3 year old chichuaha

Question
Sorry for the spelling of the kind of dog.  Not sure how to spell it ha ha.  I have two sisters one is 4 the other 3.  The four year old poops and pees outside with no issue.  The 3 year old has finally learned to pee outside but will NEVER poop outside.  Well at least not anymore.  She may in her entire 3 years of life has pooped outside 2 times.  I put potty pads down and she poops next to the pads.  I do not know what to do.  Do you have any suggestions?  Thank you Missy

Answer

Hi Missy

Your three year old dog always has the option of going to the bathroom in your home, and she knows it. You've trained her to do so. Many dogs do not understand the concept of house training pads, to them it's all inside your home, and they don't get why you get so mad when they relieve themselves in one area, but not another. This is why it's unwise to start using pads in the first place. A dog needs to know that all parts of the house are totally off limits to use as their bathroom area.

You can probably train your dog to only go to the bathroom outside, but how quickly this transition takes place is largely up to you, and how well you supervise your dog.

Your dog needs to go on leashed walks. It's only during a walk (as opposed to just letting your dog outside by herself) that you can praise and reward her when she goes to the bathroom. Dogs learn through praise and reward!

Give your dog frequent opportunities to go to the bathroom outside, because you don't want her to have any chances to "go" in the house. Every time she has an accident in the house is a setback in training her. On the walks, take her to quiet areas, if there is a place you can walk to with ground cover, such as shrubs that can help her to not feel exposed, or vulnerable. It could help if you took your dog to an area where other dogs have been known to go to the bathroom. Using a longer leash, or one of those leashes that automatically extend in length can help, it gives her some space from you.

The easiest way to teach a dog to go to the bathroom in a specific place is to combine cue words with rewards. When you walk to the toilet area walk back and forth or circle around and around. At the same time say and repeat a cue word you would like to attach to the act of your dog eliminating. Any short phrase, such as "hurry up", or "go potty" will work, as long as you always use the same phrase. In your dogs mind you are building an association between the cue "hurry up!" and her emptying out. If your dog does eliminate continue to repeat your cue word and the instant she finishes doing her business enthusiastically praise and reward her with a small tasty treat. Make it clear that you are very happy with her and that she is the best dog on the block! If after 3-4 minutes of circling around your dog shows no signs of needing to eliminate take her back inside, put her in her crate or pen, and try again in about twenty minutes. Your dog should not ever have the run of your home if you aren't watching her. Accidents can happen in a second, and when they do, the fault is yours for not supervising her closely enough. If you can't watch your dog, she needs to be crated or contained in some way. Using a child gate or two is a good way of containing a dog to part of a room, if she isn't crate trained. Lay newspaper down over the entire containment area, this way if she has an accident there's no way for her to miss the paper.

If you discover an "accident" after the fact, clean it up without a fuss - punishment today won't stop the behavior from being repeated tomorrow. Usually, consistent supervision or confinement and regularly scheduled bathroom walks (don't forget the rewards!) will eventually teach a dog what is expected of her. If you catch her in the act, tell her "NO!" but resist the urge to shout. Instead, reward her lavishly when she goes where she's supposed to.

Try finding out if your dog prefers to go on grass, concrete, rocks, mulch. Dogs often develop a preference depending upon where they've been taught to go in the past.

I hope that helps.
Best of luck.

PS. It's spelled "Chihuahua.