***HELP***Chi lost his pad training

[marty566]

My 18 month old male Chi has recently lost his training on pee pads. I got him at 12 weeks of age,he was 100% pee pad trained in another 7 weeks. Since then he has had the run of the house both when i am home and away.He was had 0 accidents until recently. I caught him a week ago lifting his leg and peeing in 3 areas of the house,not even near his pads. When he pees on the pads he squats. From the size of the wetness on the rug he has been lifting his leg on,he has been doing it for a few weeks. He is neutered. The only thing changed in his life and routine is a month ago i switched him from nutro natural choice puppy food to nutro adult food,same lamb and rice formula. Shortly after this switch to the adult food i did notice he was pooping more often. I am going to take him to the vet to rule out a bladder infection. I went back to his original potty training routine,which was,in the laundryroom whenever i am gone or not able to watch his every move. He has been peeing on the pad in the laundry room. Is this the proper correction to him peeing at will, not on the pads?

[Romans Mom]

Hi Marty, Welcome to Club Chi. To me, it sounds like your 18 month just needs a little reminder and to be retrained for a while. If he was doing OK before, he should get it back in no time. However, I feel you may have also have to take time to undo bad habits he has been doing. I am not saying he is bad, but he just picked up a few bad habits that have to go.

Lets see, some things I can come up with right away to get you started are:

Confine him to a smaller area, say the kitchen, or a room where there in not carpet for a while anyway, until this is back under control. Take him and place him on his pad often. If he is with you in a carpeted area, that should be OK, but make sure you take him out, or to his potty pad area constantly to show him this is the time and place. Make sure you take him here after he heats. just get him there before the times he is using these extra pee spots. something I have done, is move the potty pad to that spot and gradually move it back to where you want him to use it.

Change the potty pad after one use. I have two pads next to each other. I also have two different spots for them to go because Chihuahuas are such little dogs, and even running to the back of the house is a very long way for them. So I have one in the front and one in the back. And I have found that Roman will pee on one in the back, then run to the other, sort of how a male dog will mark his areas outdoors.

In the meantime, shampoo the carpets and use a spray of your choice. Mine is called OUT!, but there are many available.

I crate trained, so if this is possible, or you are in dire need to nip this problem in the bud, I recommend it. But you don't have to. Many train their Chihuahuas with the small confined areas. ie kitchen or bathroom.

You will need to clean and shampoo all the spots and anywhere that he has been going.
I'm sure other can add to this as well. I'm not sure it changing food would have anything to do with it or not. The main goal is to get him there and praise him greatly. If he needs to lift his leg, a rock or small garden decor from the dollar store could help him aim on the potty pad. I tried this and Roman really didn't need it. He just stands there with on leg up. :)

It's been a while since I have had to retrain, so if I'm unclear, please ask questions. :) Please let us know how he is doing, and don't hesitate to ask if you need help or have questions. We've been through it and still go through it at times too. With a little help from you, he will catch on again. :D Barb

[Amaze]

GREAT post Barb-couldn't have said it better myself!

It sounds like he is going through is teenage stage and I'd doubt there is a medical condition involved...The more poop thing is connected to his food, I have found the better the ingredients and quality of food, the less they poop. It means there is more going through him then is being used (more fillers in the food). Toy breeds need higher protein levels, I keep all of my dogs, adults included, on Puppy but many do well on Adult as well (which we switch to during the winter months so we don't get too fat).

[marty566]

You have reinforced what i thought i should do to change the bad haibt.since my post a little over a week ago I now give him run of the basement,so far so good.I am going to give it another week or so till he gets the entire house again. Like you said,i do have a pee pad on each level of my 3 level house for him. So far so good on the retraining. At this rate he will be back to having the free run of the house in no time. i was wondering if I should switch him back to the puppy food,he was doing fine on ,not overweight at all,AND POOPED LESS. The guy at the pet foor store said one of the main differences in puppy and adult food is,protein is higher in puppy food,and the biggest difference is the size of the food and the hardness of the piece of food. I thing I am going to research a little on the switching back to puppy food. Thanks for answering my questions,I enjoy this site alot.

Marty & Buddy

[2Chiwawa]

Yeah for Buddy. Good job Marty.

[Mypuppydog]

hey my dog was potty trained but now he will go outside and do his business adn then he will come in and then poop and pee on my bed what do i do is there anything i can do

[Liz]

My 6 month old chihuahua was having the same problem. He was trianed for months then he recently started peeing on the carpet. I think it may have to do with me not spending as much time with him. Before I was at home most of the day but now that classes started I am gone a lot. Maybe he is rebeling. The advice Roman's mom gave sounds great. I have never tried crate training him. He has always had his own room. I hate to take that privelege away. He hates being locked up.
Oh by the way I feed him science diet and he poops a lot. Is there any other dog food that might be healthier for him.

Liz

[mbuehler]

Kimi started doing this for awhile too. He was great about using his puppy pad in the back room, having free run of the house. About the time I started staying later at work he started leaving me little suprises in the house. Got to the point where I was about to confine him to just one room again until we got Bella. Not sure if it was seeing her use the pad, or the fact he stays at my house all the time now, but he's back to using it 100% for peeing, and about 95% for pooping.

I'm about positive he knew he was suppose to be using it but wasn't on purpose! :)

[Jessie]

^ ^ ^ Liz, Science Diet contains a ton of fillers. One of the main ingredients is ground yellow corn... dogs are carnivores, and grains should not be the staple of their diet.

I would recommend a holistic food such as Timberwolf Organics, Canidae, Wellness, Solid Gold, Natural Balance... etc. I feed my chis Timberwolf Organics, and it is a great food... they have such shiny coats, and only poop twice a day.