potty training advice

Question
Hello, we love you column. I have a five week old mini pbp, her name is Sweetie. Can you please tell us the proper way to potty train her. We have her litter box in her cage with her. It has clean pine shavings in it. SHe uses her crate to eat only. She stays in her cage when we arent home. She is eating Mazuri food and of course some fresh produce. SHe also drinks very well.. Just the issue of pottying on the carpet.. Thanks for all your help and Happy New Year.

Answer
Piggies learn very quickly and unlearn very slowly. Because Piggy has already learned to potty on the carpet, she needs to learn a new habit while unlearning an old one.

Clean the problem spot on the carpet thoroughly with any good product designed to remove pet odors. If possible, keep her out of that room or at least arrange things so she can not reach that spot. Later on you can start feeding her there, so she gets a new association with the area. If you must allow her in that room, take her to potty before bringing her in, and make sure she actually potties. Keep her on a harness and leash right at your side so she has no opportunity to approach the problem spot, and take her to potty the instant she shows any interest in that spot.

Take Piggy to her potty box often. Once she's in the box, don't let her get out without pottying. As soon as she wakes up in the morning. Before and after breakfast. The instant she wakes up for a nap. At least once every two hours. The idea is to keep her so empty, she doesn't have the need to potty anywhere else.

It might look like Piggy catches on right away. She has, at least to the "potty in the box" part. But pigs unlearn slowly, and it will be weeks or even months before she finally forgets about the problem spot on the carpet. So, keep up this strict routine of pottying often and away from the problem spot for a month or even several months.

Also, during this time, watch her carefully to make sure she doesn't just pick another problem spot. Often, small piggies leave small pee spots that people don't catch, until piggy gets bigger and so does the pee spot. So, watch to make sure this doesn't happen, take her potty often, don't let her out of the potty box until she goes, and keep her away from the problem spot.