Potty training rescue puppy.

Question
QUESTION: We (single Mom, 16 yr. old son, 11 yr old male Doxy, and 4 yr. old female Doxy)adopted an 8 wk old Doxy/Chihuahua mix on the 13th of March. It is now the 6th of May. Houstraining was going well (using a pad on the inside and the outdoors and crate during the day and at bedtime) until spring break (April 13-17). Then my Son was home and let little Zoey run amuck without taking her out as frequently as he should have. I was taking her out every 45 min. as her little bladder did not last any longer than that. So now...well, she is even peeing and pooing on the floor with out using the pad. Last night she had been in from our last outing about 30 min. when she looked right at me and squatted and successfully peed right on the carpet. She gets lots of attention, lots of love, lots of praise when doing as she should. WHAT IS GOING ON?? How do I fix this? I have never taken longer than 3 weeks to house train a dog although I have never had any Chi mix before. Is it the breed and what do I do now? Thank you so much for your advice.

ANSWER: Hi Renee...

First off, let me say that house training a Chihuahua can be a long and frustrating task, so you're not alone.  They can do really well for a long time and then have sudden set backs that make you just sit and scratch your head.

Are you saying that she was using a pad while in the house and would do her business outside and that you crated her during the day and at bedtime?  Tell me more about that.  If she's crated during the day, for how long?  

Zoey's bladder should be holding longer than 45 minutes now and that concerns me.  Have you had a well puppy check recently?  When she went outside and then came back in and urinated right in front of you, had she urinated when she was outside?

You can fix this problem, but it's not going to be a 3 week proposition.  First off, make sure that she's medically fine - that's very important.  Second, clean those areas where she indiscriminately urinated and pooped when your son let her run amuck very well using a really good enzyme cleaner.  If you even think that there could be any odor left, clean again and then again.  Next, don't let Zoey have the run of the house.  It's too much too soon and she's still just a little pup.  Keep her in a specific area of the house (kitchen with a baby gate, or the bedroom with a baby gate) and only let her out with you when she can be totally and completely supervised and, most important of all, be CONSISTENT.  Talk to your son about how you're a team in this effort.  You're already using positive reinforcement and that's GREAT!  Keep it up and really praise her when she does well.  

Zoey needs to poop almost immediately after eating and you should put her where you want her to "go" and praise her when she does it.  If she doesn't "go", put her in her confined area and then take her out again in awhile.  Now, I imagine that you're "free feeding" her since she's so young.  That's fine, but it makes determining when she will poop a bit more difficult.  I was home with my most recent pup and fed her four or five meals per day when she was Zoey's age and it made it easier to work with her.  Renee, for now, put Zoey on a pad to do her business and don't expect her to remember to use a pad AND go outside.  Make it simple - her concentration isn't that great yet. She'll take to going outside on her own later.  Pups usually need to urinate after playing hard, after eating and most certainly when they wake up.  Be prepared to put her where her pad is at those times.

So, get back to me with answers to the questions I've asked above...

Jo Ann
 

   



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello Jo Ann!
Thank you so much for your answer and time! I feel like I am at the end of my rope with her today. To answer your questions:
When we first brought her home I put pads down. I would also take her out with the other dogs. When I found she was peeing every 45 min. I would take her out about every 45 min. We got her on a Friday evening so I could be home with her over the weekend to acclimate her. She would sleep in a little crate on my bed at night as the other 2 dogs sleep with me in bed. So she was sleeping with us and she did very well. Although she would potty in there at night, she no longer does that and she is now sleeping in bed with out sleeping in the crate. I know she can hold it all night but if I wake up in the night I will take her out. She will quickly potty and be ready to go back to bed. During the day she stays in a little bigger crate which is pushed against Buddy and Cleos crate. They are crated for about 8 hours. She does potty in there during the day.

Her bladder is holding much longer than before. I would say around 2.5 hours. She had pottied outside before she peed on the floor. However, we have a large yard and we walk around the yard or she runs and plays. We are out sometimes for 30-40 minutes.

She has not had a well puppy check yet. She is getting spade this Thursday the 14th. They will give her her shots then also.

I don't believe free feeding is the way to go so we have set meal times. When she first came home she was very very thin and was covered in fleas. I cooked most of the food and mixed it with  softened (but still crunchy)Iams puppy food. Like chicken and rice mixed with the puppy food with a bit of olive oil for her coat. She seemed afraid of the bowl and I was so concerned because she was sooo thin I hand fed her 5 times a day. She still seems a bit fearful of the bowl and I still occasionally hand feed her but she is beginning to eat from the bowl on her own with the other 2 dogs. She has rounded out well and her coat is nice and shinny so I have cut her meals down to 3 a day. She looks quite healthy now.

She is only allowed to roam in the kitchen and living room. I will block off the kitchen when we are in the living room and vise versa. She loves to be in the kitchen when I am cooking and will bark impatiently to eat. She wasn't all that interested in food when she first came home. What a change!

I occasionally think I have made a mistake in adopting her. I have never had such a difficult time with training. Our oldest dog fell last year going up the steps to bed. He was paralyzed for 4 weeks and has probably recovered 90%. Cleo, who is deaf, was just lost when Buddy couldn't play or walk the yard with her. She missed laying by him and wouldn't leave the porch as he was in a basket on the porch. I had to carry her off the porch.Buddy lay in the basket 4 weeks and finally started to recover. He was on bed rest (basket rest) for 6 weeks. We cleaned him, powdered him, fed him and Cleo just didn't understand what was wrong. I saw Zoeys pic on the computer one day and thought...Cleo is going to need a companion if anything else should happen to Buddy. She needs another dog to be with and Zoey seemed a good choice. I figured she would learn with Buddy and Cleo. Cleo gets fed up with the energy, although she mothers her and plays a lot with her, when she stops playing little Zoey just does not stop. I think she was taken from her mother too soon and has not learned the early socialization as well as she should have.

As far as the positive reinforcement...yes but she has experienced some negative as of this weekend. Now she is pooing on the hardwood floor and rug instead of the pads.

I picked her up and told her in a loud voice she did a bad thing and shook my finger at her. I know it was probably the wrong thing to do but positive reinforcement does not seem to be working on this willful pup.

I appreciate your advice. I love her so much but I am losing my patience. I hope there are more words of wisdom you could bless me with that will turn this pup around.

I look forward to hearing from you! Take care,
Renee

ANSWER: Thanks for writing back, Renee, with more information.

First off, I really want to address spaying her and having her shots done at the same time.  I would NEVER suggest overwhelming a dog's system by doing all of these things at one time.  I would never schedule an appointment for a spay surgery without having the dog properly examined first so as to rule out any potential problems.  Your dog could be manually manipulated and found to have a hernia or any number of things.  Also, it's very important in my book that the vet be familiar with the gas anesthetics that need to be used on this breed, etc., and I'd want to talk to the vet about that.  Generally, it's more expensive to have small breeds like the Yorkie or Chi spayed because they must regulate body temperature very closely and using a safer anesthesia often brings the bill up as well.  I always have blood work done prior no matter how young the dog is that I'm neutering.  I just want to "play it safe" and not have any regrets.  It's good to remember that a small dog like your little Chi is given the same amount of serum in a vaccine as a large breed dog - there are no differences and it can be very difficult on a pup.  To further tax the system with surgery, is just too much in my opinion.  When I do vaccines, I never do a combo shot - I always give the vaccines separately and a couple weeks apart.  Chis and other small breed dogs (including Doxies) are often allergic to the lepto portion of combined shots, too.  Reactions can and do happen.  And if you think she's having problems with indiscriminate pooping and peeing now, a sick puppy with an over taxed system can be a real problem for sure.

I just really don't like to see dogs crated for so long.  I run a couple of Chihuahua groups on Yahoo and just about everyone that I've come across on there uses an x-pen or a play pen to confine their dogs during the day.  Personally, I think this dog is regressing in her toilet habits some due to it being normal for some regression to take place in the process of toilet training and because she's getting confused with doing her business in the crate during the day.  It's commonly said that a dog won't poop or pee where it sleeps and this dog is getting use to it due to doing it in the crate and then she doesn't care about doing it in other places - she's losing her own "shame" at pooping or peeing where it's uncomfortable or "bad".  

I still think that you need to talk to a vet about how long she's holding her bladder.  I've read all these "rules of thumb" about how long a puppy should be able to hold their bladder based on age, but each dog is different based on size, how much they eat and how often they take in liquids....

Just a note, but try using Omega 3 fatty acids for her coat instead of olive oil.  There's some great products out there made of salmon oil (source of omega 3 fatty acid) that are perfect for the type of problem this Chi had when you got her.  

She may be afraid to eat from a bowl due to having to compete for food with her litter mates and the mother before you got her.  If she continues to show fear, just put her food on a flat plate to encourage that she eat on her own and not expect to be hand fed.  Two things that Chis get use to real FAST is expecting to get human food and being hand fed.  That seems to be a big trait with this breed and I'd encourage gradually stopping both if she's still expecting to be hand fed and wanting rice and chicken.  There are some really good foods out there that have human grade chicken that also have all the nutrients that a growing puppy needs.  I would say that about 1/3 of the people that join my Chi groups come because they can't get their Chis to eat anything but "people food".

I understand what you're saying about how her constant playing kind of annoys the other dogs, etc.  She's a puppy - that's why she's not stopping playing when everyone else is done.  I well remember how fed up my older Chis were with my last puppy.  They wanted to play, groom or whatever on their own terms and the puppy needed more play than that.

If she's pooping and peeing on the hardwood floors and the rugs, then she's still not able to be out and about because she's not "getting it" yet.  I really want to encourage you to either purchase or borrow an x-pen and leave her in it with her pads and praise her to NO end when she uses them!  Only have her out under direct supervision when you can grab her as she's about to poop or pee and set her back in the x-pen.  Determine what her very favorite treat is and give it ONLY when she uses that pee pad (along with lots of praise).  The nice thing about an x-pen vs. a crate or something else is that you can manipulate it and leave one side open eventually for her to go in and use the pee pad by herself (in time).

I wanted to mention one more thing...  When I was pad training my youngest Chi, I noticed that she went through a phase where she wouldn't poop on a pee pad if she had already peed on it or she wouldn't pee on it if she had pooped on it.  When I mentioned that to people with pups on my Chi group, a couple people said that their pups were doing the same thing.  Evidently, that's a type of "phase" that they pass through.

I feel your frustration and I do sense that you're having regrets to some extent about adding this puppy to your life.  I don't always feel that people are doing the wrong thing when they decide that they honestly can't deal with a puppy and decide to rehome it responsibly.  Naturally, we'd all like to encourage that people research a breed before getting a dog, but it's not always a perfect world.  If you really think you can't deal with her, I always think it's better to try to find a good home before they get too old and have to go through a huge adjustment.  I really do think you need to talk to a qualified vet (with experience in this breed and not a "discount" vet who offers low cost appointments and neuters - they're usually not the ones that will have the best advice for you).

I really am pulling for you and this little dog.  I feel that you're smart and ethical and you'll do what you can with the best intentions for this puppy always on your mind.

Please write again if I can clarify anything or be of any help.

Jo Ann

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks so much Jo Ann!!
I will absolutely keep Zoey and continue to work with her. I knew she was a rescue pup when I adopted her and thought that may come with some extra training and adjusting. I know doxys as we have 2. I don't know Chi's tho. I apologize for not sounding committed. I just didn't know what I was doing wrong. I was a bit panicked. I am very good with dogs and have trained several. They have all been members of our family. It just gets a little exasperating at times. There is no regret...I just thought I was failing her. She is the sweetest little pup. With your sound advice the training will go smoother. It's good to know this breed is more challenging and it is not my failure.

I tried the plate this morning and she ate without any hand feeding! Now why didn't I think of that....

She didn't poo in the house last night or this morning. Maybe we are heading the right direction.

I am very concerned about her appt. on Thursday. The local animal rescue...Waggin Tails... is doing the spay and shots. I need to question them but will ask you what to ask so I can tell if they know the Chi breed in order to do it. I can  always cancel. They want to keep her over night (which I would rather have her at home). And I plan to take the day off from work the following day to keep watch and take care of her.

Could you please let me know which web site is the Chi site you spoke of?

Thanks Jo Ann!!!
Renee

Answer
Hi there Renee!

No, no....please do not think that you didn't sound committed.  Truly, I felt that you were being VERY responsible in seeking information and I thought there might be the possibility that you had chosen a breed that wouldn't fit in with you and your family (maybe).  You're right about how a rescue can require just that much more patience AND then there's the "usual" characteristics of the breed that sometime get overlooked.  You haven't been failing her...  You're a role model in how you've been seeking to solve problems like you have.  I mean that Renee!

Why didn't you think about putting food on a plate?  Well, probably for the same reason that all of us don't think of "just the right thing to do" when our emotions are all mixed up into the problem.  I'm glad that the suggestion worked and that she didn't poop in the house when you wrote the above email.

I'm concerned about her appointment, too.  This IS Thursday now when I'm answering this, so I don't know what you decided to do.  Let me know, okay?!?  I have a feeling that you were proactive and asked questions and made sound decisions.

If you respond and mark it "private" instead of "public", I'll reply and let you know the name of the Chihuahua Yahoo group that I run.

You take care, Renee, and PLEASE let me know how things went today.  I think you had enough information to make a sound decision and I'm anxious to hear about it!

Jo Ann