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We are trying to potty train our 4 month old Chihuahua. We have where she'll go outside but we still have accidents but we think they are unneeded. We hope you can shed some light on her behavior and what we can do.

So far she'll go out to an area of the yard and do her business but we have incidents like this morning where I wake up and take her out like usual and she'll pee and then pull on the lease towards the door wanting to go in.

I brought her in and we let her stay in the bedroom with the wife in bed while I get ready for work.

She intantly goes by the door in our bedroom and goes number 2.

I don't understand why she can't go outside when she's out there and what we need to do.

Here our the variables.

Our back yard in the typical suburban back yard which is square and it the
backed up to 3 yards on each side.

On the right side are 2 huge dogs that usually always bark and jump on the privacy fence if we're not quiet.

Also in the mornings here the grass is wet from dew.

We don't understand why while out there she doesn't go number two and how we can get her to go fast and get back in.

Eventually we'd like to be able to tie her up to a chain in the back yard and give her a few minutes so we don't have to stand out there. But every time we put her outside on the chain and go back in she goes nuts and doesn't do anything. Any thoughts here? We're going to eventually finish the privacy fence and close our back yard so we coudl just let her out but then she'd still freak out right since she'd be alone.

Now that we have her training to go out back should we start taking her out the front do and around the other side of the house where we don't have the big dogs to worry about barking?

And then one more question. We had her training to ring a bell tied to the back door when she needs to go potty. SHe does this but also rings the bell when she wants attention or wants to play. We take her out but she just sniff's around and does nothing. We give treats if she does something but not when she doesn't but it looks like she's looking for it when we get back in.

Should we axe the bells since she thinks it's a toy. Or will they still work? Would it be ok if the front is better to try and move them to the front door.

Sorry this is a lot of questions but we are just really frustrated. It seems at times she does so well like yesterday no accidents and she went 2 several times outside but then we have something like this which doesn't make sense.

THX

Your dog is young and small, that is a factor in this, but from what you describe, but it sounds like "fixing" some of the other factors might be easier in the long run.

The barking neighbor dogs do not help the situations- especially for a young, insecure puppy. That makes it hard on her to concentrate and feel safe while going. I'm guessing you also feel a bit of tension to stay quite and that in turn makes your pup nervous. Everythi you feel travels down the leash. The signals hse's gettign are, 'Hurry up, we need to be quite and get this over with before those loud dogs hear us." Not a helpful situation at all for training purposes. THe morning wet grass can also be a deterrant to some dogs.

>>Now that we have her training to go out back should we start taking her out the front do and around the other side of the house where we don't have the big dogs to worry about barking?
>>
-I think this might be a good solution. Also, since she's goign ot remain small, you may want to set up a potty area in your garage with piddle pads or dog litter and an excecise pen. You can let her in the pen to do her business and just clean it up right away. No dogs to disturb and it's a quite safe place. Warmer and without wet grass as well.

>>And then one more question. We had her training to ring a bell tied to the back door when she needs to go potty. SHe does this but also rings the bell when she wants attention or wants to play. We take her out but she just sniff's around and does nothing. We give treats if she does something but not when she doesn't but it looks like she's looking for it when we get back in.
-I removed the bell from my training. My dogs love to be outside, but not necessarily to use the bathroom when out. I'd hear the bell 24/7 if it was up to them. I let my dogs out on a schedule. It's just easier for all concerned.
>>
Good luck and I hope others can help you as well.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles

Thx for the help we will give what you said a try. We will ditch the bell and try her going the front method. If that doesn't work we'll think about the garage.

In the midwest it's colder more than warm so I'm afraid she'll be less apt to go when it's 14 degress outside or worse yet when snow is on the ground.

Any thoughts on crate training.

thanks for the advice. The garage as a potty area is a really good idea! No wet grass, no big dogs barking, quiet/safe space, protection from snow/rain/cold. We are going to buy an exercise pen today and set it up in the garage today. We will put puppy pads down for her to learn that's where to go. We may even think about putting a doggy door in the door leading to the garage so she can go on her own when she gets older. Is this a good idea? Should we take her out for potty breaks every 2 hours and increase the time between breaks gradually?

We're trying the excercise pen in the garage idea which would work great if we could get her to do it but we're having no luck. We put her in the cage and we have puppy pads lining the bottom and even with us sitting right there by the cage she just whines and whines and whines. Then eventually she just lays down.

We're not sure what to do now. Even when we say Go Potty she runs to the back door still thinking we're going to take her outside.

Is it going to be impossible to get her to do this. We would take her out the front door but what happens when it rains or when it snows. She won't even go out with dew on the grass.

We can't sit out in the garage for hours waiting for her to use the bathroom.

Any pearls of wisdom as we are at wits end?

Ok, We took some advice and tried to use a excersize pen in the garage. That doesn't seem to work since we had her in it for hours and were with her most of the time and she didn't nothing but scream.

She already had serveral accidents but we've noticed she kept going to the back door. So we put her in it today when she looked like she needed go and an hour later still nothing and lots of screams.

Just for the heck of it we took her out of the pen and put her leash and took her outside like we used to and bam almost immediatly she pee'd twice.

It obvious that she's conditioned to go outside which is great and not so so great at the same time.

This method was working fine during the day but sometimes in the mornings we would have problems because of big dogs barking, wet grass, or rain. See our posts above for that info.

We've pretty much decided it's going to be really difficult to get her to do something inside.

So we are going to take the pen back and get our money and her is my question.

We know she'll go outside if the temp and conditions are right.

Any suggestions on what we can do to help that. We thought about maybe getting one of those yard canopies that way it wouldn't be wet or the snow wouldn't get under it but then they are very flimsy and I don't know if that would work.

What are your dogs like when the conditons are not so hot. Do you just take them out in the rain..getting yourself and them soaked where they prob won't go anyways or do you have some alternate solution.

Do you think if we took her out the front door and on the other side of the house she would still go alright or would that confuse her. That would elimate the dogs barking since they wouldn't see us.

Any pearls of wisdom....we're stumped.

Sounds like you are really stumped...I'm not so sure even I can be of help but here is a link that I think can be! It sounds like some very useful advice. Good Luck!! As for me I have three Shiba Inu's and they will go out in any weather and absolutely love the snow and cooler weather.

The potty dilemma

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.

I am surprised to see that there seem to be several siblings of shiba's and chis. I have both - and just got Zina the chi recently. I love them both, of course!