, it will take him time to remember where the litter box is located and how to get there. To you it is just on the other side of the room, but to him, it is entirely out of sight and there are lots of obstacles in his path. This is why it is important to have him follow you to the box while he is learning. Eventually, he will memorize how to get there on his own and remember that it is there when he cannot see it.
Getting Started
If you are using the 'Exercise Pen' method then you will also need an exercise pen or another enclosed area. Good options for an area are hallways or small bathrooms enclosed with baby gates so that your dog can still see out. You will need a non-absorbent bed to place in the enclosed area. Good options include foam pads that are covered with vinyl or nylon or raised cot-type beds. For both the 'Exercise Pen' method and the 'Crate Training' method, you will need hollow, food-stuffed chew toys, such as kibble-stuffed Kong toys. These toys can be stuffed with your dog's kibble, soaked in water until the water is absorbed, and then placed in a bag in the freezer to freeze overnight. They can also be stuffed with dry kibble and the opening partially covered with a larger treat, so that the food will come out slowly. If you are using the 'Crate Training' method, you will also need a leash for your puppy.
With all of the methods you will need consistency, patience, perseverance, attentiveness, and at times, a good sense of humor. Remember that your Chihuahua will not be a puppy forever. Enjoy the time spent training with him now. Before you know it, he will be fully potty trained and using the litter box on his own.
The Exercise Pen Method
The Scent Method
The Crate Training Method
Success Stories and Training Questions
Training Questions and Answers
julio
I adopted by dog at 14 months of age and have been training him to go outside to the bathroom. as he is small, he has trouble sleeping through the night and it is disrupted my sleep. is it too late to train him to use a litter box or would this confuse him?
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Hello Momo, It is definitely not too late to train Julio. Because he has already been trained to go potty outside, you might want to train him to use the litter box outside first by walking him over to it on leash and following the same potty training process that you did to train him to pee outside in the first place. I would also purchase a potty encouraging spray, such as "Go Here", "Puppy Training Spray", or "Hurry Spray" and spray it on the litter box right before you encourage him to go potty to make the area smell like somewhere he should pee. Once he will go potty in the litter box while it is outside when you take him over to it, then begin one of the methods to train him how to use the litter box while he is inside also. Make sure that you choose a particular, obvious location to place the litter box in and keep it in that same location anytime that you want him to use it. You want him to learn to go potty in the box in a particular location and not just anywhere in the house. If he learns that peeing in that one location is alright but does not learn to pee in multiple locations throughout the house, then he is less likely to have any accidents. After he is trained to go potty in the litter box, continue to take him outside to pee the majority of the time so that he will continue telling you when he needs to go outside. The main drawback to litter box training for you will probably be not always having it with you when you travel places with him. You will need to reward him more for going potty outside and encourage him to tell you when he needs to go out, even when he has the litter box. You will need to do this so that he will not have accidents when you travel and he cannot find a litter box. When you travel, if he is used to alerting you when he needs to go, then he should simply ask you to go outside, instead of have an accident when there is not a litter box present. Another option is to bring a litter box with you when you travel. Once he is trained to pee in the litter box well enough to consistently go to it at night, then you might want to only use the litter box at night, take him outside to go potty during the day, and hide the litter box during the day, to keep his outdoor potty training stronger than his litter box training. Placing him in an Exercise Pen at night, with a bed on one end and the litter box on the other end, should help him to go potty there since it will be close to him. Otherwise you will still need to take him to go potty in the litter box during the night until he is trained well enough to find the box in the house during the night on his own. You may have to take him to the box at night at first anyway, but you should be able to switch to the Exercise Pen as soon as he associates the box with peeing, and then you can remove the exercise pen completely and just leave the litter box if he has proven during the day that he will go over to it on his own to pee. Make sure that you actually use one of the methods to litter box train him during the day. Do not expect him to simply go to it and pee in it on his own without being taught. Litter box training is just like outdoor potty training. You have to take the dog there, encourage him to go, reward him when he does, and keep him on a schedule until he learns to alert you or go there himself. Do not use Pee Pads for him at any point or you probably will have issues with accidents when he cannot find a Pad. Pee Pads are made out of fabric and look like rugs, carpet, shirts, and other fabric item to many dogs. A dog that cannot find a Pee Pad will often choose the next closest thing, like your shirt, instead of wait to go outside. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden
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Hi,
I am having a difficult time training my puppy to use pee-pads. We have sectioned off a small portion of the kitchen for him (about 3.5 ft by 2.5') for him to be in while we are away at work. He has food and water, a few toys, a towel for him to lay on and a scented pee-pad to use while we are gone.
He has gotten very good at being walked outside. We walk him every morning as soon as we wake up, in the afternoon as soon as we get home, and again after dinner in the evening. However, it looks like he will only eliminate on the pad if he can no longer hold it. There are days where we will come home and he will not have used it at all. Then, when we walk him, he eliminates easily.
we have a pad set up in every room of the house so he has a place to go if needed, but he will instead go on the tile.
The pads are scented with an attractant and i spray additional attractant on them as well. We reward him when we observe him eliminate on the pad. We have taken a pad and absorbed some of his own pee so it has his scent, but he will not get used to it.
Is it possible that having him get used to eliminating outside on grass 3 times a day is confusing him to use the pads?
236 Dog owners recommended
Hello Chris, He is actually doing exactly what he should be doing in terms of instinct. Pee pads are made of fabric and many dogs associate them with carpet or rugs, so they try to avoid peeing on them in an effort to be good and not have what they view as an accident inside. For these dogs I usually suggest switching to real grass pads instead. You can continue to use pee pads with the small confined area and he should become more comfortable using them eventually, but because he shows signs of associating them with other fabrics like rugs, and not wanting to go potty on them, once he does learn to pee on them easiest, you may have issues with accidents on rugs and clothing. Since he is doing so well outside, I suggest continuing to encourage pottying outside and use a real grass pad inside when you are gone if he cannot hold it that long. Disposable real grass pad - Each one is advertised to last up to two weeks: https://www.freshpatch.com Amazon.com also carried a couple of brands. Look for ones made with real grass for an easier transition to using them for him. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden
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