Potty Problems

[maxxkeita]

I recently adopted a two-year old Jack Russell from the local SPCA who seems to have an issue with paper training. He will urinate on his paper, but won't defacate there. It's not as thought he's close and is just missing; he will actually go a couple of feet away. Any suggestions?

[jiena_drakon]

my Chihuahua used to do that. The way I trained him was to lock him in a small room in which I covered the entire room over with piddle pads. When I was to return I praised him and gave him a treat for going poop on the pad. Then the next day I took one piddle pad off the floor and came back to see he pooped on a piddle pad and praised him again. I kept taking away one pad at a time until there was only one left and then seeing he was a chihuahua I put the pad into a small doggie litter box and trained him to go into there. It took me about two weeks for this process to work. If and when he made a mistake to go on the ground and not on the piddle pad I would not treat him and add a piddle pad to the ground where he went.

good luck

[maxxkeita]

That's a great suggestion, thanks. I will give it a try.

[Pit Chick]

I think dogs are more particular about where they want to plant their prized poopies, more so than pee. Watching my dogs in the yard, they will sniff all over that yard until they find just the right spot. They'll pee anywhere though.

Is your main goal to actually paper train or do you want to eventually housetrain? If you are trying to housetrain, then the only thing paper training does is teach the dog it's ok to go potty in the house. A crate, regular routine, and lots of praise will be needed to properly housetrain. Otherwise, a doggie litter box and jiena's method is a good idea. If only they made litter boxes big enough for Pit Bulls.

[maxxkeita]

Yes, I do want to house train him. Thank you for your suggestions. I will give it a try and let you know how it goes.

[lv4dogs]

I agree with pit chick, if you are planning on house training I would stop the paper training ASAP.
It is much harder to house train a dog that has been paper trained (allowed to potty in the house) than it is to just house train from the start.