Little Doggies Gotta Go Somewhere

Little doggies gotta go somewhere October 4, 2003
Background: Sunny our Papillon mix and Pappy our Papillon are small dogs. Both are under fifteen pounds.

Sunny weighed two pounds when we got her as a puppy two years ago. There was no way we were going to let that little thing go outside without one of us being by her side to protect her from the wildlife and raptors - or maybe even a big insect. Our solution was to Wee-Wee pad train her.

For those of you who don't know - and I'm guessing that's most of you - Wee-Wee pads are like human baby disposablele diapers without the crotch folds. You lay one on the floor. The dog squats on it and pees and/or poops. Then you dispose of it and lay down a new one.

This worked great and saved us from freezing our butts off during the winter of 2001-2002. Then in the late fall of 2002 we got Pappy. He was a mature Papillon rescue dog with many shyness and fear issues. We don't know what happened to him before he ended up in rescue. We do know that he got passed around to at least three different rescue organizations and he has physical scars from his past life. He was housebroken however, and this wasn't the time to try to teach him different.

Because of Pappy we ended up getting lots of cold, healthy fresh air during the winter of 2002-2003. Sunny always went out with us and she learned the joys of going potty outdoors.

Now Sunny prefers to go potty outside. She only uses the Wee-Wee pad when it's raining or when the timing of the trips outside don't meet her requirements.

We still don't let the little dogs go out by themselves. Same reasons with the addition of a coyote spotting on our property.

This morning I was sitting and knitting and Sunny asked to go outside. It couldn't have been more obvious what she wanted. First she went over to the Wee-Wee pad and wadded it up into a ball. Then she turned around and glared at me. I got the message. We all went outside and she pooped like a big dog - in the grass.

Pappy is well adjusted now and we've been debating if we should try to Wee-Wee pad train him for the winter. I don't think it's going to happen. I think we're going to have another winter with lots of cold, healthy fresh air and exercise.