THE CANINE BEHAVIOR SERIES By Kathy Diamond Davis Author and Trainer

No other mammal has the potential for as great a range of size from smallest to largest members of the species as dogs. Natural laws govern the limits of how small and how large dogs can be bred and survive.

Specifically the smallest viable dogs are about 2.2 pounds, the equivalent of 1 kilogram. Below this size, dogs cannot generate enough body heat to maintain metabolic function. This is why small dogs feel the cold so keenly. Their reduced bone density leaves them at higher risk for broken bones, and their risks of some other orthopedic, neurological and metabolic problems are also increased.

All of this means small dogs require different care in some respects than larger dogs. Housetraining a small dog can be very different from housetraining a large dog.

Health over Housetraining

At some points there is conflict between what’s best for the dog medically and what would most quickly housetrain this dog. When you must choose, choose health. Small dogs have less reserve to fight off infections, and can be quickly lost to dehydration or other complications.

This may mean delaying the time you take the dog outdoors to eliminate, unless you have a clean outdoor spot where the dog won’t be exposed to waste from other people’s dogs. This is a dilemma, since the earlier in life your pup experiences eliminating on any given substrate (surface), the better your chances of conditioning the dog to be housetrained for that surface later.

One possible compromise is to find a clean area and carry your pup to and from it. Some people can set up a station on an apartment patio or terrace, using a low box of sod if there’s no grass around the edge. This small area can be enough to greatly aid training with the tiny dog, and some people can use it long-term.

The ideal location is one that’s both uncontaminated and convenient for you to go outside with the dog frequently, since you need to be with the dog for effective housetraining. The best time to plan your dog’s potty location is before you bring the dog home.

Ideally you want the dog to be on that spot every time the urge to eliminate strikes, and to have no accidents in the house. You may not do quite this well, but it’s the goal, and some people have achieved it! It’s the people who must get the dogs to the spot—the dog can’t manage it without you.

Small dogs have smaller bowels and bladders, yet have to process more food and water for their size than larger dogs do. Chances are, your small dog will need to eliminate more often than many large dogs, and it’s your responsibility to make sure the dog has access to a place to eliminate when needed. Lack of access stresses the dog’s body and mind, which can lead to serious consequences.

If you can’t get home often enough to provide the dog with adequate access to outdoors, you may have no choice but to use an indoor spot, at least for awhile. Puppies have to relieve even more often than adult dogs, as do sick dogs and dogs in the process of adjusting to a new home.

If possible, have someone come to take the dog out, or take the dog to “day care” with a reliable person or perhaps your veterinarian for day boarding. The schedule for an “average” puppy’s relief outings corresponds to age, one hour plus an hour for each month of the dog’s age as a maximum, and never longer than 8 hours.

This doesn’t mean that an 8-month-old puppy will only need to go out every 8 hours around the clock. It means that at 7 months of age, your pup might be able to hold it for 8 hours during your work day, if the pup is able to calmly sleep all day. During sleep the body quiets bowels and bladder, but elimination has to “catch up” by more frequent relief during the day.

By 3 or 4 months of age, your pup might be able to manage with two outings before you leave for work, one midway through your work day, once per hour between the time you return from work and the time you go to bed, and then again first thing in the morning. Some pups will need relief a bit more frequently, though.

Consult your veterinarian as to the age at which your pup can walk on ground used by other people’s dogs. This is a matter of your pup’s condition, vaccination schedule, and the illnesses currently going around among dogs in your community.

Training treats are another special consideration with small dogs. While treats often greatly aid housetraining, you don’t want to make the dog sick. Consult your veterinarian about what food items and what amounts are appropriate for your dog.

Restricting water is often suggested as a part of housetraining. In most cases, this is a bad idea, sometimes a tragic one. Dogs depend even more critically on water than humans because of their inefficient body cooling system. Don’t restrict your dog’s water except under your veterinarian’s direction.

Confinement

Because of the extra difficulties small dogs have with housetraining, the use of tight confinement in a crate to force the dog to hold it can become a problem. Many of these little ones simply cannot physically comply, and you’ll come home to a dog covered in urine and feces and in a state of hysteria. Add to this the potential orthopedic issues with the tiny dogs, the fact that they often take quite a bit longer to master housetraining, and it’s easy to wind up using a crate to excess.

Puppies need to learn to rest calmly in crates, so be sure to do this training. A good time to work on it is at night in your bedroom while you and the pup are sleeping. In the bedroom the pup can hear, smell and possibly see you, which makes the crate less scary. If the pup is asleep, bowels and bladder are suppressed and the pup may be able to sleep through the night or perhaps will need just one quick relief break.

A young puppy should not sleep in your bed, anyway, and it’s not safe to allow tiny dogs to jump down off furniture. After the dog reaches puberty, if the temperament is suitable and you want the dog to sleep on the bed, be sure to provide a safe way down for the dog, such as a ramp. But start out with nighttime confinement.

You may opt to use an exercise pen or a room with a baby gate across the doorway for confinement to provide the pup with more space. Avoid confining a puppy behind a closed solid door because this can create the habit of clawing up the door. If you use baby gates, you may find closed doors are not a problem after maturity, but starting off with closed doors can create a lifelong damage problem.

Small dogs may require some restriction in your home for life. Their idea of territory is smaller, and off in a corner of the living room or guest bedroom often seems like far enough from the center of family life for them to eliminate. Plan to increase your dog’s house freedom slowly, and be prepared for the possibility the dog will never be able to handle the full run of the house, especially a tiny male. Sometimes you can expand your dog’s concept of the “occupied” portions of the house by feeding and playing with the dog in rooms that otherwise might seem to be outside the family’s area from the dog’s point of view.

Is a Small Dog a Better Choice for Your Housetraining Priorities?

People have big housetraining misconceptions about small dogs. The very people who desire the least hassle with housetraining often choose for themselves the types of dogs that will require the longest to housetrain, and possibly never be fully housetrained. This leads to unhappy people. Housetraining failure is the leading cause of small dogs losing their homes. 

All the same basics of housetraining for large dogs apply to small dogs, only more so! Small dogs can’t hold it as long, so you need to step up your diligence even more about getting them to the right spot. Neutering the small males can be absolutely critical to housetraining success.

Small dogs can be more easily damaged in body and mind if you lose your temper or try using punishment during housetraining. You are huge to these little tykes, making it all too easy to push a small dog to the point of “fight or flight” survival instinct, the defense drive.

The way you handle the dog in puppyhood can come back to haunt you later when the pup’s defense drives mature and you find out how the dog REALLY feels. Puppies are deceptively stoic while damage to the temperament is being done, and people think the defensive behavior “just came out of no where” when it begins during or after puberty. They don’t realize the dog was indeed provoked, plenty of times, months ago as a puppy.

Dogs do not possess the instinctive behaviors of cats for using a litter box. The popularity of litter boxes for puppies is resulting in a lot of unhousetrained dogs. Some people do succeed with litter box training for dogs, but you need to be aware of the risk; it won’t be the dog’s fault if accidents happen off and on for life. If possible, condition your young dog to also eliminate on grass, sod, dirt, or other outdoor surfaces. This can provide essential housetraining insurance for later.

Full-Sized Love in a Small Package

Though the world looks and feels a bit different to tiny dogs than to their larger brethren, these little gems have full-sized minds and hearts. Their marvelous portability makes them absolutely perfect for many homes. Just be aware of your little dog’s special needs, and the two of you can live happily ever after.

Date Published: 6/12/2004 10:57:00 AM

    

Kathy Diamond Davis is the author of the book Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others. Should the training articles available here or elsewhere not be effective, contact your veterinarian. Veterinarians not specializing in behavior can eliminate medical causes of behavior problems. If no medical cause is found, your veterinarian can refer you to a colleague who specializes in behavior or a local behaviorist.