little training a shipoo???

how many out there have litter trained their shipoos? i'm planning to get a male (and have him nuetered as soon as it's safe) and hope to litter train him. how did you do it? do you have any advice for me? also, someone said it could backfire - how so?
thanks!

 

Hi there~

I didn't litter or paper train my two shih-poos, nor any other dog I have had in the past, so unfortunately, I can't help you out with any tips in that regard. I think there are a few members on this board who have litter trained, and I'm sure they would be much more helpful than me.

That was me. Let me try and explain myself:

The reason I brought that up is because I often hear problems with people who have, or are, litter (or paper) training. When you litter or paper train a dog, you are essentially telling them that it is okay to eliminate indoors. For many dogs, this leads to great confusion. They find it difficult to comprehend why it is that they can eliminate in one area (where the litter box or paper is), and not any other area of the home.

For us, it's very simple to understand. However, dogs do not think on such complex levels. Yes, some dogs do eventually learn, and are successful with litter training, but more often than not, from what I hear from people who have tried, most dogs aren't successful.

This is not to say that litter/paper training is impossible, for it is not. I do know a few people who have successfully done so with their dogs. But, I hear more and more problems from owners who have tried it, and due to being unsuccessful, they decided to train their dog to do his/her business outdoors. From what I am told by those people, they are much happier having their dog(s) do their business outdoors anyway, so in the end, it really did turn out to be for the better! :y_the_best:

So, there ya' go, that's why I said paper/litter training can backfire!

Hope that helps, if not, just ask!

 

Bailey was potty trained with the pee pads. He learned quickly and rarely had any accidents inside....

unfortunately, I don't know much about the litter boxes for dogs.

 

pee pads?

thanks for the suggestions so far. how to the pee pads work and how did you train your puppy?
the reason i've considered this idea is that for the next year i'm in a masters program that allows me to be home a good amount of time (and so could train him to go outdoors) however, in a year i'll need to be working fulltime. i live by myself and don't have anyone else with a work schedule that could help with taking him out, so i'm considering the litter box/pee pads idea. with all this in mind, what do you guys recommed?
thanks so much!

 

The pee pads work the same way the litter box works for a kitten.... they are "scented" which attracts them to pee/potty on them. They are very convenient -- you just pick 'em up and toss them in the trash! It's suggested that you put the pad in an area AWAY from their bed/play area. As you know, puppies don't normally like to go potty where they sleep. The pee pads worked great for Bailey... I just eventually started moving the pad towards the back yard door and he was potty trained by 3 months....He lso got to a point that he started tearing them up (the brat!!) . I used to lock him up in the kitchen/laundry room with a pee pad during the day, until I'd come home to flying pee pad pieces all over the place. That was THAT and so I've been coming home during the day (to take him outside) ever since. Hopefully your puppy won't tear them up!

 

Hi there,

My husband and I live in a condo, and we've been training our 51/2 month old Pap X puppy Stella to use a litter box on the balcony. We also take her for walks and she does eliminate outside. She still has indoor accidents; some days are better than others. I think it takes a while for puppies to get used to the feel of the paper pellets under their little paw paddings. We praise Stella like crazy and give her a treat when she does go in her box.

We opted for this sort of potty training because it rains here quite a lot for much of the year, and it's so much easier for us and the dog to not have to go outside when it's pouring. (The balcony is sheltered.)

MyBabyShihPoo, do you think a dog would make the distinction between a balcony and the "big outside"? I'd be interested to get your take.

 

I litter trained my shih tzu mix using a purina medium sized dog litter pan and purina dog litter.

I put the litter box in the kitchen and gated the kitchen. My pup was kept in the kitchen all the time for the first month or so. The kitchen is very large and we are in the kitchen all the time so it was not mean. I crated him at night and when I couldnt watch him (but no more than a few hours). If I was going to be gone more than a few hours i left him gated in the kitchen with the box.

I first trained him to jump into the box. He did not like to be put in the box. I would call him over to his box at least every hour and say "go potty" When he went, I would praise and treat. After a few days he was going in his box on his own. The easiest way to get a pup to go in the box initially is to have him go right after he wakes up when you know he has to go.

I used the purina dog litter despite the expense as it is nontoxic and my pup ate the litter all the time. it helped to spray a chew deter on it--but he still eats it.

i eventually trained my pup to go outside and now he goes outside most of the time and only uses his box if i am gone for a long time and sometimes in the middle of the night.

i did not have any trouble litter box training--but others have had troulbe and the troubles ceased once they switched to outside training--it depends on your dog. Also some dogs wont poop in the box.

Once my pup was reliably using the box on his own for a few weeks, i expanded his space. As I expanded he had accidents so I made sure to call him back to to his box and throw his toys from the living room to the kitchen so he would realize where his box was in relation to the rest of the house.

Good luck!

 

Hmmm...good question! I would think that it does have some significant similarities, that's for sure! Other than that, I am not quite sure. Have you ever tried to make a "grass patch" on your balcony? I don't know how much room you have on your balcony, but I have a lot of friends who live in downtown Chicago, and they make a grass patch on their balcony (since they have no yard) to give their dog a similar feeling of actually going on a grass lawn. Basically, it's a pretty big box filled with soil, and then real grass on top. They all rave about how great it is! That way, when they go for walks, and there's grass, the dog realizes that the grass is an appropriate place to eliminate.

I have no experience with it, but I think it's a pretty good idea. I definitely think that having your dog do her business on your balcony is a better option than having her eliminate indoors. I would imagine that it takes away some confusion associated with having a litter box actually in the home!

Just my two cents!

 

thanks

the advice is so helpful! it's so much fun getting ready for him
and suggested books on training? are places like petsmart really any good for training? how much time is necessary to devote to this? i know you just gotta do it or the dog will always be unruly
thanks again

 

Potty Training

Thank you all for your help! Things are going great, we wound up with not 1 but 2 puppies!!! They are adorable and keep each other company while we are at work. (Will post pics soon) Amazingly potty trained in 2 days, only 2 accidents in the past 3 weeks! They are restricted to using the box and we are not even letting them go potty outside so we do not confuse them. it is great even if they are all the way in the front room ( a room away from the kitchen) they walk back in the kitchen to use their box!

I do have one question the dog litter is so expensive, esp with 2 dogs and changing it every week, can you use cat litter? Has anyone? We don't want to use the pee pad cause we don't want them to even remotely think of carpet.

 

Oh my goodness, not two...just kidding, I've absolutely loved having two instead of just one!!! :wink: I bet you are having so much fun with your two new additions..how exciting and CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Can't wait to see those pics! :y_the_best:

Best wishes for you and your two shih-poos (they are shih-poos, right?)!

(I don't know the answer to your question regarding litter, so I'm going to leave that up to someone else who is more experienced in that area!)

 

I don't know the exact reasoning for it, but I've read and heard that using cat litter is definetly inappropiate for dogs. For one I know they don't like the feel of it on their paws at all, which could stop them from using the box entirely. There were also other reasons I can't recall, something to do with cats preferences and cat litter being suited for those preferences, like how cats like to bury their mess so the composition of the litter is different and their preferences are just very opposite of a dogs. Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I know it has certainly been advised against.

 

something like feline pine should be okay. its pellets like the dog litter--just smaller. also i emailed to ask if it was okay if it was eaten and the the reply was that its okay to be ingested and is not toxic. i didnt end up switching because i trained my pup to go outside as well and now he only uses his box in an emergency so it hardly needs to be changed. for example, it has not been changed since the beginning of july and is still fine--he has only used it a few times since then.

 

Kristine
how did you teach them to go outside and inside only in emergencies??
i'm having trouble getting him to want to go outside, instead he wants to use the pads (which is good) but i'd like to move into outdoors when i walk him and litter box in emergencies (i'm not really liking the pads so much) did you do anything to the litter box? or just use a regular kitty litter box?? please let me know what you did and how long it took, etc!