First off...what kind of litter are you using? We used Second Nature DOG Litter from Petsmart....and for 4 months it worked great...we trained our two chihuahuas to it because I wasn't taking them out in the cold at 3:00 in the morning. I had set a pee pad in front of it so misses would be easier to clean up, then I noticed that they were using just the pee pad....at 17 1/2 months old, they still use the pee pad religiously. Get the OUT brand at WalMart and get the ones that are for adult dogs....they work best.

I tried cat litter when I couldn't get the dog litter for them....my female took great delight in spraying it all over the kitchen.....it was dog litter or pee pads, we have strange dogs.

Also...NEVER put food and water dishes in the same area as litter box or pee pad....they should be at opposite ends of the room. When my dogs are crated when we have to leave the house, they do not have food and water dishes with them.....the vet explained to me that they can go a couple hours or even over night without it. Just make sure its available to them the rest of the time and they are fine with that. They are only 5 1/2 pounds each and they don't act starved when we let them out to eat, they nibble at their leisure. Accidents in their crates are few and far between....they started crate training at 6 weeks old and just didn't have many accidents. I gave them blankets and padded beds and they try to keep them clean.

Good luck with the house-breaking....I lucked out because Chihuahuas are nortoriously hard to break, but we ended up with a brother/sister team that's great.

Crystal
.