major potty problem

Question
QUESTION: I have a one-year-old chihuahua mix and we have such difficulty with him using the bathroom outdoors.  He and his brother (from the same litter) get walked 3x/day - around 8am, 3pm & 7:30pm.  They are fed twice - once at around 8am and the final feeding around 5:30pm.  The brother usually takes care of all his business within 10-15 min, but Max takes more like 45 minutes or so, if he defecates at all.  He gets distracted very easily and doesn't seem constipated. We've tried changing his food and adjusting his eating time but neither seemed to make a difference.  He has an occasional accident maybe once every other month, but goes in his crate overnight quite often (average twice/week).  He doesn't go during the day when he's in the crate though.  We don't know what to do. Is this merely behavioral? Any suggestions?

ANSWER: If I am wrong, please let me know... but it sounds as though these dogs are only going outside three times a day. They are fed in the morning, pottied, and then do not go outside for 7-1/2 hours. The next trip out is 4-1/2 hours later, and then they do not go outside again for 12-1/2 hours.

Now, obviously, not all dogs are the same, but asking a dog to hold everything for 12-1/2 hours after being fed two hours before that is just setting it up for overnight accidents. Dogs drink a fair amount of water the first four hours after eating, and between the eating and the drinking, most will need to go outside about 4-5 hours later. Pottying the dog just before bedtime should help with his overnight crate accidents.

As to his being a "slow eliminator", keep a potty journal so that you know the time(s) of day that he usually eliminates, and you have a better idea if he is a once-or-twice-a-day dog. When you take him out for his walk, and it is about time for him to eliminate, give him a bit of an enema with a baby suppository or insert a cardboard match until just the tip is sticking out of his anus. This doesn't work for all dogs, but it will get most dogs to eliminate in a timely fashion. When he does potty outside, give him LOTS of praise.

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

QUESTION: Thank you so much for answering my question so quickly and so thoroughly. I do have a concern however.  Unless I'm mistaken, it seems as if the current eating and walking schedule we have in place are problematic for the dogs.  What kind of schedule would you recommend for our 1-yr-old chihuahua-lapso pups?  Would we need to modify this when they turn two?  Thanks for all your input.

Answer
My schedule here is the same for all the dogs, except maybe if we have puppies. Puppies do need to go out a bit more often, and often during the night those early days of housebreaking. Really old dogs sometimes need more attention, also.

Mine go out first thing in the morning, usually between 7-8AM (and get fed), then at lunchtime, generally between 11:30 AM-1:00PM, at dinner time, usually around 5PM before we eat, and then last thing at night before I go to bed. Well, actually earlier than that since I am a night owl. They usually go out between 10:15-10:45PM.

I only feed my adult dogs once a day, in the morning, so lunchtime is their most important going-outside time since they've been tanking up on water all morning to help digest their kibble.

When the weather gets bitterly cold as it has been here lately (Minnesota), I have let them out very briefly mid-morning and again mid-afternoon since not everyone will finish eliminating when it is a million degrees below zero; they pound on the door to get me to let them back inside instead of finishing up their business. Mine go out a minimum of four times a day, which is usually quite adequate.

You have to come up with a schedule that suits your dogs and your life-style. If I was working away from home, I would only feed my dogs as soon as I got home, and not in the morning... or I would have someone come in to let dogs out at lunchtime. One needs to do whatever it takes to avoid having the dogs eliminate in the house, or worse, in a crate. Anything else is just not fair to the dogs, and it teaches them to have dirty habits.

Another option if one is going to be out for too long is to put the dogs in an exercise pen with a door-less crate at one end for them to sleep in and papers at the other end for them to potty on. Many people with toy or smaller breeds do something similar to that.