Chihuahua's use litter boxes

[dogma]

My chihuahua's and my friends use large, dog litter boxes. It is easy to train a small dog to do this. If any of you are interested I'll reply with details. I do NOT recommend dog litter, though. Heard of dogs swallowing it and causing bloat, death. Cat litter is best.

[Cassiepeia]

I'm interested to know how you do it. Not sure I could teach my old guy, but I'll have Chihuahua's for the rest of my life (I hope) so it'd be good to know in case I need it.

Cass.

[dogma]

I trained mine as puppies. I began with puppy pads to establish the place. I sprinkled litter around edges to get them used to it. Gradually increase litter and remove pads. It took maybe 2 weeks total. They go inside and outside. For an older dog try leading them to the litter box with lots of praise. They may not like the feel of the gravel. Getting them to follow a favorite toy or juicy treat may bribe them in. Put some of their poo on the litter area to introduce the idea. If you can get a cup under to get a urine sample and introduce that smell also. When they really need to "go" offer them the litter box first. I also use a keyword, mine is potty. You say the word when they are using the box. I recommend the biggest box because mine would squat and poo over the side, the male peed over the side of the smaller one. I got mine at a pet store. If a dog eats stools, be careful about the kind of litter that may end up in their gut. I don't use clumping litter, pine or dog litter for fear of this. Putting baking soda on the litter reduces odor, and it tastes bad. By my box I have a trash can with a closing lid and a trash bag in it. I also have a dog food scoop with no holes like a litter scoop, and a kitchen sized trash can that I put fresh litter in; it's the right size for a 25 lb bag of litter. I'm happy to answer any questions. My friend used similar methods.

[Barrett]

I trained all three of my dachshunds to use a litter box. My dogs are really long so the store bought doggy litter boxes didn't work. My dogs couldn't turn around very easily and they would also potty off the end. I got horse water tubs and cut a hole in one end for them to walk through. I use pine horse bedding in the boxes instead of litter. None of my dogs eat or play with the litter so it is safe and smells fresh. It cost $2.99 for a 40 pound bag so it is super cheap too.
It took about a week for each of my dogs to understand what to do and they were 100 percent potty trained by 3 months of age. Lucy was the quickest to pick it up and never had a single accident on the floor. Harley was trained at 1 year of age and picked it up in about 3 weeks. It was a full month before she used it by herself without reminding and another 2 months before I trusted her 100%. Because of her nerve damage and age I think it took a little longer to train her.

The reason I chose litter box training is because I live near Seattle and I can't leave my dogs in the back yard when I go to work. I work for 10 hours so I couldn't leave them in a crate for that long either. My dogs stay in the house and snuggle on the couch when I am at work and have free access to the whole house because they are litter trained. They use the litter box when I am at work but go outside to potty when I am home. It has been a life saver.

[Swiftwind]

When Abby was a puppy (she's nearly 6 years old now), we trained her to use a litter box. We used a cat one and lined it with either puppy pads or just newspaper. She took to this really well, but once we got a dog door installed we then tained her to go outside.

Cass, if I remember correctly all we did to train Abby to use the litter box was to place her in the litter box when she looked like she needed to go, and once she did her business she was given lots of praise. This was kept up for a few weeks until she worked out herself where she needed to go.

If you're going to train your Chihuahua to use a litter box make sure it's one they can get into and out of easily!

[k9hullio_sam]

I was going to do the litter box training, but I didn't feel the need for it. Mandi can hold it for a while, and she lets me know when she has to go. I guess it would be useful if it was storming outside or something, but I think it is just too much work for me when I can just take her outside.

[honeygirl14]

I tried to teach my chi to use the litter box but with not much success so I switched to the puppy pads without a litter box.

she is almost 13 weeks old and although she is getting better about using the puppy pad, she still has many accidents.

I'm going to have to start all over with her since I'm moving into a house( from an apartment) but atleast now she has a yard.

I'm going to try the litter box again when I move since I will have to start work soon. Where did you all get dog litter boxes? I had to get just a small cat litter box at walmart since I could not find one that would work. Petsmart did not have anything that would really work. My chi is only 1.3 lbs so with the first litter box I had to cut out a small door type thing on the side so she could get in

BTW, what size(dimensions or etc) are those large litter boxes? Thanks so much!

[Beryl]

I'm really interested in this. I like reading that your dogs easily transitioned to a litter box because I think that is the way I want to go now.

My pup who is 7 months old is pretty well puppy pad trained now. He has one framed pad upstairs and downstairs so he won't have an excuse to make a mistake. I then put a pad over the frame and change that one or two time a day.

Can I purchase a recommended box online? If so, do you have a brand and/or merchant name?

[dogma]

Beryl, mine reads Second Nature Dog Litter Pan.

[Barrett]

I have dachshunds and the second nature box, even the extra large one, was too short the their long wiener bodies. I bought a tub that is usually used to water horses with and cut a door on one end. It only cost 12 dollars and the sides are much higher than the second nature boxes. It is easy to power wash once a week and I left a 3 inch lip at the bottom of the door so they have to step in and walk all the way inside. This stops them from only getting the front legs in and accidently going on the floor. Now they have to get all 4 legs in and never "miss".

[calgal]

We like going down to San Diego and up to San Jose and San Francisco to visit our three sons, so we kept the girls trained on the wee-wee pads because it's much easier to take them along than a tub and litter. I wouldn't want to set up a litter pan to leave sitting in someones house. It's so much easier this way, for us anyway. They only have the pads down at night now for just in case, but they haven't used them in quite sometime.

[Barrett]

My dogs are trained to go outside to potty too. I don't take a litterbox when I travel. They don't use the ones at home unless we leave them in the house while working. When we are home in the daytime they ask to go out to potty. In the middle of the night, all three use the litterbox. When I travel I do set the alarm so I can take them out in the night. Lucy has gone potty in the middle of the night in hotel rooms before. Since setting an alarm that has never happened again. It only took 4 months to potty train Harley to use the litterbox when left alone and to go outside to potty when we are home. She was one year old when we adopted her and started training her.

[TinyAlbinoDancer]

Has anyone had experience reducing the potty area to a litterpan size with success? I just re-did the floor in my room, from carpet to hardwood (not real wood). I've been using an oil pan with newspapers on it for years, but I don't want to put the metal on my floor, and would like something nicer looking. I'd like to use a litterpan with newspapers, but I'm worried about reducing her area to go in/on. Any suggestions or personal experiences??

This thread has been so helpful! It gives me HOPE. lol

[calgal]

Hey Barrett, if you used the pads you wouldn't need to go out at night. That's a main concern of mine. I didn't want to go out at night or early morning or in the rain when traveling. Also if were visiting one of our sons, and we all want to go out to dinner, then we just put a pad down in the bathroom for just in case.

[froggiedog]

dusty doen't need a litter box... he's got the wide open spaces to do his buisness.