Smaller Breeds& housetraining

In time I will be looking into getting a smaller breed dog.

I am just wondering if there are smaller breeds that are easier to housetrain .I had a Yorkie years ago that was impossible but adorable but I cant live with that for over ten years as I did with her.

I have heard that the Shihzu (cant spell it) is a good dog as far as that go's and with temperament as well. And very cute also Also the Papillon is said to be a good dog as well from what I have heard anyway.

Also wondering about the mixes like the cockapoo and the puga poo etc etc.

I am aware that some people on here dont like the mixes but I am not exactly sure as to why.

Right now I am just trying to study the breeds as i am so afraid of making the wrong choice like before. I know that no dog is perfect either and dont expect that.

I am not into giving up my pets and the next one will be it for me. I just want to make the right choice this time around.

I had a pug, and we found him quite easy to housetrain. OUr neighbors got one at the same time, and she housetrained easily, too. I hear people say Pugs can be hard to train, but that was not the case with us.

There's a book I got when I was looking for a dog a couple of years ago. I don't remember the exact name of it but something about Choosing the right Breed. It took every breed and gave all info about it as to how difficult to house train, whether good for first time owners, etc. Even gave a test to see what traints were most important to you and which dogs fell into those categories. If I find it, I'll post the exact name, but it will be something about How to Pick the Right Breed, or Picking a Purebred Puppy....something like that.

Some neighbors who have mini dachshunds said they were hard to housetrain mostly because they could get behind the furniture and go where they couldn't see it.

Our mutt that we have now was more of a challenge in housetraining than our pug, but I would consider that he was fully trained, having no accidents in the house at all by the time he was 9 months old. And, we can leave him to go out without being in his crate now that he's 2. He could have been left earlier as far as pottying. It was distruction that was what kept him in the crate while we were gone!! We left him once 6 hours in the house with no accident. We didn't mean to leave him that long, though!!

A friend has a Yorkie who's not completely reliable at a year. She has a Rat Terrier who trained VERY easily. I have 2 friends with Shelties who they both said were a BREEZE to train.

I don't believe it's got as much to do with the breed as it does with an individual dog. I have a Chihuahua that's never had an accident in the house since the first day he came to our house. He was 3 months old and already house trained (I am very happy with his breeder as she always house trains all puppies before leaving her place ).
I did however have big problems with my Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross who was never properly house trained (though it got a bit better after her second birthday). I was working on her all the time, put a lot of energy into it, but she was impossible in that way.
So I've learned that it's got nothing to do with size or sex of a dog.... every time you get a dog you're taking chances. You never really 100% know how they're going to turn out.

Our Pug was trained with no accidents by the time he was 6 months old. He did have access to a doggy door, though, which my present dog doesn't. And, of course, we still crated him at night and when we were not home.

It;s not so much that we dont like mixes it's the intetional breeding of them, to make money like 99% of the puggle, and poo breeders are doing.

Poodles are supposed to be pretty easy to train, too. And Corgis.....they're very active, though.

Many say that Chihuahuas are hard to train but I managed to housetrain mine in about a week after I got her, then no accidents ever after that. I think it really depends on the dog.

I found the book I was referring to. It's called Your Purebred Puppy, A Buyer's Guide, by Michele Welton.
It has a chapter on evaluating your personality and Lifestyle with a questionnaire, then it rates each dog breed on Experience Required, how they are with children, size, Coat length and texture, Exercise Requirements, Trimming/Clipping requirements, Amount of Shedding, Activity Indoors, Ease of Training, and sociablity with strangers. You put what your desire is in each category, and the book helps find what breeds match categories.
It tells if a breed is known to be difficult to housetrain, and it gives any health issues that the breed is known to have.

I didn't end up getting a purebred, but it was quite helpful. I knew that my main categories that I needed a match with were Experience Required (little), and Size (not too large). It helped me narrow down what I was looking for.

It also has a section on how to find a breeder and how recognize responsible and irresponsible breeders. Gives questions to ask the breeder. If they're not knowledgeable and responsible breeders, some of the questions won't seem relevent to them or will not make sense.

I thought it was a good book. It might be nice to look at while you're deciding when you're ready to look again.

If you decide you're interested in some of the breeds but don't want the book, I could post some of the small breeds that she lists as easy to train.

That would be great mjb. I'd be interested in that list myself. I haven't had any experience with most of the small breeds.

Here are the breeds she lists as either small or tiny
and either Medium High or High in Ease of Training.
The ease of training means all training, but she lists in a paragraph if they are known to have housetraining difficulties or take longer. These did not.

As another poster has mentioned, within the breeds there will be individual differences. Like I mentioned, my Pug was very easy to housetrain. She writes in the paragraph about pugs that they can be difficult to housetrain.

For what it's worth, here are the tiny to small breeds listed with Medium high or High ease of training with no noted housebreaking issues:
American Eskimo (Miniature and Toy)
Australian Terrier
Border Terrier
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Lowchen
Miniatrue Schnauzer
Poodle (Miniature and Toy)
Shelties
Welsh Corgi (Cardigan and Pembroke)

It's not just the individual dog, it's also the owner. You have to be very aware of where your dog is and what it's doing, while you're house training. Tiny dogs can sneak off and find tiny awkward places to pee that you won't know about until you smell it.
So just keep that in mind too. Persistance really pays off. Jesse (Chihuahua) was very easy to house train when I first got him (although he was an adult already). In his golden years he's not so great however. Poor old fella. lol

Cass.

Hi to all and thanks so much for the response.

Your dogs are all so sweet too.

Thanks mjb for your support all along since I gave Zoe up and the list of breeds and the dog book. I will try and find it or a similar book. A couple I know loaned me a book but it is old and limited in the breeds for some reason.They have a Bichon.

I have always read and heard that the chihuahua is a very hard breed to train and here there are people who have one and didnt have that problem so I guess it is right as said on here that it is the individual dog not the whole breed.

I miss haveing a dog and it is sooooooo quiet around here. We live in the middle of nowhere and I am alone a lot when hubby is in the city working.

We have cats and love them but I miss the companionship,the walks and the many kisses. Hopefully I will have a little friend in the near future