When I was a small young pup, I lived inside an enclosure that is about 1.5 feet wide and 4 feet long. My mistress place my soft bedding on one end and lots of newspaper at the bottom, as well as the other end of the enclosure.
Since , by nature, we do not like to wet or dirty our beddings, we will naturally find the furthest spot to pee and poo. Well, peeing, sometimes, I do it near my bedding, but pooing , definitely, far away!....(this is due to the fact that predators can smell our poo and track us down!- so , we must do it far away from our nest!).
After a while, she stacks much newspaper at the other end of the enclosure. We tend to associate the smell of a certain material/ground to pooing and before long, I will only want to poo on paper! Any paper, in fact. Once, she left her exam notes on the floor and I went to do my toilet there! Hah Hah!...But , I know my good mistress, she would not scold me nor get angry with me, becos I am doing what a smart doggie would!. Poo on papers!!.. If she would have scolded me or got upset at me, I would be a very confused doggy...Didn't I learnt the trick of pooing at the correct place? on paper? She knows I would not be able to differentiate what kind of documents but all are papers to me!...Since then, she made sure all her text books, unread newspapers, documents are never left lying on the floor!
When I get older, I got a bigger space to run...well, I still do not like to dirty my own 'den' but the house seems to be overwhelming...My 'den' is only the small corner of the room . The rest are free for pooing and peeing!. My mistress places many stacks papers at every opportune place for me...so, at least I can still get to use my pooing ground!. So, you should say, I have many pooing grounds to visit as I wander the house!.
She also started to put a stack of paper on the bathroom floor. And while she was at work, she will made an enclosure for me that surrounds the bathroom..So, very naturally, I would go into the bathroom to look for my newspaper for pooing and peeing.
She also began to lessen all those paper stacks around the house and slowly those stacks move closer and closer to the bathroom..As I grow older, the house becomes a bit smaller in my view and therefore, my 'den' grew larger. My 'den' now is the whole hall!..
When I was about 8 months old, I got smarter. You know, I am a chihuahua and a chihuahua is an extremely intelligent dog. I have since learnt many words and body language cues from my mistress who trained me patiently and sometimes not so patiently. As I am a mixed chihuahua -min pin, I had also inherited the stubborn streak from the min pin(sad to say). But I understand many words and I also understand the word 'toilet', which she made sure I go when I want to poo/pee. She has since removed all papers from the house except the toilet. And knowing my signal for peeing/pooing, she will carry me to the toilet.
I am a male dog, so , when I want to pee, I will have to lift my leg. Oh. you bet, she stalks me like anything..when I raise my leg, she starts telling me 'toilet'-'toilet' and shoo me there...before long, I am irritated with the shooing -can't she leave me in peace while I tend to my business? I soon found out that the most peaceful place is in the bathroom. She would not shoo me or disturb me, there...and instead, I am lavished much praise everytime I do it right!.
It took about one year for me to get it right...Yeap, the Lord is teaching my mistress patience too. You know, she used to be a very impatient person. You should see her face and her temper when she found out that I have placed neatly a puddle at the front door just at the time she is going to work(and that she was already late, too). I thought she would turn into a lion!.
She also finally removed all newspapers from anywhere. I have learnt to associate the smell of the toilet with pooing and peeing!...
When we moved to a landed property, I then , by nature, used the garden.(that does not need training!) .Someone up there has programmed that in my ROM when I was born!...With that I hardly used the toilet . I used to sleep at the upstairs room with her, and early in the morning I would scratch the room door and she would wake up sleepy eyed and open the door for me. She has prepared a special grill door for me to crawl out to the garden and back again!.
AM I A SMART DOG!!!
Owner's note: Blessing was such an intelligent and obedient dog, that during the last final days of his life, although he was so sick and dying with kidney failure, he still wants to do it in the garden. As he was with little strength, he slipped and fell down the stairs, while trying to go to the garden to do his business. refusing to dirty the house. I had to carry him down and accompany him to the toilet. He is the one dog that has learnt two full pages of English words and knowing how to differentiate the meaning of each one.