I'm posting this seeking help because I have an almost 4 month old male long haired chihuahua puppy and potty training him is driving me up the walls. I've never had this much trouble potty training a dog before, either he's just not grasping the concept, or he just doesn't care. He's been with me since mid-late September.
At first, I allowed other people to tell me what to do with my dog (terrible idea.) and trained him with puppy pads, which he started to grasp onto immediately (except he refused to poo on the same pad he peed on, and needed them in multiple rooms otherwise he'd go on the floor). About 2 or 3 weeks ago (I have a bad sense of time) I got tired of the puppy pads and decided it'd be best to train him to go outside like our other 2 dogs.
At the beginning of house breaking, he was terrible since he was used to the puppy pads. He'd hold it in the whole time we were outside and would just play and eat things off the ground until we went inside (usually after about 15 minutes, gradually decreased due to losing patience) and would almost immediately pee when we went indoors. I tried the method of slowly moving the pads towards the door, which seemingly had zero effect. One day he went outside once or twice and got a treat and praise, and then one day we had a breakthrough. For about 2-3 days he was amazing, he only had 1 or 2 accidents a day and would do his business within 2 minutes of being outside, getting treats and praise each time.
Suddenly, he reverted back to before. He now goes outside like normal ONLY IN THE NIGHT TIME. During the day, he will hold it and potty as soon as we come inside. It's driving me nuts, I've done everything the internet has recommended. I use an enzyme cleaner (using the instructions on the back ofc), havent changed the treats i give him, praise when potty outside, removed all puppy pads and possible triggers, created routine, go out every hour, tell him no (which he has demonstrated he understands in other situations) and interrupt him when he potties inside. NOTHING HAS WORKED!!
And due to vet visits and etc i know there is nothing wrong with him that couldve caused this. No uti, nothing.
TLDR: dog was doing good potty training, now doing horrible. he does not have a uti and it is not learned behaviour.
Can anybody help? If you've been in the same spot, is there anything you've done that finally worked for you? Is it a phase that will pass, do I just need to be extra patient??? I am seriously desperate.
submitted by /u/Ssanriho
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