Ask the pet editor

Question: We rescued our Chihuahua about three months ago. She uses the doggy door but insists on using the patio for her bathroom needs. We’ve tried sprays and training pads to dissuade her, but she still uses the concrete. We want to sit on the patio, but not while she’s using it as a toilet. Please help.

Answer: It is time to appeal to your Chihuahua’s inner cat. No, that doesn’t mean dangling a feather in front of her nose, or giving her a catnip mouse. That’s just humiliating.

It’s time to build a litter box. When a pet-door exits onto a patio, it is common for dogs to complete their business quickly and efficiently, said Valley dog trainer JoAnn Bluth (dogtrainerphoenix.com). If that means concrete, so be it. It’s not like your Chihuahua has to clean it up.

Head to a nursery or home-improvement store and pick up everything you need for a doggy litter box — bricks, gravel and a plastic liner. Assemble it right outside the pet door. Stack bricks to form a low wall, line it with plastic, and fill it with gravel. It may be a litter box, but the bricks and gravel will give it that rugged canine feel.

If all goes well, your Chihuahua will step out into the gravel, think, “This is convenient,” and do her business right there. If so, praise her. If she wanders to the patio, gently lead her back. Or you may enclose the area like a playpen so she has no choice.

Once she becomes accustomed to the gravel, the goal is to transition her to the gravel in the backyard. It could take months, Bluth warned, so be patient. No gravel? Construct another litter box where you would like her to go.

If your Chihuahua ever gives you a suspicious look that says, “Is this a litter box? Because I don’t do cat,” give her a look that says, “No, it’s for caninely offroad bath-rooming.” She’ll believe it because she wants to.