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Ugh, she made me take it. She was getting married and merging into a very large family and they couldn't keep the dogs anymore and I wanted the terrier but had to take the chihuahua too. The dog is about 3-1/2 years old now and I still can't get her potty trained--it is a never ending battle and I cleaned up 3 messes today even though I was home all day and let the dogs out every hour plus a couple of short walks. I tried crate training her early on but came home one day and found her all covered in diarrhea and didn't have the heart to put her back in there after I cleaned up the mess. Is there anything that can be done at this point? I'd find her a new home b/c truth be told, I'm so fed up with this that I can't love her like I should but my dd's do. They are teenagers though and the youngest will leave for college in a year.
The dog knows how to ask to go out and she knows what to do when she gets out there but I swear she has the doggie equivalent of ADHD and gets distracted from her business and holds more poop than any dog I've ever seen--she will go poop outside and then come in and do it in the house 15 minutes later.
The dog is also very embarrassing--when company comes to the door she will screech like I'm in there kicking her--I actually had someone ask me that one time. I guess this is common to the breed? I just cannot seem to warm up to this dog.
if shes going poop that often and seems ot be pooping alot the first thing id be doing is figuring out hat food your feeding...a HEALTHY dog on a GOOD diet will poop once or twice a day...and they should be relitivly small and firm...bad diet filled with grains will equal more poop more often and more of it!
so check your food, first ingredient should be an idetnfied meat or meat meal (NOT byproduct) and the food should not have corn in it (ideally no soy either, and completly grain free is even better)
next get her vet checked, an adult dog that cant go an hour between potty breaks couldhavea medical issue, incontience is a very real medical condition and chihuahuas are prone to kidney problems which can casue excessive urination ect.
then get back to crate/restricton training...
when shes not crated/100% absolulty supervised she should be tethered to you via a leash and harness. the moment she acts like shes sniffing to go potty take her out.
if she cant go an hour without an accident take her out every 1/2 hour...and dont come back in untill shes been potty, if shes comming in and going 15 mins later shes not finnishing...so give her more time outside to finnish...if shes getting distracted by people/other dogs build her a little run area, she goes in there untill shes been potty then she can come out and have a good run around then put her back after about 15 mins for a second potty chance, excersize "encorages" elimination of the bowel...so her first pottying may not empty the bowel, the excersize of simply running back to the house can then "loosen" whats left but it can take a few mins for the urge to kick back in...so 15 mins later, shes ready to go again.
If you dont feel your bonding to her though...it might be a good idea to try finding her a new home...if your stressing she will be too and that can increase potty issues in a typically "nervous" breed
If you dont feel your bonding to her though...it might be a good idea to try finding her a new home...if your stressing she will be too and that can increase potty issues in a typically "nervous" breed
That is good advice and I will work on it some more--do you think it's too late at her age though? Also, she appears to be very healthy and sleek and slim though sometimes she poops and pees so much I can't even believe that she's still alive. She still has a ton of energy though and when I let her out she races around the yard about 5 times. I usually use that in lieu of a walk since walking makes her cough up foam--it doesn't seem to hurt her but it sure is embarrassing. Another lovely chihuahua trait.
Yesterday she threw up about 1 cup of slime and that right there makes me think she's losing too much fluids. I feed her Trader Joe's dog food--I've had to be careful what I feed her b/c some dog food makes her pee the bed--she will just pee and sleep right through it--hot dogs do that too but I'm ashamed that I even know that. Last year we had an international student fly over from Korea and she went straight to bed as soon as she got to our house and the dog got up on her pillow and went to sleep and peed right on the girl's head! I had fed her Kibbles and Bits that afternoon b/c I couldn't get to TJ's on time with all I had to do that day.
Yes the bonding thing--seems like I'm just cross with her all the time but my dd's adore her, esp my oldest. She wants to take her when she moves but she moved into a house where the dog could ruin the floors so I feel like I'm sort of stuck for now. I'm cross all the time and I feel guilty about it and that's not what pet owning should be about and I've just had a lot of stress on top of this.
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I also suggest a quality, preferably grain-free food.
And it's never too late to potty-train your dog. Good luck! I hope you and your chi get to a good place and love each other for many years to come.
Here's is the "bible" from an old-time poster here, ViralMD.
Below is my housetraining post. IT WORKS. But you must follow it TO THE LETTER, as must EVERYONE in the house. It's good for puppies AND grown dogs. And realize that some dogs NEVER learn to signal. Neither of my dogs does.
Housetraining your dog (puppy or adult!)
The first thing you need to do is to remember that you’re trying to reinforce a new behavior. That means that the rewards for this behavior must be WONDERFUL. NOT crap from the store. Wonderful treats are poached chicken breast/turkey breast, cheese and steak. And you don’t have to use big pieces. Tiny pieces (about 3mm cubes) are just fine! I poach a whole turkey breast every few weeks, cut it into hunks when it’s cool enough to handle, wrap them well and store them in the freezer. When I need some, I’ll thaw a hunk overnight and cut off pieces and dice finely, storing them in a plastic bag in the fridge. One hunk will last about five days. Cheese is also popular, so variety is fine.
I carry these plastic bags in my jacket pockets in the winter and in a fanny pack in warmer weather. You HAVE to have these with you, or this method won’t work, because you need to reward as soon as the dog finishes pooping or peeing. It’s not going to work if the rewards are in the house.
Remember that you’re trying to change a very ingrained behavior. Some dogs like to feel certain things under their feet when they eliminate, like fabric, or newspaper. This is called a ‘substrate preference.’ What you’re trying to do is change this substrate preference, and to do that you have to make the treats SO wonderful that the dog will change this very well-entrenched behavior. Thus the chicken, cheese, steak.
I love clicker training, but this can be done without clickers. You just need a way to ‘mark’ the behavior you want to reinforce. Use the word ‘YESSSSS!!!!’ very enthusiastically – that works for some.
You’re going to need to GO OUTSIDE WITH your dog and the dog needs to be on a leash. Yes, even in winter. If you don’t reward IMMEDIATELY after the event (when dog immediately finishes pooping or peeing) and wait inside, the dog is going to be reinforced for coming inside, not for doing its business. So, leash up your dog. STAND IN ONE PLACE. Be boring. Bring a book or magazine for yourself.
Eventually, the dog will do what you’re waiting for. The NANOSECOND that the dog is finished, HAVE A PARTY – lots of loud, high-pitched praise, treats and running around. You want to make this memorable for your dog! You’ll find that once the first event is achieved, the others will come more quickly. Keep on treating (you don’t have to throw a party except for milestones – a milestone = if he only pooped outside but now peed, too, or something equivalent to that) until he’s good and used to peeing/pooping outside. Before you know it, you have a trained dog.
Regarding accidents in the house: NO SCOLDING. Just clean them up. If you scold you’ll get the dog to think it’s bad to pee or poop and he’ll do it in places you won’t see. Until you step in it. Invest in a big bottle of Nature’s Miracle or Simple Solution and use it liberally on accidents.
To quote Patricia McConnell, author of “The Other End of the Leash” and co-author of “Way to Go” (a booklet on housetraining), “Once you face the fact that you just have take your dog out every time you turn around, give them the treat immeditely after they potty, and prevent accidents in the house… well, it usually goes so smoothly.”
With young puppies, remember they have little control of the muscle that holds the bladder closed. This is something they grow into. Just as it’s not expected that a human baby is toilet trained at six months, don’t expect much from a puppy. Patience, patience, patience!!!! The nervous system in a puppy has to mature, and it won’t have much control over the sphincter (closing muscle) at the neck of the bladder until six or seven months. The same goes for the anal sphincter. Until control is achieved, both of these muscles operate on reflex: there are stretch receptors in the bladder wall. When the bladder is full, it sends impulses to the spinal cord and these, in turn, send signals to the sphincter to open and the dog pees.
In the stomach wall, there are also stretch receptors. So when the dog eats and the stomach is stretched, the impulses again go to the spinal cord, but this time the reflex, outgoing, nerve signals are sent to the anal sphincter, so the dog defecates. This operates in people, too – which is why some people rush to the ‘reading room’ after a meal – especially breakfast.
I'm a lifelong dog person and I'll admit right up front Chihuahuas are a challenge. They CAN be great dogs but they are not the easiest to train. You need to train the dog or the dog will train you. Looks like the dog is winning right now.
1) Chi's are so tiny and they don't eat much. Look up some local breeders and see what they feed theirs. Food really matters for these little guys and they need quality food. It's probably a little more expensive but lets face it, it will last forever and it's better than picking up poop all the time. She should have firm, pellet-poop maybe twice a day. Talk to your new breeder friends about treats too. What are the good choices? What do they use for training? You have to find a teeny tiny treat your dog loves. Always carry treats with you. Give her praise and a treat every time you catch her doing something right. When she does something wrong, say nothing(attention is attention) turn your back and ignore her. In no time at all, she will run to you for a treat/praise every time she does her business outside. Consistency is the key.
2) Get out the crate, cover it with a towel to make it like a den. First, all you do is feed the dog in the crate, door open. The crate is the ONLY place the dog can eat. Give the dog 15 or 20 min to eat then take the food away. If you have been free feeding, stop now. In a short time the dog will figure out you are the great giver of food and the only place she eats is in the kennel. When you pick up the food dish, she should run for the kennel. As soon as she starts doing this, give her the same command every time. I use KENNEL UP and the dogs run for their kennels quite happily. Give your dog treats, food, praise whenever she is in the kennel. Once she gets to this point, close the door and sit by the kennel and give her treats for a minute or so twice a day. The next step is to put her in the kennel and walk out of the room for a couple minutes. Then come back in, praise her and hand out treats. The trick is to do this consistently over time. It will probably take a couple weeks to get to this point. That's OK.
3) Do take the dog to the vet and make sure there is no physiological reason for her bad potty habits. Chi's sometimes have issues and I knew one that would pee whenever you called her name...every time. And she was completely healthy.
4) Remember, the dog wants to please you. She is confused and doesn't understand what you want. She has been traumatized, moved, and lost her person. She doesn't feel secure and just like a kid, she will act out. What I described shouldn't take much time at all. Do the actual training twice a day for 5 min each time. This can be increased once the dog GETS it and no longer finds it stressful. In the beginning, training should be done when it's quiet and with as few distractions as possible. Once you and the dog have the basics, you can train the dog to do almost anything. Consistency, time, patience, and treats. Training will make you both much happier. Dogs love understanding what you want! They love training because they get your undivided attention.
That is good advice and I will work on it some more--do you think it's too late at her age though? Also, she appears to be very healthy and sleek and slim though sometimes she poops and pees so much I can't even believe that she's still alive. She still has a ton of energy though and when I let her out she races around the yard about 5 times. I usually use that in lieu of a walk since walking makes her cough up foam--it doesn't seem to hurt her but it sure is embarrassing. Another lovely chihuahua trait.
Yesterday she threw up about 1 cup of slime and that right there makes me think she's losing too much fluids. I feed her Trader Joe's dog food--I've had to be careful what I feed her b/c some dog food makes her pee the bed--she will just pee and sleep right through it--hot dogs do that too but I'm ashamed that I even know that. Last year we had an international student fly over from Korea and she went straight to bed as soon as she got to our house and the dog got up on her pillow and went to sleep and peed right on the girl's head! I had fed her Kibbles and Bits that afternoon b/c I couldn't get to TJ's on time with all I had to do that day.
Yes the bonding thing--seems like I'm just cross with her all the time but my dd's adore her, esp my oldest. She wants to take her when she moves but she moved into a house where the dog could ruin the floors so I feel like I'm sort of stuck for now. I'm cross all the time and I feel guilty about it and that's not what pet owning should be about and I've just had a lot of stress on top of this.
It's never too late. NEVER!
Address the slime thing by dumping the collar and getting a harness. She is pulling too hard on the leash but she is so small you can't feel it.
One of my GSP's, Lola, is a rescue. She was a feral dog who lived in the wilds of South Dakota and even managed to have and raise a pup on her own. This is more common than you might think. People go out and buy a hunting dog and don't realize they have to train the dog. They take the dog out hunting and when it doesn't perform as expected, they dump the dog on the spot. Some even shoot them.
A farmer saw Lola and her pup out hunting(pheasants) several times and finally trapped them and brought them to a shelter in Huron SD. The shelter did basic socialization then put Lola up for adoption. I had been looking for another GSP to be a companion for Spot(also a rescue). I thought they would be terminally cute together because Spot is white with brown spots and Lola is brown with white spots. I knew she would be a lot of work!
I trained her the exact same way I described to you. And it worked faster than I thought it would. Lola desperately wanted people, family, food, and a home. She wanted to belong somewhere. She turned out to be a great dog. The biggest challenge turned out to be the two of them competing for my attention.
Last edited by yellowsnow; 06-01-2012 at 01:37 PM..
Reason: added
I know nothing at all about chihuahuas but wanted to speak to the bonding a bit - I adopted my dog very quickly after my previous dog died - a very emotional decision after reading her shelter ad, and when I say she was a challenge it's the understatement of the year. My last dog was a 15-year-old shih tzu, this was a 1.3 year old mystery pix of potential carolina dog, lab, feist, boxer, who knows ("hound mix"). She was INSANE. I had some trouble bonding with her at first, nearly tried to find her a new home, was overcome with guilt, but I found that once I enrolled her in obedience training we did quickly bond. The training very specifically helped with that process...might be an option for you, she's not too old to learn anything!
My dog is still difficult in certain ways but she's no longer destroying everything...
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I just cannot seem to warm up to this dog.
Last year we had an international student fly over from Korea and she went straight to bed as soon as she got to our house and the dog got up on her pillow and went to sleep and peed right on the girl's head! I had fed her Kibbles and Bits that afternoon b/c I couldn't get to TJ's on time with all I had to do that day. 
