Help needed desperately! - YorkieTalk.com Forums

kipu_kika · 08-23-2005, 02:36 PM

Hello all

Im new to the forums but have been reading them for some time now. Im a 21 year old college student with a male Yorkie named bear. Bear was born on April 15th 2005 and we bought him from a petstore about a month ago. I have been experiencing many problems and I could reallllllly use some help.

Im attemtping to crate train Bear but am having no luck. You see, Bear seems to hate his crate. The second he gets in it he screams uncontrollably. I have tried sitting next to it, giving him treats and letting him know everything is o.k. He usually stops after 20 minutes but its very hard to deal with the sharp screams. At night he will only sleep in it untill around 4 am when he screams suddenly to let him out. The only thing that calms him donw is sleeping in my bed, but as soon as I drft off, he runs around the appartment and pees and poops. Im exhasuted from the late night screaming and feel awful about his screams.

The other problem that i have is that Bear poops but manily pees everywhere in our appartment. He will pee after only 20 minutes of coming in from a walk. I have set meal times for him and walk him every 2 hours but if I dont watch him like a hawk, he piddles in small amounts everywhere.He will even do it when Im watching him, he will just squat and pee! Im at my wits end, I love my dog to pieces but he is ruining our carpet and Im worried his barking will get us evicted. I could really use some advice on this matter, as I start school full time again in September. Please help, I dont want to have to send my baby to live with someone else.

Kirst and Bear

shecass · 08-23-2005, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kipu_kika

Hello all

Im new to the forums but have been reading them for some time now. Im a 21 year old college student with a male Yorkie named bear. Bear was born on April 15th 2005 and we bought him from a petstore about a month ago. I have been experiencing many problems and I could reallllllly use some help.

Im attemtping to crate train Bear but am having no luck. You see, Bear seems to hate his crate. The second he gets in it he screams uncontrollably. I have tried sitting next to it, giving him treats and letting him know everything is o.k. He usually stops after 20 minutes but its very hard to deal with the sharp screams. At night he will only sleep in it untill around 4 am when he screams suddenly to let him out. The only thing that calms him donw is sleeping in my bed, but as soon as I drft off, he runs around the appartment and pees and poops. Im exhasuted from the late night screaming and feel awful about his screams.

The other problem that i have is that Bear poops but manily pees everywhere in our appartment. He will pee after only 20 minutes of coming in from a walk. I have set meal times for him and walk him every 2 hours but if I dont watch him like a hawk, he piddles in small amounts everywhere.He will even do it when Im watching him, he will just squat and pee! Im at my wits end, I love my dog to pieces but he is ruining our carpet and Im worried his barking will get us evicted. I could really use some advice on this matter, as I start school full time again in September. Please help, I dont want to have to send my baby to live with someone else.

Kirst and Bear

Since he seem to really just hate his crate have you thought about just using a baby gate if you have an area that does not have carpet so it is easily cleaned. He may like this much better and see if you can put something with you scent with him and maybe he will be very content there at night.

I know this is a nightmare but, since you bought him from a petstore you have absolutley no idea what his life was like prior to this. It is probably something from that life that has him acting this way. Just be patient. When I was training Mollie and she would have an accident I would stearnly say bad dog and immediately take her outside. This helped her understand that it is not acceptable in the house and only outside.

Hope this helps.

Keep us posted.

luv4yorkies · 08-23-2005, 02:43 PM

Hi and welcome to yt. he probably does not like his crate because that is what he had been living in before . He is probably the product of a puppy mill before i knew about puppy mills and petsores i bought my lab frrom a pet store she is very sweet but is constantly running in circles i guess thinking that she is still in a cage. he just needs the time and patience and he will finally be house broken.

kipu_kika · 08-23-2005, 02:44 PM

We have a kitchen that we could use it we got 2 baby gates... Im just worried that he would cry all night. Im going to try that though. Hopefully he will like that better. Its very frustrating at night time. I hope my neighbours wont hate me because our front door isn't a very good insulator and he might keep them up at night. Oh well its worth a try...

LIL MIS' MAGIC · 08-23-2005, 02:50 PM

First off, Welcome to YT!!! I am glad that you came to this site to get some help...hopefully you will find something that will help you and Bear!!

I agree that since you bought him from a petstore you don't know what on before you got him...most likely he spend most of the day in a crate like area and has grown to hate being confined like that...I would suggest trying an x pen or playpen to keep in one area...

Bear is still puppy and some of the housebreaking issue is due to this...he is still growing and gaining control of his bladder, give him some time and stay consist with the training...there are a bunch of different threads about housebreaking and hopefully you can find one that helps with that issue!!

Just remember to be patient and try to understand and soon you will have a wonderful little baby!!

Kelz · 08-23-2005, 03:36 PM

like everyone else..i'd try the baby gate ..he might still scream a lil at first but he should get use to it and it would be MUCH better than the crate!

sylvan · 08-23-2005, 06:44 PM

I will send you the housetraining method I send with all my pups if you mail me at sylvanyorkies@yahoo.com. I would suggest putting the crate in the gated kitchen with the door left open and soft bedding, toys and treats in the crate. Let him go in on his own to find the treats and come out whenever he likes until he decides it's not scary. Keep a litter area away from the crate in the kitchen and put a few drops of ammonia there to give him the idea. Do not give him access to the rest of the house AT ALL unless you are following him around and can grab him to go out the second he starts to sniff or squat.

SoCalyorkiLvr · 08-23-2005, 09:51 PM

Hi and welcome!

How old is Bear?

I find that a playpen is better than a crate because I put it beside my bed nd put my arm in it and touch the puppy until they fall asleep. If they wake during the night I put my arm back in and they go back to sleep.

I put a wee wee pad in one side and the bed and food and water dish in the other.

Up to 6 months of age a puppy has to go potty after they wake from a nap, after they eat, after they play and every hour usually otherwise. it is a lot of time to potty train one.
I also use belly bands on mine to save the carpets. They don't mind them and it really saves the carpet!

Good luck.

Loren · 08-23-2005, 09:51 PM

My nemo love he's crate.
and he have the smar problem of marking.

when i put him in he's carte at night i have it right next to me.

try that, and try to pet him untill he falls a sleep.
maby he will be ok if he is knows you are right next to him and he can see you.
do you know anything about the belly bands ?
mine nemo have tham on all the time,
I honestly can say i dont think i would have him if it was not for the bally band.
eccept for the time that he sleep in he's crate.

orinskye · 08-23-2005, 10:15 PM

On the issue of neighbors, you could just talk to them and explain the sitution....... i checked in whith my neighbors regularly to see if their were any noise problems that we could resolve

YorkieChanel · 08-24-2005, 06:20 AM

Ok, I have been reading all kinds of crate training sites, and literature.. And they all say, ITS HARD, TRY TO IGNORE THE BARKING AND CRYING..

You said yourself, it stops after 20 minutes. Also its been said DO NOT TAKE THEM WHEN THEY ARE CRYING AND BARKING, becuase they will learn that by ccrying and barking, you will let them out and will do it more and more and more.

Also, you said that he sleeps fine until about 4 am. and starts crying and barking, so you take him out and put him on your bed. Then he goes of to pee and poop. THERE YOU GO. He is crying because he just woke up and want to pee or poop or both. And as you might of read before, TEHY WILL NOT POO AND PEE on their beds or were they lay down. This is why when you take him out, he will be on your bed for a bit, being 4 am you will knock right out again, and he will go off to do his thing.

You should take him out of crate after he stops crying a bit and walk him were ever it is that you walk him I AM SURE he will pee at least. Then place him back in crate, he might cry again, but it might last 10 mins since he might still be sleepy and fall asleep again.

missPenny · 08-24-2005, 05:48 PM

We had the tough task of potty training Penny at 5 months old. We used crate training. To be honest, for the first 2 weeks, we didn't get any sleep. And for months, she would start crying on the dot at 3:30. I would get up, take her outside, and then return her to her crate. It took awhile before she could make it through the night and it definitely wasn't fun getting up all the time, but it was important to me to keep her understanding that crying didn't get her out of her crate.

Flakes · 08-24-2005, 08:54 PM

Sounds to me as if this little guy came from a puppymill and it is likely that your house is the first freedom he has ever had outside a cage/crate. Placing him in one again will only further traumatize the poor little guy so if it were me I'd put the crate away and try either an exercise pen or a child's playpen placed right beside the bed so you can put your hand in there with him.

You could also try playing a radio very softly so he doesn't feel as if nobody's there with him. Put a plush toy animal in there, preferrably one as big or bigger than he is so he has something to curl up with. An old fashioned clock that you can hear it ticking also helps as do hot water bottles.

I have had many rescued dogs over the years and the one thing I will not do under any circumstances is put them back in a crate/cage. Your little guy is the same age as our new little girl. I let her sleep with me and the minute she wakes up I take her outside, she pees and it is back to bed we go where she settles right back down again. If you are training him to pee pads you could put one in your bedroom and when he wakes up put him on it. I close my bedroom door at night just in case she gets off the bed so at least she can't get into anything dangerous.

Puppymill dogs are a challenge as they normally come with crate issues etc. Patience and lots of love are what's going to win this guy over. It will take months before he will be able to hold his bladder all night. It will likely take months for him to get over separation anxiety especially if you are about to return to school full time and he is going to be alone during the day. Is there anyone who could dog sit for you, perhaps a doggy daycare. He's not going to get over these issues in two weeks so you may want to consider if this is the breed for your lifestyle.

The other issue with puppymill dogs is that they learned at a very early age to pee and poop in the same place they sleep and eat if they were kept in cages/crates. Most dogs won't do that but puppymill dogs have no choice when they are crammed into cages all day. This makes them extremely difficult to train and requires almost constant supervision. Some doggy daycares will assist with the training process for a fee and that may be an option for you.

Marie · 08-24-2005, 09:07 PM

Welcome to YT. I agreed that Bear might had come from a puppy mill .To housetrain him you need a lot of patience and be consistent. I personally dont crate, i used the baby gate instead. Everyone has given you great advise. I think belly bands can be useful. Good luck.

lreed · 08-24-2005, 09:13 PM

I like the gated kitchen idea. That's where I keep my Yorkies and Chi. They each have a cosy-round to sleep in and I leave out dry kibble and water. We keep a Wee-Wee pad in the other corner. If you have a spare bathroom, or don't mind sharing yours, that makes an excellent small area also. However, I still take them out to do their business as often as possible. The male Yorkie is not neutered and he still tries to mark (lifts his leg), so he wears a belly band around the house. Hang in there....He's worth it!

08-23-2005, 02:36 PM	#1
kipu_kika YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 2	Help needed desperately! Hello all Im new to the forums but have been reading them for some time now. Im a 21 year old college student with a male Yorkie named bear. Bear was born on April 15th 2005 and we bought him from a petstore about a month ago. I have been experiencing many problems and I could reallllllly use some help. Im attemtping to crate train Bear but am having no luck. You see, Bear seems to hate his crate. The second he gets in it he screams uncontrollably. I have tried sitting next to it, giving him treats and letting him know everything is o.k. He usually stops after 20 minutes but its very hard to deal with the sharp screams. At night he will only sleep in it untill around 4 am when he screams suddenly to let him out. The only thing that calms him donw is sleeping in my bed, but as soon as I drft off, he runs around the appartment and pees and poops. Im exhasuted from the late night screaming and feel awful about his screams. The other problem that i have is that Bear poops but manily pees everywhere in our appartment. He will pee after only 20 minutes of coming in from a walk. I have set meal times for him and walk him every 2 hours but if I dont watch him like a hawk, he piddles in small amounts everywhere.He will even do it when Im watching him, he will just squat and pee! Im at my wits end, I love my dog to pieces but he is ruining our carpet and Im worried his barking will get us evicted. I could really use some advice on this matter, as I start school full time again in September. Please help, I dont want to have to send my baby to live with someone else. Kirst and Bear

08-23-2005, 02:50 PM	#5
LIL MIS' MAGIC Yorkie Lover Donating Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Midlothian, Texas Posts: 4,377 Blog Entries: 3	First off, Welcome to YT!!! I am glad that you came to this site to get some help...hopefully you will find something that will help you and Bear!! I agree that since you bought him from a petstore you don't know what on before you got him...most likely he spend most of the day in a crate like area and has grown to hate being confined like that...I would suggest trying an x pen or playpen to keep in one area... Bear is still puppy and some of the housebreaking issue is due to this...he is still growing and gaining control of his bladder, give him some time and stay consist with the training...there are a bunch of different threads about housebreaking and hopefully you can find one that helps with that issue!! Just remember to be patient and try to understand and soon you will have a wonderful little baby!! __________________ Kristin, Mom to: Lil Mis Magic, Sailor and Captain

08-23-2005, 03:36 PM	#6
Kelz YT 2000 Club Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Yukon, ok Posts: 2,885	like everyone else..i'd try the baby gate ..he might still scream a lil at first but he should get use to it and it would be MUCH better than the crate! __________________ Kelly- momma to Parker, Star,Zoe, & Kegan.. RIP Silly Lily OK Yorkie Rescue - http://okyorkierescue.org

08-24-2005, 05:48 PM	#12
missPenny & Riley-bear, too! Donating Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Kansas Posts: 1,259	We had the tough task of potty training Penny at 5 months old. We used crate training. To be honest, for the first 2 weeks, we didn't get any sleep. And for months, she would start crying on the dot at 3:30. I would get up, take her outside, and then return her to her crate. It took awhile before she could make it through the night and it definitely wasn't fun getting up all the time, but it was important to me to keep her understanding that crying didn't get her out of her crate. __________________ My goal in life is to be the kind of person my dogs think I am. Mommy to Penny and Riley.

08-24-2005, 09:07 PM	#14
Marie Mom loves Gucci Donating Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: New York City Posts: 6,427	Welcome to YT. I agreed that Bear might had come from a puppy mill .To housetrain him you need a lot of patience and be consistent. I personally dont crate, i used the baby gate instead. Everyone has given you great advise. I think belly bands can be useful. Good luck. __________________ Huggies, Gucci and Marie http://www.dogster.com/?132187 "I have been egged"

08-23-2005, 02:43 PM	#3
luv4yorkies YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 1,611	Hi and welcome to yt. he probably does not like his crate because that is what he had been living in before . He is probably the product of a puppy mill before i knew about puppy mills and petsores i bought my lab frrom a pet store she is very sweet but is constantly running in circles i guess thinking that she is still in a cage. he just needs the time and patience and he will finally be house broken.

08-23-2005, 02:44 PM	#4
kipu_kika YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 2	We have a kitchen that we could use it we got 2 baby gates... Im just worried that he would cry all night. Im going to try that though. Hopefully he will like that better. Its very frustrating at night time. I hope my neighbours wont hate me because our front door isn't a very good insulator and he might keep them up at night. Oh well its worth a try...

08-23-2005, 06:44 PM	#7
sylvan YT 2000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Eastern PA Posts: 2,484	I will send you the housetraining method I send with all my pups if you mail me at sylvanyorkies@yahoo.com. I would suggest putting the crate in the gated kitchen with the door left open and soft bedding, toys and treats in the crate. Let him go in on his own to find the treats and come out whenever he likes until he decides it's not scary. Keep a litter area away from the crate in the kitchen and put a few drops of ammonia there to give him the idea. Do not give him access to the rest of the house AT ALL unless you are following him around and can grab him to go out the second he starts to sniff or squat.

08-23-2005, 09:51 PM	#8
SoCalyorkiLvr BANNED! Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 8,246	Hi and welcome! How old is Bear? I find that a playpen is better than a crate because I put it beside my bed nd put my arm in it and touch the puppy until they fall asleep. If they wake during the night I put my arm back in and they go back to sleep. I put a wee wee pad in one side and the bed and food and water dish in the other. Up to 6 months of age a puppy has to go potty after they wake from a nap, after they eat, after they play and every hour usually otherwise. it is a lot of time to potty train one. I also use belly bands on mine to save the carpets. They don't mind them and it really saves the carpet! Good luck.

08-23-2005, 10:15 PM	#10
orinskye YT 2000 Club Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: California Posts: 2,990	On the issue of neighbors, you could just talk to them and explain the sitution....... i checked in whith my neighbors regularly to see if their were any noise problems that we could resolve

08-24-2005, 06:20 AM	#11
YorkieChanel Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Miami Posts: 72	Ok, I have been reading all kinds of crate training sites, and literature.. And they all say, ITS HARD, TRY TO IGNORE THE BARKING AND CRYING.. You said yourself, it stops after 20 minutes. Also its been said DO NOT TAKE THEM WHEN THEY ARE CRYING AND BARKING, becuase they will learn that by ccrying and barking, you will let them out and will do it more and more and more. Also, you said that he sleeps fine until about 4 am. and starts crying and barking, so you take him out and put him on your bed. Then he goes of to pee and poop. THERE YOU GO. He is crying because he just woke up and want to pee or poop or both. And as you might of read before, TEHY WILL NOT POO AND PEE on their beds or were they lay down. This is why when you take him out, he will be on your bed for a bit, being 4 am you will knock right out again, and he will go off to do his thing. You should take him out of crate after he stops crying a bit and walk him were ever it is that you walk him I AM SURE he will pee at least. Then place him back in crate, he might cry again, but it might last 10 mins since he might still be sleepy and fall asleep again.

08-24-2005, 08:54 PM	#13
Flakes Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Victoria Posts: 218	Sounds to me as if this little guy came from a puppymill and it is likely that your house is the first freedom he has ever had outside a cage/crate. Placing him in one again will only further traumatize the poor little guy so if it were me I'd put the crate away and try either an exercise pen or a child's playpen placed right beside the bed so you can put your hand in there with him. You could also try playing a radio very softly so he doesn't feel as if nobody's there with him. Put a plush toy animal in there, preferrably one as big or bigger than he is so he has something to curl up with. An old fashioned clock that you can hear it ticking also helps as do hot water bottles. I have had many rescued dogs over the years and the one thing I will not do under any circumstances is put them back in a crate/cage. Your little guy is the same age as our new little girl. I let her sleep with me and the minute she wakes up I take her outside, she pees and it is back to bed we go where she settles right back down again. If you are training him to pee pads you could put one in your bedroom and when he wakes up put him on it. I close my bedroom door at night just in case she gets off the bed so at least she can't get into anything dangerous. Puppymill dogs are a challenge as they normally come with crate issues etc. Patience and lots of love are what's going to win this guy over. It will take months before he will be able to hold his bladder all night. It will likely take months for him to get over separation anxiety especially if you are about to return to school full time and he is going to be alone during the day. Is there anyone who could dog sit for you, perhaps a doggy daycare. He's not going to get over these issues in two weeks so you may want to consider if this is the breed for your lifestyle. The other issue with puppymill dogs is that they learned at a very early age to pee and poop in the same place they sleep and eat if they were kept in cages/crates. Most dogs won't do that but puppymill dogs have no choice when they are crammed into cages all day. This makes them extremely difficult to train and requires almost constant supervision. Some doggy daycares will assist with the training process for a fee and that may be an option for you.

08-24-2005, 09:13 PM	#15
lreed YT Addict Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Northern Illinois Posts: 337	I like the gated kitchen idea. That's where I keep my Yorkies and Chi. They each have a cosy-round to sleep in and I leave out dry kibble and water. We keep a Wee-Wee pad in the other corner. If you have a spare bathroom, or don't mind sharing yours, that makes an excellent small area also. However, I still take them out to do their business as often as possible. The male Yorkie is not neutered and he still tries to mark (lifts his leg), so he wears a belly band around the house. Hang in there....He's worth it!