chasing cats and potty problems

[ilovemyweiner]

(sorry for the long post up front)

My 19 week old mini is a great puppy, but we have a couple of major issues.
First of all, she is crazy about chasing my 2 older cats. These cats don't like our dogs much in general, so they really freak out that the dachshund is chasing them (even though they outweigh her by probably 10 lbs!) The puppy, Charlie, doesn't seem to be phased by hissing or even when they swat at her. They have all their claws, and I'm really afraid they're going to hurt her one day if she doesn't back off. Sometimes she'll completely ignore them and then she'll get tipped off and she'll chase them. Any advice?

Second, potty training. Oh my gosh I've never had such a hard time with a breed of dog! I started crate training right away at 9 weeks with the smallest crate we had, a cat carrier. And during the day I have to be at work for 8 hours so instead of making her hold it that long (physically impossible for a puppy that young), I have her in a bigger crate with bed at one end and pee pad at other. Well, it wasn't long before she started pooping and peeing in her small crate. She wouldn't even wait to go out, she'd just do it. Now she sleeps in bed with us, and I take her out when she wakes up. Problem is, she used to pee and poop outside all the time, but now she basically refuses to poop outside. She'll pee out there, but nothing more. I'm at my wits end because my family can't deal with cleaning up her messes on the carpet every day. We do watch her when she's out in the house, but she's very fast and she'll sneak off into a corner or behind the couch when you're not looking for one second and she'll poop. Even in our room with our new carpet that the dogs have never had an accident on... this is very frustrating and I'm not sure what to try besides keeping her crated all day in a smaller crate or something?

 

[ashley_magan]

I'm not sure what to tell you with the cats, I don't have any cats, so I don't have to worry about my pups chasing them. I completely understand your potty problem though! Petunia, my 6 month puppy, was the most difficult dachshund I ever had to train. And I sort of had the same setup, starting out in the cat carrier, that she never had an accident in until I had to board her at 13 weeks. Thankfully, I could come home once during the day, but what I started doing was taking her out every hour when I was home. Then I would keep her on a leash in the house with me at all times. She is a super quick dachshund and if I would yell No, she would run off before I could catch her to get her outside. So the leash helped tons. She went through a phase where she would poop in the house only, except in the morning. So I would praise her heavily and offer her a treat as soon as she went potty outside. I gave treats that they got only for pottying, no other time. I slowly started increasing the time from one hour to an hour and a half, then two before taking her out again. Plus, when she started going well outside, I took the leash off inside, unless she didn't potty. I would put it back on until I could watch her. It was a long process, and she has the very occasional accident now, which we're still working on, but I was having to clean up something constantly before and it was SO frustrating. I know this was a long post, sorry. I hope some of this helps

 

[vizzla]

About the cats remember that dachshunds are a hunting breed to begin with. They can never be 100 % trusted to not hunt. BUT there are ways to teach dogs what to hund and what not to hunt. First, I thinkt its to long for the puppy to be in a crate all day! In sweden its illegal to keep a dog in a crate or leave it alone for such long times. Maybe the dog is bored at when he gets a chans to hunt the cats he takes it because of all his energy?

When we work we leave our dog at a couples home so they keep him company all day. That makes him more at ease at home. You must say no when the puppy chases the cats and redirect the behaviour to something he can "hunt" (A toy) and play with him.

About the potty training it takes time. The dog is too long in a crate so she wont get the message of doing it outside when she has no choise than to do it in the crate when she is alone. If no one can be at home with her during the day and make sure she is doing all her buissness outside, it will take even longer. The only thing you can do is to take her outside to do his buissness and dont go inside untill she does. If an accident happen, just wipe and ignore. Get the dog outside after, eating, sleeping, playing or resting. Praice a lot when she goes outside. They will hide and poop inside so I think the biggest problem beeing leaving her to long in a crate by herself.

Good luck