Untrainable?

[QuickSilver]

I'm looking for full honesty here - has anyone given up on house training their yorkie?

I am not at that point yet, but after finding ANOTHER pee spot on the living room rug, I am truly starting to wonder if Thor will ever understand that rugs are not for peeing.

Strangely enough, when I first locked him in the living room, he did the best - I think we went close to two weeks with no accidents. Now, four weeks later, he's messing twice per day. He uses his puppy pad every so often, but I wonder if he just happens to choose it at random.

It's been six weeks -- when do I just give up and get him belly bands?

I know there are things I still haven't tried, but man, I am getting TIRED of this.

[xxmxaxrxyxx]

sorry to hear that you are going thru this...from my understanding Yorkies are stubborn...how many pads do you have done? are the paper or washable pads...are you giving him free run of the house....

[PennysMum]

You're not alone; I've kind of given up too.

Penny's about 98% housebroken. Every few days, I'll find a spot on the carpet. It drives me crazy, but I honestly don't know what more we can do than what we have already done; she's crate trained, I take her outside for walks every few hours, praise and reward her whenever she goes outside, say NO sternly whenever we spot her going inside, and I always thoroughly clean the spots to remove any lingering smell that might be drawing her back to the carpet...

I'm planning to get a house with no wall-to-wall carpeting when my fiance and I buy our own place just so that I won't have to deal with piddles on the carpet anymore. I've told my fiance that is my number one requirement for our new home, and he laughed but I'm dead serious.

[lemonlauren]

Not that I'm any kind of expert... you and Thor know we're still having trouble too. :-) But here's a couple ideas:

1. I think I remember you saying that things were going pretty well until you expanded Thor's reign (even though it was only for 30 min or something like that). Correct me if I'm remembering wrong. But anyways, maybe you could expand his area at a much much slower rate, to let him "expand" his den at a pace that makes more sense to him, so he doesn't get confused. We used collapsed cardboard boxes that we taped together and then to walls (not pretty, but infinitely adjustable and cheap) instead of baby gates. Nikko's area expanded at a rate of literally about 6 square feet every several days thanks to these boxes.

2. Maybe either you should pick outside or potty pads, not do both. Or maybe you should go for outside only - I've heard some stories of dogs never being reliable on pads, but once they get to go outside only and the pads are eliminated, they become reliable. I dunno - I'm kind of an outside-only snob, so maybe you shouldn't listen to me on this point, lol. Or you could pick pads only. But it's an idea anyhow.

3. I've heard belly bands can actually in some cases help potty training.... some doggies don't like their stomach to get wet, so that can serve as a deterrent on its own.

4. Sheesh, it's only been 6 weeks!?!?! We've been at it for coming up on three months, and it sounds like we're about at the same place you are! I know Thor is older, but still - I'm sure he has as many bad habits to break as Nikko has maturity and bladder control to gain. Don't you dare give up yet!!!!!!!



Lauren & Nikko

[QuickSilver]

Ha ha, thank you everyone. Don't worry, I won't DARE give up yet. I know there are still options out there. I just ordered the puppy pads that smell like grass in case Thor doesn't understand the difference between "rug" and "pad". And I might try the cardboard boxes thing too. I had been using one box already to block off one door, but it hadn't occurred to me to get more sophisticated with them.

I guess I need to keep trying with Thor for as long as nine months because the reality is that he came to me with the bladder skills of a three month puppy. I can't imagine him not getting it after that long (shudder).

It could be worse.... He only poops once a day, and that is always deposited somewhere appropriate.

My fear is that, at some point, you can't watch your dog like a hawk. Maybe you can do it for 3 weeks, maybe you can do it for 3 months, but at some point, you need to start looking at things besides your dog. And if your dog is really determined to do his business inside and away from your eyeline, what can you do?

So the countdown begins.... 7 months and 1 week to go. Will Thor and I both make it out of this alive? I sure hope so.

[AvyQuinn]

The Housetraining for Dummies book I got said that it may take 2 weeks to a month of crate training for him to catch on and that they pretty much train themselves in a crate.

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA Yeah. Right.

I crate trained Hiro for close to 3 months. We're starting to get it now. lol

I know you'll hang in there and one day when you're like 'OMG I'm going insane!' Thor will surprise you.

If there is any advice I can impart to you... don't give too much freedom too soon. If you do give him too much freedom too soon, you could be putting an unrealistic expectation on him and you'll be disappointed in him (and yourself) when he messes up. Good luck!

[QuickSilver]

OH MY GOD! HE JUST PEED ON THE RUG!

How on earth did I miss it???? He was literally two feet away from me and I was keeping an eye on him to see if he was going to head to his pad. I guess I couldn't see his lower body because of the coffee table. He jumped in his crate, which I should have realized was a sign -- he only goes there after a rug potty. I stood up and there is a HUGE pee stain!

Okay, I am officially going insane. Where is the "aha" moment???

[chachi]

When I was pee pad training I had to pull up all of my area rugs or they would go on them. I dont know if they get confused or what

[QuickSilver]

Okay, next strategy. I have confined Thor to his crate, and I'm taking him out every twenty minutes or so to see if he will potty on the pad.

I have to wonder if Thor and I have been living a lie this entire time. I noticed when I went to wipe up the latest mess that the spot had almost disappeared after maybe five minutes. I guess I have incredibly absorbent rugs. If I was working on the computer or napping, Thor might have peed somewhere and gotten away with it even though we were in the same room. Or maybe the pee pads have convinced him that it really is okay to potty indoors.

I probably need to steam clean my carpet....

[harley1]

Harley is 18 months and still has accidents despite being taken outside every 2 hrs during the day,he has no problem at night and can hold it..i have been using belly bands for a while now and they have been my saviour..they are not an excuse but boy do they lower my stress level..now when he does have an accident my carpets are spared and i do not get stressed out...hang in there i know how you feel!!.

[chloesMama]

I would make his world very tiny again. His crate or an X pen unless he is sitting with you or playing with you and I would leave it that small for as long as it took. Like you said he may have been peeing without you knowing it all this time , so he might think that is OK. I would put a pad in the X pen with him and when you see him pee on the pad take him out to hold or play with and give lots of praise.

[gypsyqueen]

My Nickie was n ot fully trained till she was 2years old hang in there bud

Originally Posted by QuickSilver

I'm looking for full honesty here - has anyone given up on house training their yorkie?

I am not at that point yet, but after finding ANOTHER pee spot on the living room rug, I am truly starting to wonder if Thor will ever understand that rugs are not for peeing.

Strangely enough, when I first locked him in the living room, he did the best - I think we went close to two weeks with no accidents. Now, four weeks later, he's messing twice per day. He uses his puppy pad every so often, but I wonder if he just happens to choose it at random.

It's been six weeks -- when do I just give up and get him belly bands?

I know there are things I still haven't tried, but man, I am getting TIRED of this.

[xplics]

You know what I felt the same way you did in regards to having the puppy trained, however my wife is the one who always stays on the puppies butt and it seems to have paid off. I also felt like the puppy was hopeless in training it where the proper place to go was, out of nowhere now the dog is so trained (IN DOORS) that I am shocked but very happy. Best bet is to do like she does and try to continue the training and stay positive, it should pay off in the long run.

[QuickSilver]

Poor little guy. He has no idea what's going on. He's been in the crate all day.

Thor, clueless:

[QuickSilver]

Here, he contemplates his misdeeds.