New Member

Posts: 2
From: Utah, USA
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 09-23-2003 07:36 PM         

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I'm new here - we've had the cutest possible little malti-poo in our family for a month now - he's 12 weeks old. His parents were 4.5 and 6 lbs., so we're not expecting him to get very big. We're currently training him with the purina litter box - which I'm very fond of - but I'm hoping some of you experienced folks can tell me if it's realistic to ever get a tiny male dog house trained? We have days where I'm thinking "what a genius!" with no accidents whatsoever, than we'll be hit with a day where he doesn't seem to have a clue he's not supposed to whee wherever he feels like it. I have a friend with a 2-y-o maltese who tells me there's no hope - they just have bladders that are too small. Is this true? Oh - btw, he will be getting "fixed" in a few days. Thanks for any words of wisdom!

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Member

Posts: 29
From:Iowa
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 09-23-2003 10:23 PM         

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I have a female Chihuahua that just got to 3lbs. I was thinking about trying the doggie litter box. How is it working for you? I dont want to take her outside in the winter time so I figured this would solve it. As for little dogs never being potty trained, I dont think that is right. My little Lucy holds it for 8 hours at night. He may have a bladder infection, or just forgets where to go. I dont really have much knowledge in this department.

~~Carmen~~

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* When you feel dog tired at night, it may be because you've growled all day * * A barking dog is more useful then a sleeping lion * * The average dog is nicer then the average person * * The reason why dogs have so many friends is because he wags his tail instead of his tounge *

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Member

Posts: 27
From:Edgewood, MD, USA
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 09-24-2003 04:41 AM         

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My Shihpoo Sophie is about 5.5 pounds and 4.5 months old and she'll hold it all night if I put her in her crate. 12 weeks is really young, so don't give up yet! Everything I've read says that even if your dog seems trained, to still expect occassional accidents up until they're 6-8 months old. I would maybe pair the crate with the litter box, letting him sleep in the crate at night, taking him out after a couple hours to go in the litter, and putting him back in it. You might also give your puppy a treat for going in the box. Also, make sure that you get a good pet odor cleaner for his messes as the smell of his urine and certain cleaners with ammonia can actually attract him to wee there again.

Sorry if some of the above sounds basic! A lot of those things I didn't know til I started researching, so I hope it helps ya out.

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New Member

Posts: 2
From: Utah, USA
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 09-24-2003 03:49 PM         

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First, I thought I should clarify that I'm not expecting my little guy to be housetrained at this point - just looking for others experiences on whether it will ever happen, and when that time might be so that I'll know at what point I can stop being optimistic =) Also, with question to the litter box - I'm thrilled with it. I've done the in and out the door thing, and that gets really hard, especially in the winter. We have little Toby in a play yard - it's one of those with six panels - inside the yard is his crate and his litter box. We started with just four panels, then five, then six, then back down to five because he started peeing in the run area after we went to six - and still is at five. But before then we could let him have free run of the whole area, he'd go in his crate to sleep and come out to pee or poo. He picked up on it after about two days and never had a mess (until week 3) in that area. Outside of it is harder of course - he still hasn't caught on to seeking it out, so it's up to us to get him there on time, which was fine when he was living in his run without accident. Now that he'll pee in that area, we have to keep him crated more than I would like. I have been using an antiseptic spray with ammonia in it - so I'll run out and get the right kind, maybe that'll solve the problem! The other issue with the litter box is whether or not you want them to go on grass - which can confuse the inside issue if you allow both. But we take Toby with us whenever we can, and don't want to be hauling around a litter box. He took right to peeing on the grass, and seems to avoid the cement even, so I think in the long-run that will work out well. Sorry for the run on - I still am interested in hearing about older toy dog owners experiences with housetraining. Thanks!

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New Member

Posts: 9
From:Chicago, Illinois
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 09-24-2003 05:05 PM         

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hi, I also have a 12 week old male maltipoo. I am not sure if it is him or us that is house-trained, but so far (2 weeks) he has only had 2 accidents in the house. I am following the schedule they gave us when we brought him home with a little variation. At night I put him to bed in his little laundry basket with a cover over it and he settles down for the entire night, never making a sound till around 7:00 in the morning. First thing in the morning I pick him up and take him immediatly out side to do his business, I take him to the same spot every morning. Then we come back into the house for breakfast and play time. At eight I take him out again to finish what he might not have done the first time. Then it's back into the house and into his crate with his little chew toy he seems to like a lot.At around 11:00 I take him out of his crate and immediatly out side again back to the same spot, then back into the house for an hour of play time and nibbling on his lunch. One more trip outside and it's back into the crate until 3:00 when my grandchildren come home. My grandson walks him this time and after he does his business he comes back in for 1/2 hour of play, then he goes back into the crate until 5:30. At 5:30 he gets his longest walk of the day. After his walk I give him his dinner and then he plays until around 7:00 with my husband. I take him out around 7:00 and then bring him in and give him his daily brushing and pretty much the run of the house until 8:30, when I take him out for the last time. After that it is bed time! The couple of times I have caught him starting to squat or sniff around I just give a very loud NO! and scoop him up and out side as quick as I can.So far he has never had an accident in his crate or his bed, I figure eventually I can increase the time out of the crate as he gets more in the habit of going outside.One thing I always do is praise him to high heaven when he goes outside, he really seems to respond to the praise.

[This message has been edited by Deb2950 (edited 09-24-2003).]

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Member

Posts: 63
From:
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 09-24-2003 06:11 PM         

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I think it is realistic to expect a toy dog to be potty trained. My Toy Poodle is almost 2 and has been potty trained for quite a long time now. I think she was done by the time she was 4 months or so. I had another that wasn't trained when I got her at 6 months and she potty trained fairly quickly too. My current dog only weighs 3 1/2 pounds so she is very small. They may have smaller bladders but they also don't drink as much. Not to scare you but I have always heard that Yorkies and Maltese are very hard to train. Hopefully your dog will take after the Poo side in this area. They seem to be fairly easy to train. It sounds like you are doing a good job. It can be 2 steps forward and 3 steps back sometimes but it will happen. My dog is trained to go in a litterbox and outside. It works nice when we go away for the day. I trained for outside first then added the litterbox later. Good luck!!

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New Member

Posts: 2
From:
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 09-30-2003 03:52 PM         

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My mom has a chihauha that is litter box trained. When the doggy door is closed, she uses the litter box.

They trained her the same way you would if you were training her to go outside, just took her to the box at the appropriate times. The outside training just came on it's own after she knew to only go in the box, and not in the house anywhere else.

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