Help. I have been waiting for 6 wks for our darling Chihuahua puppy to
be old enough to join our family. He will join me, my husband, two sons
and two cats. He will be 8 wks when he moves home. His name is Cha-Chi
and i am his Mom. We plan on using a crate to train him. I have lots of
experience with training large dogs. So i have the basics.
Don't leave them unattended to make potty mistakes. Use the create to
prevent accidents in the house if the pup cant be supervised.
My question is that will it be difficult to train my pup to go potty
outside if i pad train him first inside. Does inside training lead to
confusion for the pup? If i train him to go inside what do i do when we
go visiting at a different place? Are more problems avoided by having
him go potty outside from the start? My breeder said not to take him
outside to go to the bathroom because its too cold outside. I live in
Vancouver, BC, Canada. Our climate is fairly cold, but the mildest
province in Canada. Its wet, cold and we rarely get snow. Any
suggestions would be appreciated

Thanks,
Pam AKA: Cha-chis mom

On 15 Nov 2006 22:55:04 -0800, , clicked their
heels and said:

My breeder said not to take him
outside to go to the bathroom because its too cold outside. I live in
Vancouver, BC, Canada. Our climate is fairly cold, but the mildest
province in Canada. Its wet, cold and we rarely get snow. Any
suggestions would be appreciated

IF I had to indoor train a puppy for some reason, I would make an area
that was not always accessible, but that I TOOK the puppy to, just as
I would TAKE them into a yard. Whether that's an xpen with pee pads
or litter box, or an unused bathroom, I would make it a simulated
outdoor area. I think that makes it clearer that the general house is
not where to eliminate, but where I TAKE you, is. Elimination on
command is a handy thing to teach, and very easy (start with first pee
of the morning) and gets the job done quickly.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 08:40:57 -0600, diddy ,
clicked their heels and said:

If I had to potty inside, I'd TAKE them .. and make them use real grass
http://www.petexpertise.com/item--Pu...ppy_Potty.html

Actually, I would too, but I also think that if I had a teeny toy
breed, litter training wouldn't be totally out of the question for the
future as well. Not that I'll ever have a teeny-tiny, so it's all
hypothetical!

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

On 15 Nov 2006 22:55:04 -0800, wrote:

Help. I have been waiting for 6 wks for our darling Chihuahua puppy to
be old enough to join our family. He will join me, my husband, two sons
and two cats. He will be 8 wks when he moves home. His name is Cha-Chi
and i am his Mom. We plan on using a crate to train him. I have lots of
experience with training large dogs. So i have the basics.
Don't leave them unattended to make potty mistakes. Use the create to
prevent accidents in the house if the pup cant be supervised.
My question is that will it be difficult to train my pup to go potty
outside if i pad train him first inside. Does inside training lead to
confusion for the pup? If i train him to go inside what do i do when we
go visiting at a different place? Are more problems avoided by having
him go potty outside from the start? My breeder said not to take him
outside to go to the bathroom because its too cold outside. I live in
Vancouver, BC, Canada. Our climate is fairly cold, but the mildest
province in Canada. Its wet, cold and we rarely get snow. Any
suggestions would be appreciated

It is easier to train to one place because there can, indeed, be
confusion. Chi's can go outside to go potty (we have one), but you
are going to have to go out with it and not just leave it out in the
cold until it goes. Teach it to go on command and get the business
done.

If you want to have an indoor place, be aware that dogs often develop
a preference for a particular surface they are used to going potty on.
So if you use pee pads indoors, you might need to take a pee pad
outdoors when you are trying to train your dog to the outdoors when
the weather warms up. You can also train your dog to grass even when
it is indoors. I recently got a dog supply catalog that has several
things in it that have real or fake grass on top and an arrangement
below to catch the pee so it doesn't go all over. I have a kiddie
pool out on my balcony that is filled with potting soil that I grow
grass in. I can let the dogs out on the balcony when I don't want
them to go out to the backyard for various reasons, but they don't get
confused as to surfaces. They head for the grass wherever they are.

As for traveling, take a crate and if he's used to pee pads, some of
those to have him go on when he does have to go. You'll still have to
keep him crated to make sure he doesn't get into anything dangerous in
a strange place when he can't be closely supervised (and who is 100%
attentive to any one thing when traveling?). Have the pee pads to
take him to when you want him to go. Just leaving them out without
taking him to them is likely to get you banned by whoever is hosting
you and unfair to the dog, who would have to guess what the new
routine is in a strange place. If he's used to outdoors, crate him
when he can't be closely supervised and then take him out to go.

--
Paula
"Anyway, other people are weird, but sometimes they have candy,
so it's best to try to get along with them." Joe Bay

Paula wrote:
On 15 Nov 2006 22:55:04 -0800, wrote:

Help. I have been waiting for 6 wks for our darling Chihuahua puppy to
be old enough to join our family. He will join me, my husband, two sons
and two cats. He will be 8 wks when he moves home. His name is Cha-Chi
and i am his Mom. We plan on using a crate to train him. I have lots of
experience with training large dogs. So i have the basics.
Don't leave them unattended to make potty mistakes. Use the create to
prevent accidents in the house if the pup cant be supervised.
My question is that will it be difficult to train my pup to go potty
outside if i pad train him first inside. Does inside training lead to
confusion for the pup? If i train him to go inside what do i do when we
go visiting at a different place? Are more problems avoided by having
him go potty outside from the start? My breeder said not to take him
outside to go to the bathroom because its too cold outside. I live in
Vancouver, BC, Canada. Our climate is fairly cold, but the mildest
province in Canada. Its wet, cold and we rarely get snow. Any
suggestions would be appreciated

It is easier to train to one place because there can, indeed, be
confusion. Chi's can go outside to go potty (we have one), but you
are going to have to go out with it and not just leave it out in the
cold until it goes. Teach it to go on command and get the business
done.

If you want to have an indoor place, be aware that dogs often develop
a preference for a particular surface they are used to going potty on.
So if you use pee pads indoors, you might need to take a pee pad
outdoors when you are trying to train your dog to the outdoors when
the weather warms up. You can also train your dog to grass even when
it is indoors. I recently got a dog supply catalog that has several
things in it that have real or fake grass on top and an arrangement
below to catch the pee so it doesn't go all over. I have a kiddie
pool out on my balcony that is filled with potting soil that I grow
grass in. I can let the dogs out on the balcony when I don't want
them to go out to the backyard for various reasons, but they don't get
confused as to surfaces. They head for the grass wherever they are.

As for traveling, take a crate and if he's used to pee pads, some of
those to have him go on when he does have to go. You'll still have to
keep him crated to make sure he doesn't get into anything dangerous in
a strange place when he can't be closely supervised (and who is 100%
attentive to any one thing when traveling?). Have the pee pads to
take him to when you want him to go. Just leaving them out without
taking him to them is likely to get you banned by whoever is hosting
you and unfair to the dog, who would have to guess what the new
routine is in a strange place. If he's used to outdoors, crate him
when he can't be closely supervised and then take him out to go.

--
Paula
"Anyway, other people are weird, but sometimes they have candy,
so it's best to try to get along with them." Joe Bay