Here are basic instructions on litter box training your puppy!
For more information you can also visit: www.doglitter.com , this is a site by Purina and has an excellent tutorial online as well as coupons and offers for thier litter box system.
1. Choose an area in your home with solid flooring such as tile or linolium to set your puppys "room" up in. This can be a laundry room, bathroom or kitchen. Use an expandable baby gate to limit where puppy can roam.
2. Use puppy's crate (door taken off) or a covered box with a nice bed in it for puppy's "bedroom". The bed can be fancy or plain, just make sure it is comfortable and washable.
Puppy will need this private area for naps, sleeping at night or just plain relaxing and getting away from stimulus.
3. Always make sure there is fresh water and dry puppy chow for puppy available AT ALL TIMES.
4. Spread weewee pads or newspapers in a 3x3 area and set litter box in the center.
This for two reasons- first, it will give asurface for puppy to discard any litter that has carried out on his feet, second, if puppy is not 100% successfull at first and has a near miss, it will not be on your floor.
5. Litter box should be only 1/2 full of litter, and not too tall for puppy to jump in and out of. A small cat size pan will work fine, as puppy grows you may need to graduate to a larger pan, also you will want a larger pan if you have more than one pup using it. Scoop and / or replace litter as often as needed.
6. Puppy should stay confined to this area at all times in the begining UNLESS you are directly supervising and can take puppy to it when you see behaviour that indicates puppy needs to potty. Gradually enlarge the area puppy can roam in by using the baby gates(s) until puppy has run of the whole house!
7. REMEMBER TO PRAISE, PRAISE PRAISE!!!
TIPS:
Recycled wood products or paper products seem to work much better in the pelleted litter than do plant derived litter pellets. Also the size of the pellet seems to make a difference with how successfully the pups take to it. Purina makes a cat pellet litter called "good mews" , it is a smaller pellet.
Cost is not a factor in using this system! We purchase a recycled wood pelleted animal bedding product from our farmer's co-op that is only $5.00 for a 35 pound bag.
A small cat pan will run around $2-$3. A litter scoop is under a buck!
Just remember- it doesn't have to be fancy or expensive, it just has to be clean and consistant!
ULTIMATELY the success of any potty training system is the responsibilty of the human moms and dads involved. Remember you are in charge of setting your puppy up for success in ALL things and sometimes you need to look at things from thier point of view to do this! Please go to our website at www.puppygramnet.com and read "a letter from your puppy"!
Good luck and should you need encouragement or help with any litter box or chihuahua questions, please do not hesitate to call us anytime!
Thank you, Mary and Victor! 541-459-5951, 541-459-5802, www.puppygramnet.com (website), uvkennels@gmail.com (email)
