[LittleLuxie]

Hi everyone!! The time has come, tomorrow I fly across the ocean to get my little cutie pie! Sadly I have to postpone feeding her prey model raw until I move into the new house, but I bought several 2.2lb bags of Ziwipeak in Venison.
I really want to potty train her well right away, so there are no accidents later on. I have the crate all set up, and I am home all day and night. She will be about 13 weeks when I get her. Only I'm a bit lost on the whole potty training thing, I feel a little panicky, so sorry if this question has been asked before, i just really need some help on this! I was wondering if anyone could tell me what a good feeding and potty schedule is! I don't mind waking up at 3am if it helps, but I'm not sure if that would be the right thing to do or not?

Would I wake up at 8am, feed her, then let her potty, or potty and then feed and then potty again? Someone please help me out with a schedule! I'm lost!

 

[intent2smile]

I am not sure if I read it here or if the breeder told us or read it somewhere else...but somewhere I was told that puppies can hold their bladder for approximately 1 hour for every month that they are. This works pretty well for my Jaxx. He is six months old and seems to need to go out every six hours except for feedings.
I always make sure I take Jaxx outside when he wakes up, after playtime, and after his feedings.
My schedule consists pretty much of we get up in the morning about 8 am and I take him out first thing. He sleeps with us and has never had accidents on any of the furniture so I leave him on the bed until I get dressed.
After I bring him back in I bring out his food and water and let him eat. Usually I give him 15 to 20 minutes for his food to digest but I watch him closely at this time. Then we go for a walk until he does his business. Sometimes this takes 15 to 20 minutes but he needs exercise so that is part of our time outside.
If he does not do anything outside then I put him in his cage and take him back outside in 10 to 15 minutes.
When I first brought Jaxx home I kept him on a leash so that I could keep track of him and know where he was and what he was doing. This helped me be able to catch his accidents and get him outside before they happened.
We then go about our day (I am home all day so our days vary depending upon what we have planned.)
I take him outside approximately every 4 to 6 hours. Jaxx has started whimpering in the past couple days when he has to go outside during the day.
Approximately 4 pm I give Jaxx his evening meal and then repeat taking him out again.
I usually make sure he does not have liquids after 7 to 8 pm. If Jaxx is really thirsty though he has started going to the utility room to let me know he wants water, usually after treats and going outside.
Jaxx at first when we brought him home woke me up 2 to 3 times a night to take him out. It has gotten to the point now that he only wakes up once during the night to go outside and he wakes me up every night to do that...at which time for some reason he is super hyper and wants to play so I let him burn off some energy before going back to bed.
Younger puppies need fed more than 2 times a day so you will need to fit that into your schedule.
When we picked Jaxx up he was supposed to be trained to use a pee pad. I am not sure if it was just the new environment or what but he did not use the pee pad at all even though we showed him it countless times. I knew there would be a time that we would want to get rid of them so I just got rid of them and figured we would potty train him to go outside. It took approximately 3 weeks for him to pick up. We just made sure that we said "Outside" every time it was time to go out.
The most important thing is to be patient and give lots of love. There is a lot of great information on here and reading these forums helped me out so much when we brought Jaxx home. The transition is very scarey for them. I am sure you will have many years of great memories will your chi! Good luck and congratulations!

 

[Barneys_Mom99]

Hi,

I've had my chi for about 4 weeks now. It has helped me so much reading this forum. Barney is not telling me when he needs to go outside yet, so I'm doing all the scheduling. I am using the same words each time, and asking him, but so far no reaction on his part. I use crates when I can't watch him, and so far he's only gone potty in them a couple of times.

We get up at 5am, go potty, play, eat, play, go outside, then crate again approximately 6:30 - 8. I repeat that basic cycle all day, with meals at noon and 4pm, and we all go to bed around 10pm. I feel very fortunate that he sleeps from 10 to 5. I think the first two nights I took him out every few hours, but after that I just listened for him and he has been quiet with no accidents.

I like to write down when he goes each day so I can keep track. I think I take him outside more frequently than he needs to, but I'm trying to keep it very positive for him and limit accidents inside. I am slowly learning how to watch him and look for signs and trends. We are becoming a team

Again, this forum has been so helpful to me. Almost every day I have a question about something, and all I need to do is search on that topic and I get lots of excellent advice. I hope it is this helpful to you as well.

 

[DKT113]

Rio turned 12 weeks old Sunday. We have had her since she was 8 weeks old. We go out when she is awake about every half hour / 45 minutes. She sleeps through the night in her crate up between 5 & 6 am to go outside / go potty & then breakfast. Then after her breakfast she goes back to sleep sometimes on the bed sometimes in her crate (depending on if we are going to the office or staying home). She eats at 6 a / 10a / 2p & last meal is 6 p. I feed Orijen so I am not sure how much ZP you would use. I take the water up about 7:00p. She goes to bed about 8 /9 sometimes 10 pm.

She has a Xpen for when we are in the house I lucked into some truly fantastic shower curtains being on sale at our lowes, originally 25 dollars on sale for 2 because the packaging got dirty ~ I put one down where the x pen is plus a nice blanket for her to cuddle on & some toys. If by chance she messes it can't get onto the flooring/carpet. Even when she is in the xpen though if she is up and playing we go outside frequently.

She does not signal yet that she has to go outside. But we have had very few accidents. Try not to be too worked up about it. Accidents will happen, but she will also get trained to go potty. You'll also learn too as she grows what her signs are that she has to go potty, and when she is likely to have to go potty. To start with though, when she wakes up, when she plays, and at some point after she eats, before bed/ cartrip or before you have to leave her.

Today Rio only had interest in breakfast and dinner. And she didn't have to serious potty after her second meal. She did tinkle before bed, but that was it. If she needs to go in the middle of the night we'll go out, if not it'll be morning.

And she totally loves the snow. We had a dusting through the night and light snow today and she was in her glory today catching the flakes darting through the yard. Once she figured out what was going on ~ she thought the snow was the neatest toy ever. I had to get her back in because it was pretty chilly outside, she pottied quick and would have played a long time had I let her. Her and Rescue Kitty out playing in the snow ~ who would have thought: only our little chihuahua who shouldn't like snow and cold would ~ she is a perfect fit for this house, lol.

Safe Travels ~ let us know when you are back home and settled

 

[LittleLuxie]

Thanks Amy, Barneys_mom99 and DKT113! That's all really great and thorough advice, I feel a lot more prepared now I didn't pick her up yet, I was supposed to fly but had a last minute change of plans so now I'm picking her up directly after Christmas. I will post tons of pics when I have her!! xxx

 

[svdreamer]

I don't think limiting the water is a good thing. Dogs need fresh water all the time.

Food and water for puppies - weekly pet tips by Pets.ca | Pets.ca

 

[kimr]

I have 3 dogs, only one is a puppy right now - 5 months. I free feed and keep two bowls of fresh water out at all times.

I have had no problems in housetraining little Diesel. We got him at 12 weeks, and I took him outside (on leash) every 1 - 1 1/2 hours. I can count his inside accidents on one hand. He eats when he wants, and he eats alot for such a little guy. Now that he's older, I take him out every 2-3 hours. He will even go to the door if he needs to go, but I've got to be there to see him do it.

Having two other housetrained adult dogs helped immensely in housetraining him, and leash training him, though. And, he's very smart. I certainly can't take all the credit.

My 3 drink a ton of water a day.

 

[svdreamer]

Yeah, I free feed, too. Puppies have a small stomach and need to eat often. You will rarely see overweight puppies unless they are a singeton and getting all the mmma's milk. But on kibble they will eat what they need.