Question:
>Help! After trying all the things that the kind people from this news >group suggested, I’m still having trouble housebreaking my two litter mate >chihuahua puppies. They are now almost 7 months old and still not >completely housebroken.
<snip><snip> I am by no means an expert but since I now feel I am over the housebreaking hump with an 11 1/2 month old maltese, I will tell you what has worked for us. First of all, let me say that our little Snowbear seemed totally housebroken at 7 months. We took her on week-long trips with us on our boat where she never had an accident, held it four 6-8 hours at a time, etc. Suddenly however, she started having lots of accidents. At the recommendation of a very nice lady on Prodigy, we tried what she called the "umbilical cord" method of re-training. Assuming that our submissive little gal had somehow been traumatized, for two weeks we kept her physically tied to us when we were home and crated when we were not. That way, we always knew where she was and we could take her out if she gave us a signal. We also were trying to re-instill her sense of security by being attached to her physically. For the most part this worked. Unfortuantely, in the middle of all this she had some dental surgery and the steroids in the drugs caused her some bowel distress. That took another few weeks to run its course. The vet diagnosed a yeast type of infection so we were able to verify a physcal cause of her latest round of "accidents". It has now been three weeks since her last accident. Right now we are keeping her confined only to half of the main floor of our home but will probably open up additional areas next week. Our goal is to give her free access to different areas of the house a little at a time so that she can associate the new area with her den and not mess up. The bottom line here, IMHO, is to show a lot of patience, consistent reinforcement, and finally, make sure your vet checks the pups out for a physical cause. Gaye…in Bellevue, WA
Response:
Help! After trying all the things that the kind people from this news group suggested, I’m still having trouble housebreaking my two litter mate chihuahua puppies. They are now almost 7 months old and still not completely housebroken. I have tried the crate changed their food amount, cut back on the number of biscuits they get. They can go all night without messing but come daylight its a whole different story. Just when I think I’ve got trained they (or one or the other) will jump on furniture when I’m not looking and mess on it. I’m desparate. I have them on a schedule in taking them out. They are real good about doing it outside (I praise them allot outside) I take them out about every 1 1/2 hrs to 2 hrs when I’m home. When they are inside and playing I think that they must think it’s part of playing to mess. If I don’t find a solution real soon I’m afraid these 2 adorable puppies will have to go. I’m really trying to avoid getting rid of them, but I just don’t know what else to do? Any others suggestions will be appreciated greatly. Thanks in advance, Sharon
Response:
> If I don’t find a solution real soon I’m afraid these 2 adorable puppies > will have to go. > I’m really trying to avoid getting rid of them, but I just don’t know what > else to do? Any others suggestions will be appreciated greatly. > Thanks in advance, > Sharon
You keep them in crates when your not home right. So they are out when you are home….keep them on the leash. That way they are with you all the time and if you see an accident coming you can take appropriate action, like picking it up and running outside. Remember even when you think they "have the idea" they will occasionally slip backward temporarily, they are still puppies.
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