your boston has such a cutie full face. it's really mean but mine has a little weird face but in his own way makes him cute.

(we have those same bowls/plates.)

isn't that why we love bostons? cause their weird cute faces???

aaaaaand, fiestaware rules.

What a darling picture!

Virginia is litter trained. We take two long walks a day, one in the morning and one in the evening, for "number two," but she uses the crate the rest of the day for her potties. She's always had great success with it, and it makes travel very easy. (Just this past weekend we were in a hotel with her, and we didn't have to run her outside every few hours.) We trained her to the litter around the same time we crate trained her for housetraining generally, and I don't think we've had any accidents in almost four years. Also, we use the litter pellets that are biodegradable (made of wood and stuff), so we can just throw them anywhere, even on the grass, and they disintegrate rather quickly.

We swear by it, so if I can answer any questions, let me know. :)

wow, that's great! I was concerned if it was possible with bostons since they're so stubborn! I take bella out for runs (cause she'd be bouncing off the wall if I didn't) and she goes then, too. However, she goes like 8 times a day, even if they're barely little pees.

What did you find that helped? I know it's basically like repotty training them, but anything else that helped out specifically for this?

My dog doesn't like the way the pellets feel on her feet. So, I took those away and just decided to use a pad in there for now. any ideas?

However, she goes like 8 times a day, even if they're barely little pees.


Yep! Virginia does, too.

When we were crate training her, we'd take her out in the morning and evening until she made a "good girl poo," but in between we'd take her every two hours (then three, etc...) to the litter box for her "potty." We had - and still have - the litter box inside of a big metal cage, with the door wide open. That way, she has to step into it to go (like it's another room): it also makes it super-easy to move around if we go somewhere.

I know that different trainers say different things about rewards, but we always gave her a treat when she pottied in the crate. We still do. There's a treat bowl on the counter next to it. (We have the litter box in the far end of the kitchen, next to the door that goes outside.) If we go out for several hours, we go home and the first place we go is to the litter box, where she goes and then gets a treat. If we're doing something else (watching TV, whatever), and she needs to go, she'll get up and go to the box and potty on her own (we can hear her step on the pellets), but she sits there until someone comes in and gives her a treat. When she was little, she tried to fake us out with fake potties, but she soon learned the word "fake" and the fact she didn't get a treat for those, and so she stopped. :)

You're right about the litter: at first, Virginia didn't like it, either. We started out using the urine-scented pads in the crate, and slowly added the litter a little at a time. It took several months until she was using the litter by itself, if I remember rightly.

I've been surprised at how little litter we actually use. We cover the bottom of the whole tray, but she only goes in one little spot, so usually it only requires one scoop (after every day or so) to remove/fill that spot, and the rest of the litter is untouched.

If you have any questions, please let me know. It's been such a help to us, I'm glad to pass on the word!

thank you SOOOO much!!! I'm hoping this works out well, since the dog walk area near my apartment is like a 5 minute walk, and I know she can't hold that...Plus, I live alone and I don't want to go hang out by a canal at 2am when she HAS to go.

The adding the litter gradually is helpful, I didn't think of it like that!

You're most welcome!

I forgot to mention that we use the Purina Second Nature litter (see here) and litterbox (see here). They've recently changed the litter so the pellets are smaller, which is much nicer all the way around. You can tell when a spot is saturated, because the pellets get dark and expand.

Best of luck with your training!

yeah, that's what I got, too. Still no luck with making her go "in the box". she'll go in there, but not go in there. siiigh. I forgot how hard potty training is.

Eloise was paper trained (paper in a tray), and it works wonderfully. we live a neighbourhhood where we are not comfortable letting her go outside unattended, even in the fenced yard, so it works great for us. as said above, it is fabulous for traveling too, just throw down some paper in the stall of an airport bathroom, she does her business, and off you go. we tried using the biodegradable pellets but they were too big and it hurt her feet. seemed to do more harm then good.

all i would suggest is that you are extremely diligent about putting her on the paper and using a trigger word ("go potty" is ours). watch her closely when she is in the other parts of your home and if she starts to go, make a loud sound to stop her, and then rush her to her litter tray. make a HUGE deal about praise. its just like training them for outside in that respect. Eloise STILL gets so excited after she goes she has to run out and find us in the house so we will praise her!

good luck!

xo

thanks for all those tips! I have a feeling I'll have to find an alternative to the pellets. Bella does not like them at all. Plus she keeps trying to convince herself that it's food...ughhhhh!!

I've been using keywords ("go in the box" since "go potty" seems to be associated with outside.) and praising her. I've put some of her waste in the box so she kinda gets what it's about. I've only had it for about three days or so, and we've made progress. At first she was afraid of it and wouldn't go near it. Now, she's in and out of it like it's nothing. She still hasn't gone in there yet, but I'll throw a freakin' party when she does!! :D

instead of the pellets you might want to try this, which works wonders on odor control. i use it in my rat cages, but Eloise thought it was food too, so it might not help you in that respect!

xo

We used a litter pan with the purina litter from petsmart to train Lucy. She was about 6 weeks old when we got her and within two weeks she was using the potty box on her own. Oh what a proud moment that was. *sigh* but I digress..

It might sound gross, but I kept the litter box on the floor beside my bed for the first several weeks and as soon as she began to wiggle in the night I picked her up and put her in it. She'd try to wonder out but I just blocked her so that she couldn't get out. Pups can't hold it very long so she'd soon go. Then I'd praise her like CRAZY. Seriously. Like she just made gold.

The thing about the pans is that you have to clean it up right after they go. They don't want to step into their own mess to go again. And who can blame them.

yeah, I found that out! Bella is such a girl about her waste. She goes and looks very upset that she made a mess. hahaha. However, Bella is nearly a year old, so training her won't be as easy as it is to train a pup.

Awe...what an absolutely cute Bella! I love her name too! :)

Thanks, I do too. I call her smella bella cause she farts a lot.

Fiestaware rocks my socks.

...plus Bella is a cutie.

awww, thanks!

ok, stop starving that little doggie!!! LOL
can she look any sadder?

yeah, when I recently did some ebay auctions, that was my "ad campaign" - PLEASE FEED THIS DOG!

Nah, she eats a ton! She fell asleep in that bowl (seriously) and I woke her up and that's how she looked. I almost died from a cutness O.D.

she really is quite adorable, of course I have this thing for bostons...

I think all of us do...just a little...