Hi all,

A question for all you Chihuahua owners out there....

I've had my little chi boy for 20 months, he was 9 weeks old when he came home to us, so will be two in February.

I've owned and bred dogs all my life, generally larger breeds, retrievers mainly. Our boy was an addition after we lost our collie x, my lab was desperately lonely. We researched the breed and brought him home fully expecting a miniture but huge challenge! He certainly didn't disappoint!

During his first six months we got over the 'small dog complex' problems we had including extreem timidity on walks, snapping at anything bigger than him etc and he's now a gorgeous little confident lad with the sweetest nature. He's obedient, loves a walk and cuddles, he's happy around strangers and is a much loved part of the family. There's only one problem......housetraining!!

I knew when we got him that he would be hard, I read that chihuahuas are notorious for their fondness of indoor toilets! But he is now nearly two and it's getting silly...he'll go out and spend ages in the garden happily then poo in the bathroom/hallway/under the table/ON THE BED!! He pees inside too though less often. If it's raining outside then there's no chance he'll do his business out there! I've never in 20 years of dog ownership had anyone like him! He's now restricted to downstairs and we also crate when were not able to supervise him, but literally nothing stops him!

Any constructive advise from people who've had/have a Chi?

I will be so interested to see if there is anyone can help. My Mam has a smooth coat and he is brilliant in all ways, so clean,but almost a year ago she bought another from another breeder, my grandmother bought one from the same litter and they still aren't house trained. They stand outside with them in all weathers every hour and the penny has not dropped yet. I am beginning to think it is because the breeder didn't put any time in with them as she had her father die at the time the pups were born.

It's interesting that you say that as my boy came from a 'suspicious' breeder who I suspect was actually a puppy farm, mum was conveniently not available to view after traveling for hours to see him and despite my better judgement I just couldn't leave him there.

The age would make me wonder about the breeder as well -nobody reputable would sell a tiny toybreed already at 9 weeks, it should be an absolute minimum of 12 weeks.

For the peeing, have you tried using belly bands? They really are the best invention since sliced bread.

You say he will take ages in the garden then come in and toilet. Could he be getting distracted while out there.
Do you go out with him? How do you react when he goes toilet inside?

I'd start back at the beginning like u would if he was a pup. Take him out often, stay out with him and if need be on a lead. If nothing bring him back in and keep an eye on him and take him back out not long after (say about 30/50 mins later) and try again. When he is going toilet say a commanded like "go toilet" then praise and reward him like he just pooped/peed gold. When inside keep an eye on him and any sniffing take him out, contain him when u can't watch him. If he toilets inside clean it up with something without ammonia in it, if you catch him in the act pick him up and take him calmly outside to finish.

As for the not wanting to go out in the rain my girl (different breed) is like that, I sometimes have to go out with her to make sure she goes to the toilet if it's realy raining as she will either refuse to go out at all or will run down the garden then run straight back in. She once held it in all day due to rain untill I took her down and used myself to block her from getting off the wet grass (she will only go toilet on the grass but doesn't like standing on wet grass).

I have had toy breeds since the 70's and find that owners of large breeds have no idea when it comes to the small dogs.  I have a Border Collie and he's been clean since day 2 but I know I can't expect a toy breed to be the same.  Smaller bladders can't go all night and I've known toys take 8 months to get there.

However, I have around 15 Long Coat Chihuahuas (never sure, they keep moving when I try to count them.)  :-)   And they have certainly been a lot easier to housetrain than the typical hard nuts to crack (Yorkshire Terriers are much harder.)

I do start training very young and try to take pups out every hour without fail.  I always stay with pups and don't care what the neighbours think when I am over enthusiastic with the praise.  If you sound excited they love it, and soon realise that a wee or a poo outside is great.  My pups don't leave home until at least 12 weeks of age and in the better weather I actually get new owners to go outside with pup and encourage toileting.  I don't do the busy word as wee wees is fine by me.  I also show them the recall as the younger you start, the better.  And if the new pup owner doesn't sound excited why would pup want to obey a recall?  Without exception my pups are already used to a good recall when they leave me.

So toileting is the same.  Huge ecstatic praise.  And if it's peeing down I drape a towel over my head.  If I don't give in to the bad weather then pup stays out with me.  If I get a phone call from folk finding that they can't get a youngster clean I tell them to go back to basics.  Outside every hour on the hour, and stay with pup, even on a lead if necessary.

The breed club would frown on anyone allowing a 9 week old pup to leave home.

Thanks for all replies, we expected it to be a long road and had 8months to a year in mind, we go out with him everytime and in all weathers, if it's raining he will literally just stand low to the ground and put his head under his legs! He really severely dislikes being wet, which is strange as he LOVES to swim with my lab and also likes a bath!

We've never left the basics behind with training him, we use the words 'go wee' if it's dry outside then mostly it works, our problem indoors is mainly pooping...

I'm at the point where I think we may have to just put up with it, it's not the end of the world if we do as his poop is so small and non offensive. It's easy to clean up after him. If we catch him at it he gets put out to finish and praised if he does. If not he just gets brought back in.

He's such a wonderful dog and luckily wed done out homework so knew it could be a problem, if my lab did it I'd be horrified!

I think a lot of it may be down to his age when be got him, since there was no mother present I've no idea how young he was when seperated. My lab treats him like a pup still, he licks her gums and snuggles like pups do.

At the end of the day, with a little imagination, it could be worse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzhJrCt416Y

"However, I have around 15 Long Coat Chihuahuas (never sure, they keep moving when I try to count them.) "

My favourite Champdogs comment 2014, what a smile this brought to my face...

>what a smile this brought to my face...

Good!  :-)  My work colleagues (not dog people) are great at dropping sly comments to try and get me to give a true answer.  And I know that as soon as someone tells me that I have too many I might find it difficult to hold my tongue.

But I have some very large Ferplast beds with duvets in, they are Bearded Collie size.  They get so wound up when I tell them that a dozen toys can get in a Beardies bed.  I do it purposely!  :-)

To be fair, I AM under 2 dozen dogs now.  But I know my Border Collie is a swine for taking them off to play in the compost heap, so I'm never really sure.  ;-)  :-)  :-)

 

I have a Chihuahua, smooth coat. She is my first small dog, previously we had a St. Bernard and a Golden Retriever, as well as a medium sized cross. All my other dogs have been a breeze to toilet train, but my Chi was a nightmare. We got her in December  2010. It was freezing cold and snowing for several weeks when we first got her, which didn't help. She hates the cold, snow, rain, wet, windy, etc. We crate trained her, as we do all our dogs, and used a puppy pad overnight, which was probably our first mistake...it was our first and last time using them to toilet train a pup. We also made the mistake of carrying her outside, so she never learnt to go out by herself. If we couldn't supervise her (eg, making dinner), she was crated to avoid accidents, which worked well, and I would do this part again. Overall, she was much slower and had more accidents than our Lab of the same age, who was so easy to train. I would say that it took about 7-9 months before she was 100% dry inside and overnight. What is important is to try to make sure that your pup doesn't have accidents in the first place, taking them out every hour or so and being vigilant. If you can't watch them fully, even if you're just popping to the toilet, it's worth confining them to their crate to avoid an accident. Obviously, if she was caught in the act, a firm "no" and she was taken straight outside, if she'd been already done it without us seeing, it was just quietly cleaned up without making a fuss. Hth.

Nik.

-nobody reputable would sell a tiny toybreed already at 9 weeks, it should be an absolute minimum of 12 weeks

Why so old for a toy breed?
.

Because due to their small size they often are not as robust or forward/mature as larger breeds. 

Many are not even properly weaned by 8 weeks.

Often hypoglycaemia can be an issue, due to their low bodyweight regulating their body temperature can take longer.

thanks, i did not know those factors before now.