Dog Litter Box And Other Potty Things. . .

[Graceful-Lily]

I'm curious if anyone here has dogs or has ever owned dogs and has had issues with potty training/housebreaking. More specifically, issues getting the knack of going outside.

Mordecai is a year old now and his previous owner barely took him out and had him on pee pads all the time. This has been making getting him to go outside almost impossible. Any soft surface is fair game for pee or poop.

I know the internet says to set a schedule and prevent accidents but sometimes I'll walk him and he does nothing but when we come back inside, he poops or pees on the carpet/floor. Same with just going out into the backyard. Sometimes I stand out or walk him out for a whole hour and he does nothing until we come back inside.

I've tried the cord method where you keep them constantly attached to you but that doesn't stop him from doing anything.

It's just starting to get really frustrating and I thought maybe we should meet in the middle and get him a litter box with his own special litter.

 

[Kflowers]

When I first got my pittie I picked up her poop in the yard every time she did it. she became stressed. The vet said that by picking up the poop immediately I was telling her not to go in the yard. Someone may have done that to Mordecai. When he poops inside collect it and put it in the yard where you want him to go. Leave it there for a few days, so there there will always be fresh poop in that place until he gets the hang of it. when you are walking him you have to pick it up when he goes, which re-enforces the not here, that he may have picked up on from former owner.

I let pittie puppy out every time she got excited, she was six months old and I'd been told she was three months, so I went with the training for young puppies. During that time I never saw the solution to any mystery or the end of any movie. But I was terrible about keeping to schedules. I did have cats, whom she adored and learned many things from going up and down stairs and --

One litter box was shallow round plastic holder you put the round plastic I want a tree in my living room planter in. Apparently, Pittie watched the cats and she began to use it. Seeing as she was 50 lbs the vet didn't believe it at first. However, a cat who peed that much at one time would not have survived. It was a good thing since I noticed she had blood in her urine one day. I would not have seen that in the yard. Turned out she had a bladder stone the size of a shooter marble. Surgery and she was fine the next day.

My male dog wasn't impressed, but he liked to pee standing up. Since Mordecai is a male and already attuned to pee pads, the litter box may work for you. I did try to train my pittie when I first got her but she wasn't having it - didn't like the box in the basement or the feel of the hard clay litter under her baby paws. I do suggest that if you do train Mordecai for a box arrange to cover the wall behind it with plastic. That will give him a wall to aim for and he shouldn't aim for the open spaces. If he's small use a rubber maid container, cutting out one side so he can get to the box.

I know that wasn't exactly what you asked, but it's something to consider for those rainy, snowy, scary days.

 

[di and bob]

I've had two or three small dogs that used a litter box in the house. Once they are used to using it there were no problems what so ever. There are litters out there that are softer under foot. With one dog I put puppy pee pads surrounding the box because being a male he lifted his leg and overshot the itter box. Maybe you could find unscented urine pads, maybe even large ones for humans to put under the box and protect your floor. These dogs were trained from puppies so I don't know how well it will work for you, but really, dogs can be trained to do almost anything!

 

[Graceful-Lily]

Thank you di and bob and K Kflowers for taking the time to respond.

Unfortunetly, I tried leaving the poop out from the very beginning because I wanted him to get used to it being outside but it has made no difference. I always leave fresh poops in his favorite spots outside to go but he doesn't poop outside much so they "go bad" from the rain water and such.

He also copies Felix a lot!! I thought this was crazy but maybe that's why he wants to go in the house? He always poops downstairs close to Felix's litter box. That's actually his favorite spot to go in the house aside from the doorway carpets.

He is such a tiny dog. He's about 5.5lb and very thin so the rain bothers him a lot. I cannot imagine how things will be with our harsh Canadian winters when it gets -30C. He already shivers from slight breezes. That's why I haven't cut his hair and I had to order sweaters for him because he gets cold easily.

Anyway, since he is super tiny, I figured it wouldn't be bad to train him to use a litter box. I was against it before because when I look up articles online, people say that it's bad to train dogs to go on pee pads and that only lazy people do it. Obviously not the case here. I am more than willing to take him out, he just doesn't do anything.

He's an amazing dog otherwise. We're just having trouble with him going poop outside and also his eating. I have him on a feeding schedule now and I thought that would help but his pooping time is still unpredictable.

 

[neely]

Mordecai is a year old now and his previous owner barely took him out and had him on pee pads all the time.

I can understand your frustration since I know several people with smaller dogs who also use pee pads. I often wondered what they would do if they had medium to large dogs. As we have never had small dogs this is not even an option. However, we have rescued all our animals and our last dog had no clue about going in the yard. In the beginning I took him on numerous walks too. I found one thing that helped was vigorously playing with him in the yard. That would usually do the trick. Eventually he got the hang of it but it can take awhile for them to break old habits or in this case, learn new habits.

I think you need to decide which is your preference but not both. Consistency is the key! If you want Mordecai to go outside then continue the walks, play in the yard and, of course, positive reinforcement. Or if you prefer for him to go inside that is entirely up to you. You mentioned he is 1 yr. old now but how long has he been living with you? I wish you the best of luck, you sound like a very dedicated dog parent.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

I'm just trying to figure out what is best for him. Right now, he's terrified of the rain. I put the harness on and I walk out the door but he stays inside. I have to physically carry him outside and put him in the grass. Even then, he just stands there staring at me. He won't walk around or do anything. Winter will be a lot worse.

If he was bigger, I'd have no problem what so ever. I've had bigger dogs and in my experience, bigger dogs seem to take to going outside better. But Mordecai is small. His bladder is tiny, he eats small frequent meals so going to the bathroom is more frequent. If I'm gone for the day, even if he uses the bathroom prior, he still uses it in the house. Bigger dogs are also less likely to freeze to death outside. Mordecai's legs are about the circumference of my thumb. His paw pad is as big as my thumb.

I'm not sure he can even tell the difference between the carpet and the pee pad so I'm assuming it would have to be a totally different texture all together. Plus, I'd have to build his confidence with the litter box. I tested him with it and when I placed him inside, he thought I had trapped him in there and he was afraid to come out.

I just thought of something! Perhaps a diaper, a full diaper would prevent him from peeing and pooping in the house?

 

[Kflowers]

That's the advantage to a dog using the litter box, I think particularly one with a small bladder (which was the effect of my 60 lb dog having a bladder stone) It means he can go when he needs to, you don't have to be home or awake.

You could use the lid from a large rubber maid container under the litter box. However, since Mordecai will have plenty of room turning the big container into the place to hold his litter box should work.

yes, I'm pushing this because we currently have an 83 lb dog who doesn't like to go out in the rain and simply won't pee if it's wet out there. It's supposed to rain until Monday.

ALSO if Mordecai is watching the cat and modeling on the cat, which is a good thing since cat already knows the house rules, He's going to want to pee and poop as the cat does. My cats were find with sharing that litter box with my dog. They had two others that were covered the dog didn't use. There were several cats.

 

[Kflowers]

Sorry leaving the poop out didn't work. I'm impressed you thought of it, I didn't. My vet suggested it.

Of course if you train him to only go outside you have an excellent excuse to buy him a raincoat, a sweater and a winter coat.

I would check with the vet about how long it's reasonable to expect a small dog to
wait to pee. We were thinking of getting one, but never got that far. It's no longer
a problem.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

He actually has a good winter coat already - along with a hat. No matter what I dress him in when the weather is bad, he will not come outside with me or do anything once outside. So, it's either diapers or a litter box and I'm learning more towards litter box because his hair is long and cleaning poop out of long hair isn't fun.

 

[Willowy]

I wouldn't use a diaper for poop, but a belly band is very useful for boy dogs who don't quite get the whole "don't pee inside" thing. Sometimes the dampness feels unpleasant enough that the dog decides not to pee in his band, but some dogs don't care :/.

I think a doggie litterbox is a fine idea. If he doesn't like the feel of pellets, maybe pine shavings or shredded newspaper would be more agreeable for him.

 

[Kflowers]

Litter box offering (training) would probably be easier than teaching him to let you put shoes on him. Yes, I tried that with the big dog because she had knee problems and insisted on walking on the sidewalk not the dirt. I thought I could put padding in the shoes. By the time I got the last one on her, she had eaten the others. I would complain about who'd be delusional enough to make dog shoes out of soft leather, but then I bought them.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

I had a belly band on him from day one. He always peed in them and messed himself up. I had to constantly wash the urine off of him and he'd pee so much that it would end up on the floor anyway.

His paws are way too tiny for boots. Look at your thumb and that is the size of his whole paw. Winter will be brutal for him because our winters are really bad so I will have to go with the litter box idea. Hoepfully he takes to it.

 

[Kflowers]

What a precious little dear he must be. I'd have a little canopy doll bed for him and a wardrobe for his outfits. And socks, I'd learn how to knit socks for him. Then either my sister would have me carted off, or she'd be gibbering. Except for the doll bed. We had one of those for our first two cats. One slept in the bed, the other slept on top of the canopy.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

If anyone is interested, I found a possible solution?

Mordecai has confinement phobia and leash anxiety. I knew this already and thought it might have something to do with him not using the bathroom outside when we go with him. So, I started letting him out without leash or harness on and he goes to the bathroom quickly! These past 2 days, he's even started crying to me when he wants to go out which is exactly what I hoped for so I reward him like crazy for it. He'll just run up to my mom and me and start "chatting".

We even went to an anniversary party yesterday and he held everything until we came back.

Of course I don't expect him to hold it for long so I'm going to invest in a grass box for him to use while we are out.

Maybe in the winter, I can build a warming station outside? We will see.

 

[Kflowers]

The key thing is you found out what he wants. I'd still be careful taking him on walks outside of your yard without a leash. I'll tell you the following story to warn you that people do insist on walking their dogs off leash. It's a good way to lose them. Even a 9 year old can suddenly take off after a squirrel and not see the car coming.

I was walking my 50 lbs sweet dog when a neighbor was walking his two Maltese off leash (busy street near by.) His dogs raced across the street and started flinging themselves at my dog's face. Had my dog been another dog it might not have ended well. Pittie just turned her mouth away from them and let them bounce off her neck. It scared their irresponsible owner enough that he put their leashes on them.

Note it was prime walking your dog before work time.

Had anything come of it my dog would have been blamed and put down through no fault of her own.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

Oh no! That's terrible but I wasn't talking about letting him off leash in public. I only let him off leash in the backyard. I'd never let him off in any area that I don't know and that isn't enclosed. He's too tiny for that sort of thing and someone would definitely steal him if he got away from me.

 

[Kflowers]

You are a good person.