Potty Training Help!

[sheasmom]

Hello everyone! I'm a new Yorkie owner, and my little Shea is my second pup. He is 13 weeks old. He is a joy to have and is very well behaved.....except for when he has accidents!

In our kitchen we set up a penned-in area with his bowls, peepee pad, and a bed. He only stays in this crate when we are all out of the house. When we are home, he is allowed to roam around the house with supervision, and we place his bed our living room.

We want Shea to learn to go on the peepee pad. I would say he is successful 50/50 of the time. If he does not go on the peepee pad, he goes on the big rug in our living room. When I do catch him in the action, I clap and go "No!". This stops his urinating/pooping and then I run him to the peepee pad. However, he doesn't finish there, and then tries to go on the big rug again. I try to clean the spots he goes as well as I can with Nature's Miracle (an enzyme cleaner/neutralizer). He still tries to go in the same spots I've cleaned even after I've cleaned it neutralizer.

My biggest frustration is that sometimes he'll just go on the peepee pad and then sometimes he just goes on the rug. These are my main questions:
1) How long did it take your pup to "get it"?
2) Do you think Shea is confusing the rug in my living room as a big peepee pad?
3) Any other tips/tricks to speed up the process a bit? We are very patient, but I just hope this will not be a year-long issue.

[LoveMyBeowulf]

My boy is 9 months today and his last "accident" was 2 weeks ago and peedon the couch!. He STILL has accidents, but he knows where he's supposed to go. I'll say he "got it" at about 7 months. It felt like forever. What is funny is that most of his accidents are when there are other people in the house. It's like he forgets where he's supposed to go idk. So what I do now is lock him in his play pen every hour when there's people around even if it's just my step son because that's what happened a couple weeks ago he was playing with him and he jumped on the couch and just went I was so surprised he's never done that before. I guess he was just so focused on playing he didn't find time to relieve himself It's a working process. What I do every time he has an "accident" is lock him in his play pen until he goes again. Then I tell him good boy and let him out as the reward. Other people may have better advice for you since I'm not having great success myself Lol. Happy training!

[Bambee]

yeah definitely takes time and patience....lots of it...my girl is 7 months and i can say she is 98% pad trained...I do not take her out I just use pads....good luck! Make sure you always give your puppy a treat when they do go where you want them to...they will get it ...some may take longer than others....

[Minnie2015]

It took our Minnie about 10 days to 100% pee on pad. We have one downstairs near door and one in my room (where she sleeps). We used treats to reward her at first (reminders) and gradually reward her only when she goes completely on her own. We have wood floors throughout our home and have removed all rugs. I can understand the confusion around pee pad and white rugs- maybe remove the rugs for now to alleviate that confusion?

[Charliekhloe]

My Yorkies are 13 wks old ,sometimes they go on paper and sometime they don't .They do always go on paper when in crate . Does it take months to train ?

[Minnie2015]

I am a new Yorkie owner myself and like you, wondered about other people's experience. I thought it would be interesting to read and understand the different experiences. I've heard many people say Yorkies are the hardest to train because they have small bladders so need to go often and then heard quite the opposite- Yorkies are smart so therefore will be the easiest to potty train. I guess this poll is a fun way to see all the Yorkie moms' and dads' pain points and successes. I can only speak for my own experience. We brought Minnie home at 14 weeks and even with previous owner started the pee pad training, it was tough! The crying at night, the wiping and mopping up mess- I honestly thought I was going to give up. We constantly reminded her to go on the pee pad (took four people in the house) alternating this process. Every time, we'd reward her. Once she got the hang of that, we only rewarded her for going on the pee pad on her own. When she had an accident, we'd give her a time out in her crate. Crate training worked for us. Hope this helps and things will get better :-)

[Charliekhloe]

Originally Posted by Charliekhloe

My Yorkies are 13 wks old ,sometimes they go on paper and sometime they don't .They do always go on paper when in crate . Does it take months to train ?

I have trained 5 other yorkies without pads or crates but it was always in warm weather , I think it's a little to cold out to train to go outside all the time for these little ones . Chloe has already got a little cold . I think I am just going to work on pee pads for awhile

[sheasmom]

Thanks for the help everyone! He has been improving but still makes mistakes. We took away his crate and just gated off the kitchen, giving him more room and a chance to actually walk to the peepee pad so he knows he has to walk there sometimes. He usually goes only if he happen to be in the kitchen. Maybe he thinks this is the only way he'll get treats, lol

[Pipsqueak]

My Pippin is 20 weeks old and is toilet trained 90% I would say. I think it is more difficult with the cold weather. Taking him outside often is key. We use treats when he goes outside and large amounts of praise. I'm sure the neighbors think I'm nuts. But he is so happy and bounces inside to get his treat for preforming. I use small pieces of chicken etc. not 'sweet treats'. I use the pee pads upstairs at night and he always goes on them. No treats at night. But he likes going to bed and won't get into bed untill he pees on the pad. I am training both ways. (outside and pads) because we travel a lot and stay in a lot of hotels.

[sheasmom]

Quick update! We've been making progress. I even consider going next to the peepee pad a great accomplishment lol. I'm just shocked how many times a day he is able to go!

[lzeigler001]

My 8 old outside trained Yorkie Bit is starting to have accidents in the house at night and when we are away. My other Yorkie Bella is pee pad trained. We did move into a new home in July, but both dogs were fine. Then Bit was put on a Metabolic Dog food diet and started pooping several times a day and she always seems hungry. She has accidents in the middle of night and when we are away for a few hours. She NEVER did this before. I started her back on her old dog food, but she is still going at night and now we discovered she is peeing on the carpet at night. So upsetting. I am thinking about putting her a crate at night, which means I will have to do the same with Bella. Any suggestions would be helpful.

[oliverray]

Hello Everyone! I am seeking some help on potty training advise. we recently got our second Puppy. she (Lily) is a 13 week old yorkie, weighs about 2 lbs. we also have a boy (Oliver) who is a yorkie and is 1.5 years old. we seem to be having trouble getting her potty trained. Oliver on the other hand was a piece of cake. he had it down within a week of having him. We are crate training her but still seem to be having issues. first, she is still peeing and pooping in her crate. we only lock her up at night and when we are gone to work and come home everyday at lunch to let her out. She also has been eating her poop, so i am afraid that she will never learn to hold it if she keeps eating her poop. we have tried Coproban and now trying Forbid to help with that issue. we take her to pads everytime to potty and she will go but sometimes she wont and as soon as she walks off she will have accident. Also, sometimes she will walk into her crate and go potty there, which is the idea, to potty on pads, but not in the crate. Also, at night she goes in her crate and will not start crying until shes already finished. Please help!! i dont know what else to do.

[canana]

Hehe.. it's so funny. I think carpets are such guilty pleasures for dogs to pee on. My previous dog and my current pup.

Glad to hear Shea is finally 'getting it'! I was gonna say worse case, block off the carpet and not to let her have access to it. But sounds like you've solved the problemo~

[Charliekhloe]

You are not alone , I have 2 at 2 pounds Chloe will go on paper when I say go pottie , but Charlie just goes where he wants . Both are 16 wks old . I know Charlie will get the hang of it . Some are behind in certain tasks . Lucky me this is his lol

[lovestiny]

we have trained my small dogs (maltese and now our yorkie) without pee pee pads, only crate, gate and outside. They actually were trained quickly this way. since it worked for us, It is always what I suggest to friends. Good luck! I see you are also on long island