Mary, when I had my male maltese, he was 100% outdoor housebroken. Never made a mistake. Then one winter I got stuck after work in a blizzard. I didn t get get home until 11 PM. That meant that he hadn't peed from 8am that morning. By the time I did get home, thanks to a state trooper who dropped me off, I had to climb through almost 2 feet of snow just to get to my upstairs 2nd floor apartment. The stairs looked like one long sliding hill of snow and there was no way I was going to go down them and then back up again to walk a dog. Besides the snow was still coming down very heavily. Poor Fluffy was busting, and I felt so guilty and bad for him. I put paper down by the door and he refused to go on it. I picked him up and showed him the snow through the storm door and then put him on the paper, and pushed his rump gently down and told him it was okay to go. He still refused after several attempts......finally 15 minutes later he finally let out a river. I praised him and hugged him a lot.
After that, I decided that as long as I am working he was going to have the option of going on the paper when he needed to and not wait for me to come home. It wasn't easy for the first couple of days, but I stuck to my guns and refused to walk him. He had to learn that it was okay to pee inside on paper. Being a male, he did try to lift his leg, but all I had to do was gently touch his rump and lightly push it down and he stayed squatted. He understood and never lifted his leg indoors, but when we would go for walks he always lifted his leg. Dogs are incredibly smart and a lot of training depends on how we communicate with them. Princess is the same way, she would and has held it in for more then 10 hours once when I had to to into the hospital. Totally 100% housebroken and has not made a mistake in the last five years. She did mark when I first got her too and that went on for 3 months She was 1 1/2 yrs old at the time, and it finally stopped after she was spayed. I now have to get a dog walker for her, if I can't be here to walk her. She out and out refuses to go on paper, even after me trying and making her wait for almost 8 hours when I was trying to train her to go on the paper. I had put her on the paper every half hour and praised her and pushed her rump down and said it was okay, but she refused. I couldn't take it any longer and walked her. So she is definitely an outdoor dog of her own choosing. I know with Gigi the only way she got it through her thick head was to slip a leash on her and walk her to the paper area. She was a BYB dog and apparently an outdoor dog, but my guess is that she was also in a cage filled with newspaper and forced to pee and sleep and eat that way for years because when I got her, her stomach was literally black with embedded newspaper print and it took a total of six baths and soaking in between to get the print off of her teats and tummy. Plus the fact she was totally confused about being housebroken. She does prefer to go outdoors, but with the winters here, I can't allow that. I would never find her in the snow, lol! She does have to be crated at night, and I hate doing that. Before she had the seizures a couple of years ago, she didn't have a mistake for 3 months, once she was trained. So whatever the seizures did, it left a mark on her in some ways. She is fine all day long and when I go out. Each dog is different and we have to figure out what makes them tick the way they do, and then decide on a method of training, and usually with variables to suit each dogs personality to totally housebreak them. The only dog that I ever had that was impossible to totally housebreak was a Yorkie. She didn t have to much upstairs to begin with, and that breed is known for not being able to housebreak. I remember Joan Rivers had a Yorkie on her show and she paid out thousands to the best live in trainers that money could buy and they couldn't housebreak that dog. One time on the show, she held the dog up to the camera and the dog peed all over her! Yet her Vets could never find a physical reason why the dog was like that. Some things money can't buy, LOL!! Peggy & The Girls -------Original Message------- From: Mary Overton Date: 8/13/2012 2:05:36 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] Peeing in the House I have an aggressive male and he is so frightened you can see the whites of his eyes. However he is very protective of me. He has a bad rear. Vet said it could be back or brain related buut Can not do anything about it either way He is five years old and still squats. But he has to have stairs he can not jump up on furniture. He can jump off but not up. Mary Overton 816-982-2067 From: Peggy & The Girls <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, August 13, 2012 12:44 PM Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] Peeing in the House You know, I am glad that I have a female. I think that from what I have seen with chi owners, that it is mostly the males that insist on marking. Not saying that females don't mark too, but the females seem to be less stubborn about stopping it. I have also noticed that for some owners who have a chi with an aggression disorder of one type or another, it always seems to be the males. Most of the aggression type are more owner possession Perhaps those are the reasons why there usually is a lot more males in the shelters then the females. Sue, my heart goes out to you having a dog that is that possessive of you that he pees in your bed. In his mind, he is peeing against your husband. Does your husband discipline him at all? Or, if he is your hubby's baby then he could be peeing against you. Either way, who ever is not number 1 in his eyes, needs to be the one to do the disciplining and the feeding to show that he/she is also the alpha. I have also heard of dogs that were neutered too young, that they have a tendency to leak when they get excited as they get older. They say it is more a physical problem then a psychological issue. Heard the same thing can happen to females. Not sure if that is 100% true or not. Peggy & The Girls -------Original Message------- From: Susanne Defoe Date: 8/13/2012 9:58:04 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] Peeing in the House We are having this issue with our senior foster chi. Putting a sanitary napkin or panty liner in the belly band helps to keep them from peeing through it for sure. Neutering him eliminated the humping and his marking actually got better for a few weeks but now he is at it again... I take him out with our other 2 boys and he does all his business outside. But when he is inside and gets excited like just before a walk, or if our two boys are wrestling he still tries to mark. He will even pee on any of our bedding that is within reach like a bedspread. I don't understand that at all. Now he wither has the belly band on or I watch him like a hawk!! Sue On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 12:18 AM, katemarcellus <[email protected]> wrote: My first male chi at age 3.5 didnt potty in the house. Then I adopt two more boys and Nikko age 14 has always had a problem. And now the youngest chi -Yodee age 6/7 does the peeing and marking also. We can be outside all evening and come in the house and they pee. What am I doing wrong. I have resorted to fannybelts...but cant keep them on and Nikko (listed above info) will pee through the fanny belt. Does anyone have or had this problem and what did you do to correct it???
