Has anyone trained their dog to use a litter box?

whatdidyousay!

whatdidyousay!

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And how long did it take for your dog to learn how to use a litter box?
I am thinking of to train Marty to use a litter box so I will not have to go out at 3:00 AM again!
 
I participate in a dog training forum, and a couple people there have trained their dog to use a litter box. In both cases, the owners are older women, and the dogs are very small.

Personally, I don't like the idea unless the litter box is outside on a balcony or enclosed patio or something like that. If inside, you are telling your dog it's ok to go potty indoors. I don't want to teach my dogs that.

But I am home all day so they don't have a problem with having to wait all day; they are taken outside in the early morning, late morning, mid-afternoon, and after dinner, at minimum.

Probably, if it's any consolation to you, Marty is likely to get used to his new routine with you pretty soon. Also, since he was treated for dehydration at the vet's, he might have had a lot more fluid in his system than he ordinarily would, thus the 3:00 a.m. walkies. Once his system normalizes, he probably won't need that any more.

How is he doing? Drinking, peeing and pooping like nice little poodles should?? I hope so!
 
Take water bowl away at night and she will not bother you at 3 a.m. :)

training litter is good for smaller dogs
 
My sister's dog uses "pads" that she places on the floor when she goes to work.
 
Beach girl said:
I participate in a dog training forum, and a couple people there have trained their dog to use a litter box. In both cases, the owners are older women, and the dogs are very small.

Personally, I don't like the idea unless the litter box is outside on a balcony or enclosed patio or something like that. If inside, you are telling your dog it's ok to go potty indoors. I don't want to teach my dogs that.

But I am home all day so they don't have a problem with having to wait all day; they are taken outside in the early morning, late morning, mid-afternoon, and after dinner, at minimum.

Probably, if it's any consolation to you, Marty is likely to get used to his new routine with you pretty soon. Also, since he was treated for dehydration at the vet's, he might have had a lot more fluid in his system than he ordinarily would, thus the 3:00 a.m. walkies. Once his system normalizes, he probably won't need that any more.

How is he doing? Drinking, peeing and pooping like nice little poodles should?? I hope so!
Click to expand...

Marty is feelings better and want to run after a toys now. He is still having trouble pooping. I hope once he is off all his meds he will be able to poop without having to Miralax . Marty almost took a poop in the house today,I got him outside on time! I been giving Miralax every other day as he get into a lot of pain when he can't poop! I was watching Animal Planet last night at 12 AM and a dog trainer was trying to get a pitbull dog from not barking so much when the doorbell rang , Marty was listening to the TV too, and when someone ringed the door bell on TV Marty jumped up started to bark and ran to the door wagging his tail!! He would not stop barking so I turned the TV off and put him in my bedroom hoping this would stop him! I hope he did not wake anyone up! I will have to be careful watching TV late at night now on,and maybe mute the voice and read the CC if there is any! I am home a lot too but I only had Marty less that 2 weeks and do not know all his habits yet.
 
Regularity and consistency will help you housetrain him. First thing in the morning, again after breakfast to wee, around noon if you can, then late afternoon, and finally before bed. Maybe more often if he indicates to you that he needs to go.

When he does go outside, praise, praise, praise him, and give him a little treat. He should know that Mommy is SO thrilled with what he just did!

I think you said he is about 2 years old? Probably he already was house-broken, so this is just reinforcing the rules for your household.
 
Beach girl said:
Regularity and consistency will help you housetrain him. First thing in the morning, again after breakfast to wee, around noon if you can, then late afternoon, and finally before bed. Maybe more often if he indicates to you that he needs to go.

When he does go outside, praise, praise, praise him, and give him a little treat. He should know that Mommy is SO thrilled with what he just did!

I think you said he is about 2 years old? Probably he already was house-broken, so this is just reinforcing the rules for your household.
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Yes he is around 2 years old and house broken, thank goodness! I had no idea
if Marty was house broken as he peed on me in the shelter! I guess he marking me as his territory to let the other dogs know he was going home with me! I take him out when I wake up and after he eat but I am taking him more right now as he is on meds and he having trouble being consistency.
I can't wait until he off his meds! There are no dogs in my condo and Marty love to pee when other dogs peed. I need to get some dog pee and put it on some trees to encourage Marty to pee! I think the poor dog was abused as he get scares when I pick him up tp put his harness on him. He was so sick when I got him home I did not know he was mouthy too , I will have to teach him not to use his mouth on my hands!
 
You've got a lot of learning about each other to do! I'm looking forward to hearing about Marty's progress.

Did you ever measure him, to figure out if he is a toy or a mini? Height at the shoulder is the determining measurement.

Also a poodle should be roughly square: height from ground to shoulder should be roughly equal to neck to base of tail measurement.
 
YOu are a great mom to marty! Like beach girl mentioned that you and marty to get to know each other better and things are going to get better..
hope the medicine does help marty real good!
 
Wirelessly posted (sent from a smartphone. )

So there are mini poodles? Didnt know that existed. I know there are toy and standard poodles.
 
Toys are the smallest, at under 10" at the shoulder. Miniatures are 10" to 15". Over 15" is considered a standard, although in reality, most standards are 20" - 25" at the shoulder.

Minis often go oversize, since breeders like to hit that 14 - 15". Invariably they will get the occasional dog who hits 16" - 17", maybe even a bit more. In Europe, that size is called "moyen" or "klein." In the U.S., technically it is a "standard," but you would be laughed out of the conformation ring for showing such a small dog as a standard.

My dog Casey is in that category. He comes from mini breeding, but is nearly 17" tall. It's a wonderful size for doing agility; he runs like a gazelle, is tall enough to be fairly sturdy, but still small enough to be easy to live with. (He is in my avatar picture.)

My dog Pippin is a smallish mini, at 12".

That might be more about poodles than you really wanted to know. ;-)
 
Wirelessly posted (sent from a smartphone. )

Ahh much more clear when you explained about them. I thought mini was smaller than toy oops. Of course poodles are very smart dogs and they have their own mind sometimes.
 
They do, indeed! I love 'em to pieces.

My husband and I got our first poodle 20 years ago. He was SO smart and so much fun; we agreed we would never have anything but poodles after that. A couple years after that dog died, we got Pippin, and then a year after that, got Casey.

I would recommend a poodle to anyone who wants a smart dog, so long as you can keep up with the grooming required. And you DO have to be smarter than the dog, in order to stay one step ahead of what they will think up next. With poodles, sometimes that is the challenge. ;-)
 
just sharing my dog-related thoughts here - i always suggest - puppies and dogs not housetrained need to go out before and after any change in status - that is, before and after" eating, drinking, playing, sleeping, meeting new people, having guests over, going for a ride, etc.
Puppies ideally <now I know not everyone can do this and I understand you don't have a puppy, whatdidyousay! > go out every hour.

many times dogs are scared of things not because they were abused or neglected, but because no one ever taught them about that specific thing in THAT context. Dogs are VERY contextual learners, so if a dog learns about water running only from a sink or from a tub, he may not understand and then be very fearful of water from a hose outside, a lake or water in a pool.
Just because a dog understands "sit" in the kitchen, does NOT mean she understands "sit" in the family room or outside at the Petco parking lot.

whatdidyousay!, I also like the thought you had about putting some pee out there for Marty - they have something called a Pee Post, too, you can try - looks like a big yellow golf tee and you smack in the ground and it has scent on that is supposed to encourage a dog to mark it. Not all dogs learn from it but it's something you could try to encourage him and is available at many pet supply shops-
 
I tried that Pee Post thing with Casey when we got him. (Pippin we got as an adult, and he was already perfectly house-trained.)

It was totally worthless. Casey did not pay one bit of attention to it. Never peed on it, ever.

What worked for me was just taking him, on leash, to ONE spot, over and over, saying "Go potty!" and giving him treats and praise when he did what he was supposed to.

He didn't have many accidents in the house, but when he did, I cleaned it up with a paper towel and then spiked that paper towel out in the back yard where I wanted him to go. I don't know if it helped or not, but made me feel like I was doing something. And he did sniff it a bit, more than he did at the Pee Post thing, so maybe it had some effect.
 
Marty will probably fit into a more regular potty schedule once his system is off the meds and normal again.
 
We had Labradors. I can't imagine what size litter box we would have needed with them! :lol:

Even if they had used a box, it would need to have been emptied immediately each time it was used, so what's the point?

It might be an option for toy size dogs but not the big ones.
 
yeah, I know, we tried the Pee Post too at one time with a new adult <my Lab, now elderly> through rescue, and it didn't work either - but that doesn't mean it it wouldn't work for someone. I honestly haven't heard of much success with it though.

Yeah, Beach girl, what generally is the most reliable option is what you described - handler takes dog out regularly, giving her plenty of chances to go and then BIG PARTY w/treats and praise the second dog squats and starts to actually do something. Don't take dog back in and reinforce because then you're reinforcing going into the house.
With new puppies or with adults needing to be taught as if they were puppies <though don't quite think this is Marty> I suggest dog goes out with you on leash or on a line and they go out for elimination first and once they do that that initial pee/poop, THEN play time. If they don't do anything in about 5-10 minutes, back inside they go. The odds increase of having success that way as opposed to: dog goes out, forgets to pee, comes back in - pees in doorway etc.

sometimes those canine litter boxes or pee pads are good for people in very urban areas in high-rise apartments with little dogs, who are not able to hold their bladders, even as older puppies , the way older large-breed puppies can; also trying to get the puppy or young dog down through crowds and several flights of stairs or an elevator can set them up to fail too, so in that specific instance that type of equipment can be useful. Or, if the handler has a physical/mobility issue that makes it more difficult to move quickly or in the way that would allow the handler to reliably and easily teach a young puppy or small dog to "go outside".

I personally think those types of things"generally" add a lot of trouble more than use for MOST people in "typical" circumstances because there are many possible problems with them too, such as the dog learning to ONLY pee on a pad and refusing to go anywhere else, among others.
 
Beach girl said:
Toys are the smallest, at under 10" at the shoulder. Miniatures are 10" to 15". Over 15" is considered a standard, although in reality, most standards are 20" - 25" at the shoulder.

Minis often go oversize, since breeders like to hit that 14 - 15". Invariably they will get the occasional dog who hits 16" - 17", maybe even a bit more. In Europe, that size is called "moyen" or "klein." In the U.S., technically it is a "standard," but you would be laughed out of the conformation ring for showing such a small dog as a standard.

My dog Casey is in that category. He comes from mini breeding, but is nearly 17" tall. It's a wonderful size for doing agility; he runs like a gazelle, is tall enough to be fairly sturdy, but still small enough to be easy to live with. (He is in my avatar picture.)

My dog Pippin is a smallish mini, at 12".

That might be more about poodles than you really wanted to know. ;-)
Click to expand...

People thought my standard poodle , Finlay was really big , he weight 52 lbs
and was small for a male. I saw a male standard poodle that was 90 lbs and and almost came up to my hips , I' am 5'6". He was gorgeous!
 
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