Archived Message

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
by Michelle

I really need some help. Avery is a wonderful pet, and I love her more than I ever thought possible, but I need some advice. I live in Texas 9 months out of the year and Colorado for three. While at home in Texas, Avery uses her litter box and has very few accidents. Now that we are at my parent's home in Colorado, she will not use the litter box. She goes into a certain room of the house to potty, and even if the litter box is there, she goes beside it and not in it.

At first I thought she was just not trained well enough. Then this past week, we went back to Texas for about a week. She used the litter box the entire time. The first day back here in Colorado, she used the floor all around the litter box.

Do any of you have a suggestion? I am at my wits end. She knows what to do, but simply won't do it here. Please help me to find a solution to this frustrating problem.

DISCUSSION:

This may sound crazy, but when we first got Princess, we set up an area just for her to potty. We carefully set out to train her where to potty. No matter what we did, she refused to go in the area we provided. She chose another area. At the end of our ropes, we decided to move the wee pads and paper to the area she liked and she has gone tthere ever since! Your problem may be as simple as moving the litter box a foot to the right or left. Good luck.
-Chuck Norman

It is just hard to transplant a Texan !

No, just kidding, did the house in Colorado have pets in it prior to your dog being there ? If dogs smell where other dogs have been, they will mark. Even my females have tendancies to do this. Sometimes a cleaner will also cause this if the cleaner contains amonia. There is definately something on the floor in Colorado that makes the dog think it is o.k. if it does fine in Texas.
-Marsha A.