Let me be brutally honest – potty training was (and still can be) rough! Dachshunds, especially miniature dachshunds, are not dogs that train easily. Like any small dog, they take longer to train because of their small bladders. Add a dachshund’s extreme independence onto that, and you have a challenge on your hands . . . and floors.
As of this writing, Charlotte is approaching her second birthday. Most weeks we coast along without incident, but if I get busy and don’t pay attention to her cues, barks and zoomies, there will be an accident. The fortunate thing about small dogs is that they also have small accidents, so clean-up is simpler. But the frequency has been seriously exasperating.
I read all the books and watched all the YouTube videos before she arrived. I was ready for the consistent and frequent potty breaks to come. But I also believed, naively, that she would have a “tell”. There would be a bark or whine that would alert me, and that was simply not the case. I did take her out after meals, play, and every 20-40 minutes at first, but we humans have lives to lead. Accidents happened, and they happened frequently.
Unfortunately, those frequent, early accidents, I believe, set us up for behavior that was not desirable. Without warning, and sometimes in the middle of active play, she would simply squat and pee. I took her to trainers twice to see if they could help. I took her to the vet to rule out urinary tract issues. I read more and watched more YouTube videos. The only thing that helped was patience and paying attention to subtle, and later obvious, cues.
I now know that she likely needs to poop immediately after zoomies. I’m convinced that zoomies are her way of shaking things loose! And I also know that she tends to drink heavily right as she wants to sleep for the night. Picking up her water a couple of hours before bed helped as we both settled into our routines.
And yes, that is what it looks like. Charlotte is polite and modest enough to attempt to “air bury” the evidence. On a carpet that hadn’t seen a vacuum in a while, she was able to “bury” her deposit with her nose. I came home to this after remaining at work too late one night.
I now know her daily rhythms, but that took a long time to discover. If our typical daily and nightly routines are off – if we’re traveling or having guest in the house – that routine can be disrupted, and that’s when accidents still tend to happen.
I’ve made my peace with it thanks an amazing cleaning product called Eco88. Check it out in my cleaner review. I recommend having this on hand before your pup comes home and wish you best with your “little wiz-monster”, as a friend affectionately dubbed Charlotte.