Housebreaking Small Dog Breeds

DH and I are going to start training our dog to go to the bathroom outside during walks this week. But I keep hearing how difficult it is to fully housebreak small breeds.

I don't mind an occasional accident here or there, but ideally I would love to have the dog doing his business outside at least 99% of the time. We were thinking of walking 2x/day but willing to walk more if necessary.

Is this unrealistic thinking or am I forever going to buy wee wee pads? BTW, pup is 9 months old- we just got him this past weekend.

Any thoughts/opinions/advice will be appreciated!

Re: Housebreaking Small Dog Breeds

Once he is housebroken he shouldnt have accidents on a regular basis. I hear it is the housebreaking that is the hurdle.

Just reward him with a treat everytime he goes outside. You might have to wait 30 min or an hour out there. If he doesnt go, bring him right back in the cage inside, wait 10-15 min and bring him back out.

GL

Re: Housebreaking Small Dog Breeds

We have a small dog and we were able to house break her within 2 months.

We got Daisy when she was ~4 lbs and was 7 weeks old.

This was our daily routine (she was locked in a crate when we were at work):
-Alarm: Daisy went out with DH to do her morning numbers
-Before Work: Daisy would get a mini-walk around the yeard (she wasn't fully immunized yet) to do her business after she ate breakfast
-Lunchtime: One of us would come home, feed her lunch, play with her and then take her for a mini-walk in the back yard to do her business
-After arriving home from work: DH would take her outside to do her business, bring her in to play, then take her back out to pee, feed her dinner, take her out 20-30 minutes after to do her business
-Evening: If she drank water, within 20-30 minutes after, we would take her out
-Bedtime: She was taken out to do her business, locked up in crate and repeated each day

Re: Housebreaking Small Dog Breeds

I don't have small dogs, but my Mom has 2 Maltese, some minor problems with housebreaking. The problem is that small dogs have little bladders, so alot of the time they can't "hold it" as long as a bigger dog - also the bladder gets bigger as they grow up from a puppy to a full grown dog.

My Mom does frequent breaks. On the days she works she has someone take care of them (she works a 13 hour day).

Re: Housebreaking Small Dog Breeds

Depends on the breed -- and also the individual dog. What breed is your small dog? Some breeds are notoriously difficult to housebreak, like daucshounds and chihuahuas. Others, like toy fox terriers and maltese housebreak more easily. Obviously, every dog is an individual, though.

Re: Housebreaking Small Dog Breeds

Thanks for the input everyone!

We have a Bichon Frise. He has been amazing with going on the wee wee pads (sometimes he misses by a few inches due to bad aiming).

I've been feeding him at 8:30am and 6:30pm so far. We keep his water out in the day time and then I put it away around 9:30pm.

I'm noticing that he does #2 about 4x/day, but it's still too early to know if this is going to be his set schedule because it's only day four of having him. I guess we'll just see what happens over the next few day/weeks!

Re: Housebreaking Small Dog Breeds

I would let him out every 4 hours and I usually think crate training is the way to go as well. BUT.. I am not sure about a crate for a dog that is wee wee pad trained and 9 mos old.. Can you get a book on this? I am sure it can be done .. How much does he weigh? I didnt think Bischons were THAT little? like 20-25 lbs .. I think thats a medium size dog who can hold it longer. AND this is a very very smart breed .. You should be able to do this with little trouble.. I do think 2x is not enough for the walks .. Any way you can get 4x in for now and them maybe 2x? Or do you have a fenced in yard you can bring him out in?

Re: Housebreaking Small Dog Breeds

I found crate training works the best. The only thing is that small breeds often can't hold their bladder as long so you can really only keep them crated maybe 4 hours tops. That seemed to work well with our dogs. I did away with the wee wee pads completely. I feel they do more damage than good. It's allowing the dogs to do their business in the house. I wanted them to realize that they can only go outside. Wee wee mats did not work for me at all. It actually made things worse.

Re: Housebreaking Small Dog Breeds

Thanks Diana and Kristin!

We're actually not crate training him, but we don't let him have run of the house either. When we're gone, we keep him in our hallway with a childproof gate. On one end of the hall we keep the wee wee pads, and then the other end is his blanket. I think we'll be able to keep up with 4 walks a day. BTW, Diane- your pup is gorgeous!

Kristin- I agree with you 100%. I really hate the pads. A couple of times the pee seems to go right through. We took him on a walk for the first time yesterday and he was so scared (my poor baby ). I'm determined to work with him though until he gets it!