Potty train another Chihuahua?
No thanks.
I’d rather teach an octopus to put on pants.
Potty training a Chihuahua is HARD. If you’re here for troubleshooting, you’re not alone.
There are some ways that you can make this process a bit easier. It starts with understanding the nature of your itty-bitty companion.
What’s Wrong With Your Dog?
A health issue could be causing your dog to be incontinent.
Early spaying often causes urine leakage, especially on bedding. Spay incontinence happens to about 5% of small dogs who are spayed before their first heat.
Urinary tract infections can cause frequent urination and incontinence. If your dog is peeing a lot, or has any sudden, unusual urinary-related behaviors, a quick urine test can rule out a UTI. A female dog’s urethra is shorter and wider than a male’s, allowing bacteria to enter the bladder, though males can suffer from a UTI too.
If you’re having trouble with potty training, talk to your vet to rule out an underlying health issue. This is even more crucial if they were once trained, but are suddenly having accidents again.
Chihuahuas Are Sensitive
All dogs are sensitive to punishment, even if that’s just raising your voice… even if it’s an unintentional exasperated sigh when you have to clean up yet another puddle.
Chihuahuas are especially sensitive to any anger or annoyance you might have about potty training.
They can even become frightened if you celebrate too loudly when they finally poop outside.
Once they become fearful about going potty, they will hold it in when you’re near, and then wait until they can sneak off.
It can help to use a longer leash, or two leashes clipped together, so your Chi can have a bit more privacy when you’re out on a walk. Only use a long leash in an open area, as you may only be allowed a 6-foot leash when you’re at a park. Reel in your long leash any time you’re near a road.
Chihuahuas Are Sneaky
Face it, if you’re on this blog post, there’s a 99.999999% chance that there’s a dried pee stain or poop nugget in your home that you don’t know about.
Lingering scents attract your Chi, and she’ll continue to soil the same area again and again. Use an enzyme based cleaner like Nature’s Miracle to break down the stain and get rid of the scent. Add your Chi’s scent to the correct potty spot by depositing her poop or a paper towel soaked in pee wherever you want her to go.
You can use baby gates and crates to limit your Chi’s free range of your home until you can trust her. I really like the puppy gates from Carlson’s Pet Products because of the walk-through door.
Chihuahuas Get Cold Easily
Smaller dogs have a larger ratio of skin to insides.
With more surface area in relation to their overall size, they get cold more easily.
You might start to have a few accident-free months through the summer, only for your Chi to start having accidents again in the winter.
You can teach your Chihuahua to poop outside in the winter, but in the meantime, you may want to consider using puppy pads when it’s cold… especially if you know that you won’t be able to walk your dog as often, or supervise her outside to make sure she does her business before you let her in again.
Every Part Of The Chihuahua Is Miniature
I will never cease to be amazed at the size of Matilda’s poops.
For her size, they’re long and thick, and sometimes the land sticking straight up out of the ground.
Your Chihuahua has a tiny digestive system to match their tiny body, though they have a huge appetite. What goes in must come out. That tiny bladder and small intestine work extra hard to hold in all of those wastes.
There’s not really any science on this, but it’s anecdotally evident that Chihuahuas are just physically disadvantaged when it comes to being able to hold their #1 and #2s than larger dogs.
As they get older, they will get better and better at holding it in. But that might take longer than you expect.
Crate training can help your Chihuahua learn to hold it so those muscles will strengthen over time.
Chihuahuas Don’t Always Communicate Well
It took a while for Matilda to learn how to “talk” to me. Maybe because she was pad-trained. When your dog is pad-trained, they handle bathroom matters on their own, they’re not accustomed to asking to go potty.
If she never seems to show any sign that she needs to go potty, it can help to teach your Chihuahua to use potty bells.
Why Chihuahuas Are NOT Hard To Potty Train
Remember, your Chi is not being spiteful when she pees or poops where she shouldn’t.
Dogs don’t know that we find pee and poop to be yucky.
She might pee or poop on your bed or in a pile of laundry because these places smell so strongly of you, so she may be drawn to those places and add her own scent.
Chihuahuas Are Underestimated
So many people give up on their Chis.
Don’t give up on your Chi.
Kiss that round, beautiful noggin. Kiss it.
And then keep trying.
Once your Chihuahua is fully potty trained (it will happen if you’re consistent. I promise.)
… it’ll all be worth it.
You’ll be ready for bigger things. Bigger adventures. Bigger goals.
You’ll forget what it was like to have a messy little puppy, and you’ll have a tiny near-human hairy alien creature that has bonded so closely with you that you’ll practically think the same thoughts.
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She also uses her pet copywriting business to make sure the best pet products and services get found online through catchy copy and fun, informative blog posts. She also provides product description writing services for ecommerce companies.
As a dog mom to Matilda and Cow, she spends most of her days taking long walks and practicing new tricks, and most nights trying to make the best of a very modest portion of her bed.
You'll also find her baking bread and making homemade pizza, laughing, painting and shopping.
Is this a video? Do you have videos on how to train your Chihuahua?
There’s no videos on this post, I don’t really make how-to train videos, but if there’s something specific I can help you with, please let me know. 🙂
Lindsay Pevny recently posted…What You Can Learn From Build-A-Bear’s Promotion
Hi Lindsay Pevny,
I have a Chihuahuas but I don’t really know how to train him, I read a lot of articles (yours as well) but not getting the idea.
It will be really appreciated if you could make a video series on how to train a Chihuahuas.
Thank you!
Freddie Johnson recently posted…Should You Wake a Sleeping Dog?
What’s your little guy’s name? Is there anything in particular you’re working on? I’m shy about making videos but I want to try it out in the future.
Lol there’s definitely a poo nugget somewhere in here 😭 my Chi usually tries to use the potty pads, but she misses half the time. We’ve resorted to putting 2 pads next to each other… And now we’re trying to teach her to go outside
I don’t know about potty training Chihuahuas. I do know my own personal experience and the extent I went to when I was training my lab puppy. (Please note, this comment is not intended whatsoever to tell anyone how to potty train their dog. My baby girl is gone now, but I look back fondly on our life together and this story is just part of it.) I slept on an air mattress on the floor next to the doggy door. Up with her every two to three hours having her go out the doggy door, me by way of patio door to the backyard, encouraging her to go potty. After about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks, she had it down and never had an accident in the house that I ever recall. It was a challenge at first, but well worth the sacrifice in the end.
I am sure that not everyone can do that, however, it sure was well worth it to me.
As a professional dog trainer for over 13 years, I have found that the requests for housetraining help that I get are most often from little dogs. I believe that a common reason for this is likely because their messes are smaller and so the owners are a bit more tolerant — unlike owners of larger dogs whose messes make a HUGE impact! ha ha I’ve been to called to homes to help people with a behaviour issue with their little dog (perhaps aggression or over-reactivity on walks), and at the end of my visit, as an afterthought, the owner will mention that the dog has been messing in the house since it was brought home — 7 years ago!
I have some favourite troubleshooting tips, and one is this: A common mistake in training is to call the dog to you to give the treat for going potty in the right place. Usually this is because the owner has let the dog out in the yard and doesn’t want to follow the dog out to the potty area (perhaps the weather is poor or there are no shoes nearby to easily slip on). Using treats to reinforce going potty in the right place is a great training technique, but if, after your dog potties, you call your dog to you to give him/her a treat, your dog will understand the treat is for coming to you, not for going potty in the right place. Instead, give the dog a treat in the location where the dog did the potty (as long as it was in the desired area). And make sure the dog gets the treat within 3 seconds after the potty, otherwise the dog won’t clearly understand that the treat was for the potty behaviour.
We recently adopted a 4 year old Chi and was told she was house trained. We have pee pads out which she will use…sometimes. We are trying to get her to potty outside without much luck. Our previous small dog would come and let us know she needed to go, but this little gal does not. We moved her pee pad to the living room so we are better able to observe her potty habits, but she has now started peeing on our area rug instead of her pee pad. We do use a crate at night and she holds it, approx. 9 hours with no accidents. Is there any advice you can give? My husband wants to return her to the rescue group we got her from.
I understand what you’re going through. I too received an untrained chihuahua. She still does not like the feel of grass on her feet.
I hired a trainer. I had started to use puppy pads and was told to remove them. She said, “I was training her to go on the pads.” I keep her on a leash, so I know where she is at all times (long, non-retractable, I tied a rope to it so she could have a little more room). I can’t go to the bathroom or have a shower without her creating a mess. We’ll be out every hour when I’m home, if not, she’ll be in her crate. Praise only, treat 3s after she does her business. You want her to like you, so she’ll do it for you. 45m-1hr straight play time, just the two of us hanging out. Hope this helps.
This sounds like my life! I’ve had my rescued chihuahua for 7 months now, she’s a little over a year old and we take 10 potty breaks/walks a day and I’m still cleaning up about 6 messes at least in the house daily. I can’t get her to use a pee pad, she prefers to go in her (our) bed. It’s an unsustainable lifestyle. I’m lucky that I can work from home but 10 pee breaks (which can take a long time in the winter) and cleaning up messes inside is causing my work to really suffer. She can handle the crate for up to three hours just fine without going but outside of her crate she goes every 3o min. Vet check up is fine. Is this really what my days are like now, every single day for the next 15 years?
My Chi stays in my room and will not potty there but when she goes downstairs she often goes on the living room carpet or in the basement. She is so fast that I may not see her at it. How can I train her to ask to go potty?