Well they say that a den (crate) is suppose to be safe haven for a dog. In the wild, wolves sleep and eat in a den. They do there business outside of the den. By putting the pan inside his den, it only confuses the dogs natural instinct, and most dogs are not 100% housebroken. I know a lot of people that put everything inside a crate, the pads or litter box, the toys, the water, the food, the bed, and then there is no room for the dog to actually walk freely without stepping on everything, so the dog will pull everything to it's bed. A true house broke dog, will hold it in for 8-10 hours if they have to. Just the way most dogs can hold it in all night, which is an average of 8 hours.
The only way a crate works is if it is a good 4 feet long for a chi, or you use a playpen. That gives enough space in between the bed to the pad for movement. Or you block them off in the bathroom or a larger area. Or you use the old method of putting them in a crate that is only big enough to hold their bed, but they still have enough room to stand on it and turn around and stretched out when they lay down, and the water dish is hooked onto the door of the crate. Then you put a leash on him and walk him to the pads, which is much further away, instead of walking him outside. I prefer the latter way, because I found that all my dogs were housebroken within a month and that was when I was working full time. You said that you are use to housebreaking large dogs and used a crate, but since they were larger dogs, you probably walked them and didn't use the pads once they were big enough to go outside. Since you were successful with them, then I would do it the same way with Diego, except put the leash on him and walk him to the pads instead of outside, and only use a smaller crate when you can't monitor him, until he is fully housebroken. When I worked, I got up in the morning, and the first thing I did was walk them to the pad and stayed there until they did there business. Then I fed them inside the crate, and then let them be free to play while I got ready for work. Just before I would leave, I again would walk them to the pad and wait until they did there business. Then I allowed 15 minutes of playtime and interaction with me and then back into the crate and I would leave for work. Yes it was messy when I came home for the first couple of days, but a dogs natural instinct is not to mess in there den and they really get the hang of it after the first week. -------Original Message------- From: Rebecca Bate Date: 1/28/2012 7:34:29 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Chihuahuas] Ok I am at the end of my rope Ok so I have no issues house breaking a big dog..... But Diego is driving me batty. I have always used crates for my dogs and Diego is no different. But he is just gross, here is why. When I went back to work after summer break, I put him in a mid size crate with a litter box, and a box with his very soft nice bedding. WELL he uses the litter just fine, but then drags his bed into the litter box and then uses the other box and then drags his bed back to that box. I am bathing him every other day because he is just gross, I clean his crate often but by the time I get home he is covered. I have never had a dog that would choose to lay in its waste. Any help would be wonderful. BTW if I use puppy pads he drags those into his bed too :-/ Unfortunately I have to be gone all day for work this year, sadly this years school schedule wasn't kind to me. Thanks Rebecca
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