Small dogs, probably pugs, specifically...a question

[Christiansmommy]

So yeah, I think your original question was just whether or not puppies or dogs could be litter trained...

So, I think yes, I have heard of it, but have never done it, a Swissie in a litter box would be quite a seen!!, LOL


My uncle has to be out of the house on occasion, but is generally home all of the time, but anyway, he uses the puppy pads, so I don't see why a puppy couldn't be littered trained...but an adult dog, I think would be set in their ways as for the litter training...so if litter training is your only option for potty breaks, I would think it would have to be a puppy.

[4 Dog Mother]

Johanna, I am thinking of another aspect of this you have not mentioned and I suspose that is because I just got the puppy. Puppies like to chew and bite - they do not differentiate between a toy and a person especially a child who would not understand why the "puppy" was biting them. That too takes some time to train out of them.

Personally having adopted 5 older pups and dogs, I would go with an already trained older dog (and it doesn't have to be that old - it could still be a year or so old). None of our dogs were around kids much before we got them but they all do very well with Jasmine and Dominic. All of them can wait 10 hours or more to go potty. Fortunately for them, that doesn't happen on a regular basis - I work only part time for 9-3 and can't get home for lunch so they always (well, until Christy moved in) had at least a 6 1/2 hour wait - of course, sometimes I do not always come straight home. I have been very blessed with the dogs I have chosen and they are always able to wait. Amy and Ralph have the 3 dogs and I am pretty sure they have had a 9-10 hour wait much of the time they have had them. Now Ralph goes in earlier than Amy and then gets home from work earlier so their wait is not quite so long. They give their dogs plenty of attention in the evenings and weekends. It is sometimes like what we have to give our kids - quality time rather than quantity.

But anyway I think it is something you and dogs can handle. It would probably be better to have two dogs so they would have company - even if they are in crates near each other - although I don't believe you have to get them at the same time. You could chose one, get it used to your family and schedule and then add the other later on. We got Taggert and Snoopy about 3 or 4 months apart and they became fast friends - their crates are next to each other.

There are some breeds that seem to have more separation anxiety than others - I would investigate that if you could (although I have Snoopy and he hates it when I am not with him but he still does well). I know dogs need to have human attention but I often wonder how much better off they are sitting in pens in shelters for months waiting for someone to adopt them or being euthanized rather than someone giving them a warm home, food and as much attention that that family can.

[4MuttsFurever]

hi! I know that a lot of dogs can be litter box trained and I bet pugs can too, they can be newspaper trained so why not litter box trained! It might take some extra work but they would catch on after seeing the cats doing it you would think! Puppy pads would work too...they might catch onto that faster than litter boxes. I dont have experience with litter box training dogs though..all my dogs are over 40 pounds!! (Is there a litter box that big?...)

[flipgirl]

I don't know if you should let the dog share the cat's litter box - dogs love to eat cat litter and obviously it wouldn't be good for them!

I've seen a puppy starter kit with a litter box and pine shavings.. you could just use newspaper or those training pads (they get expensive though). The thing is, once your puppy goes in one area, it wont' go there again so you'll probably end up with mess on the floor. Maybe you need to seclude them in an area and put a few pads down.

Is there anyone who could just come in and let them out mid day? It's hard to housetrain a small dog because the area which they consider their den is smaller than a large dog. So if you are considering housebreaking them to go outside, it will be difficult to go from the pads to outside. Better to start them going outside. If you can have someone just to even let them out to pee, then that would help.

I would agree with the others however, in that maybe you should consider an adult pug from a shelter. Some breeders even sell adult pugs when they retire them from breeding.