Hi, I’m Dr. Karyn! Read my introduction to be taught extra about me and my 5 humorous canines, Poppy, Bailey, Kodah, Ned, and Fred.
I hate when individuals use stereotypes on canines. I hate it much more once they turn into proper! Chihuahuas have lengthy been labeled as yappy, bitey, demanding, and notoriously hard to toilet train, and Ned & Fred have lived as much as all of those. Fortunately they’re additionally loving, loyal, affectionate, and extremely entertaining.
Toilet coaching has been one facet of canine possession that I assumed I’d mastered, with my love of crates taking part in a big function in my success. Dogs often keep away from toileting of their mattress, so retaining them of their crate in a single day, and for half an hour after meals, meant that I may take them exterior from the crate and rejoice once they went to the bathroom exterior.
The drawback with a tiny Chihuahua pup is that, even in fairly a small crate, they will keep a good way between themselves and any offensive waste, so we weren’t getting the standard success with this technique. Fortunately, that they had settled effectively of their crates in a single day, feeling secure and safe of their little bed room, and appeared glad to be left in there once we went out. So that is once we tried one thing unconventional.
Swapping Crate Training for Bed Training
It began with Ned, who was the primary in our home, and the primary in our mattress. Snuggled shut towards my chest at night time, he by no means went to the bathroom in our mattress, and all the time waited for me to take him exterior within the morning. Ned will solely stand up and down from our mattress utilizing a bit of step, and he has to squeeze previous me to get to it. Sometimes he’ll wake me up sooner than I’d like, by gently pushing on my hip, however he has by no means had an accident within the mattress.
So, when Fred got here alongside, after he had confirmed content material to be left within the crate with out fuss, we tried the identical technique of in a single day rest room coaching. And it has labored…type of. Fred is fearless, and has no hesitation in launching off our fairly tall mattress, so I’ve a really small window of time between listening to him hit the ground, and getting him downstairs and out of doors. I’m not all the time profitable.
Another hurdle is the unimaginable stubbornness of Chihuahuas. I’ve stood exterior for half-hour in sleet and rain, with Fred staring again at me, surprisingly unfazed by the inclement climate. Within 5 minutes, I discover a sneaky puddle or nugget behind a door, which he manages to do unseen!
Toilet Training Obstacle Course
The drawback with these tiny canines is that it’s lots simpler to identify an enormous canine within the act, permitting you to say “cease!” and take them straight exterior. I can not inform you what number of instances I’ve noticed a pool of urine behind the couch or a tiny poop beside my desk, after I was actually sitting proper there! How did I not see it occur??
The results of their sneaky habits meant that they had been receiving strong, positive reinforcement once they had been toileting exterior, and a impartial response to going inside, so there was no actual deterrent to pooping within the heat consolation of residence. And so, one other new strategy was wanted: bodily obstacles.
We’ve put up a stair gate to dam entry to my workplace (which, to be truthful, is the place the cats’ litter packing containers are, so that they might be forgiven for pondering that room is a rest room), used pillows to cease them getting behind the sofas, and have even erected a blockade across the base of our mattress to stop underbed poops. By stopping entry to their favourite indoor latrine areas, we now have the chance to identify the Chihuahuas trying to find the ‘ultimate spot’, permitting us to turf them exterior.
The Upside of the Tiny Dog
Despite the frustration of taking up a yr to housetrain Fred (although there’s nonetheless the occasional indoor accident), one good thing about the tiny canine is that the accidents are additionally tiny. Their different saving grace is that, fortunately for them, even when they’re naughty, they’re so irresistibly cute!
