Almost Potty Trained..need help from here

[paulsor]

My 6 month old Yorkie (Louis Vuitton) is 80% house broken with #1. He knows that outside means go #1, but still has the occasional accident.

However, he refuses to do #2 outside. He loves going on the pad which is in an inconvenient place of my house. Even catching him in the act and taking him outside, he would rather hold it until he comes in.

I've brought the pad outside, I've taken him at all times of day, in the shade, sunny and rain, but no matter what....he won't do it.

Someone please help me finish up training Louis.

[LuvMySissy]

Can't be of any help, but would love ideas also. Sissy almost always goes #2 inside (10 months old).

[chloe'smom]

Well I don't really know myself as I just got my Beauty Friday. She has had only one accident inside and that was my fault. I am using the crate and so far...so good. I am in heaven. She will wimper to let me know when its time to go do #1 and #2. Another way that I can tell is when she can't be still she normally has to go. I have really been watching her for signs and her body language tells me an awful lot. Have you tried the crate?

[Baileys_Momma]

I can't help either. Bailey is 1 and will pee outside but poo's in my house. I dont' get mad because it is so easy to pick up and he only does it in one place. I know that it is not the way to go and we have been working on the #2 outside because I don't want Morgan to pick up Bailey's habits.

Good Luck.

[paulsor]

Originally Posted by chloe'smom

Well I don't really know myself as I just got my Beauty Friday. She has had only one accident inside and that was my fault. I am using the crate and so far...so good. I am in heaven. She will wimper to let me know when its time to go do #1 and #2. Another way that I can tell is when she can't be still she normally has to go. I have really been watching her for signs and her body language tells me an awful lot. Have you tried the crate?

We do the crate regularly. Even if we are home during the day, Louis goes in the crate for the afteroon. Is this a problem that goes away with age maybe?

[Bailey's Peeps]

Okay, before I launch into telling you what seems to be working with Bailey, I need to get the disclaimer out of the way: 1) Bailey's only 12 weeks old and we've only had her 4 weeks, and 2) After 3 1/2 weeks of the normal frustration of potty training a pup, we've only been accident-free for 3 days. This is sorta long. For those of you who bother to read it all, I hope there’s something it it that helps.

Hardly a long track record, and I know puppies almost always regress at some point for some period of time, but through last Thursday night I don't think we had even 4 waking hours in a row without an incident. Now we've been through a few hours shy of 3 full days without a problem. Up until we started this plan, Bailey was almost defiant about pooping outdoors. We would find her little surprises behind chairs or under tables all the time, though we were taking her out FREQUENTLY.

So here's what we've done. It's mostly stuff you've heard, and probably stuff you’ve done, but we have put it all together in a pattern that doesn’t vary.

1. I fenced in a 6' x 6' area just outside our back door. That's her spot. Just 24" wide hardware cloth and some wooden stakes. I've never even seen an expen (is that how it's spelled?), but from conversations in YT, I'm sure they'd serve the same purpose. Mine only cost $20 for materials and a few minutes to drive in the stakes.

2. We keep a baggie of treats close to the door. They are very tiny treats. We use some soft treats that can be easily cut up to less than 1/4" cube. Just make it something your baby really likes – but very little of it.

3. As soon as she is taken out of her crate in the morning, she is taken to her spot, grabbing a few treats on the way.

4. When we put her down, we tell her once to "go potty." Previously, I had prompted her repeatedly until she finally did. It has seemed to work better since I’ve forced myself to only tell her once. When she does, she is immediately praised and given a treat. (After the first day, she has begun looking us right in the eye while she’s pottying – and as quickly as we can start saying “good girl, good potty” she is at our feet claiming her treat. When we first started, I would pick her up right then and head back in. I quickly changed to giving her 10 minutes (and I try to keep it very close to the same amount of time each trip out). I did that because she will sometimes pee 2 or 3 times before we come back in. Often, she will poop on this trip out, but not always. Other than praise for doing what she’s there for and the occasional “no” when she starts digging, I resist the urge to talk to her at all, the time in her spot is all business. When I pick her up to go back inside, I love on her and talk to her and generally enjoy being with her.

5. When we get back in the house, she gets her breakfast. 15-20 minutes later we go back outside, following the procedure above exactly. Whether she pooped the first time out or not, she generally does on this trip. Again, when she does what she was brought out to do, she gets praised and petted like she just won “Best of Show.” If she doesn’t potty and we really think she needs to, we don’t give her more time. We bring her back in. Depending on what’s going on in the house, she either goes back in the crate or she’s allowed to roam close by us – under very close observation. If she shows any sign at all of looking for a spot, she goes out immediately. Otherwise she will go out about two hours later.

6. The rest of the day, she’s taken out about ever two hours, always with everything exactly the same. As she gets older, obviously the time between trips will stretch.

That’s it. It’s long, and there’s really nothing new about it at all – but we’ve had three totally accident-free days and at her age I think that’s pretty good. (In fact, just as I'm finishing this, my wife came in to tell me that Bailey was just out and "did it all" - this is actually 3 days and about a half hour.)

[bradyem]

I had the same problem with my pup-he is now 6 months old and last weekend we kicked the habit-yeah. My solution was a doggie door that I placed in the sliding glass door (119.00 at Lowes). Of course you do need a fenced in area in the back. I showed him how to go out with a dog treat and then I removed the puppy paper--I think that was just his excuse to go on it instead of outside. I did also (prior to the dog door remove the paper as an option and then take him outside in the morning --or whenever he normally went poop and told him "go poo poo" and he did which I immediately rewarded him for doing). The real deal though was the door--I never need to take him out anymore; he comes and goes as needed and hasn't had an accident since--knock on wood. Hope that helps--it was getting frustrating for me as well.

[Kona]

I really like these ideas... I'm going to have to try them. We *thought* Kona was pee pad trained in 3 days after having her. But I think she has regressed...it seems to be getting worse. I've been trying to take her out and let her roam in our yard, but she won't go there. I'll have to try some of your suggestions.

[Bizzymammabee]

Take a piece of his poo and even a pad and put it outside where you want him to go. When he does then you can remove it so he will just keep going there.

[alabamadreamers]

We are still working with Max on this but he hasn't had an accident for 5 days-woohoo!!!! We have had multiple poo parties this week. Here is what has worked for us. Because we travel with my husband's work, Max has a new place to get used to every couple of weeks. He will be five months old this month. We have consistently taken him out and he seemed to initially have a problem with the poo outside concept. I was really getting frustrated but tried to remain consistent with the training. This week, it seems to be working.

We take him out when he first gets up in the morning which is usually when the alarm goes off (5:30). My husband will take Max out again before he leaves for work (around 6:30) and this is when he will usually poo. He takes a nap on my lap while I read for a little while and then I put him in the crate while I take a shower. After my shower, I will take him out for a long walk-sometimes he goes then and sometimes he doesn't.

While we are up during the day, he will usually let me know he needs to go out (just started this last week). Max will come scratch on my legs-if I don't pick up on this que (he does this sometimes when he just wants to be loved on), he will go over by the door and sit. He does this every two to three hours. If he is not sitting, I give him the "sit" command so I can put his lease on and then out we go. When we get outside and to the spot he has designated, I say "go potty". He will usually squat to pee as soon as we get there, but sometimes it takes a little longer for the poo. We don't usually stay out longer then 5-10 minutes and I try not to talk or do anything to distract him from his task. I usually carry a sandwich bag in my pocket too, as to not leave a surprise for anyone to step in. When he has finished, I always say "good boy, Max" several times, pick up the poo to throw away and then we head back to our motel room, if we're not walking. We always give him a treat as soon as we get in the room always bragging on him and telling him what a good puppy he is.

If I think it's time for him (he usually goes poo 2-3 times daily-2 before lunch and then another sometimes in the evening), and he hasn't let me know for awhile, I'll say "outside?" and if he needs to go outside, he goes over and stands by the door. As I've said before, I'm not sure which of us is trained at this point-lol. If he has an accident, we have taken to letting him smell it and then pick it up and take him and the poo outside and say in a stern voice, "poo outside". We don't spank him or put his nose in it, just have him smelling it before taking them both outside. I always clean up his accidents with Nature's Miracle (an enzyme cleaner we get at PetSmart that gets rid of the odor). When he is sucessful, we have a big poo party with a treat involved. He is barely in the door before he is on both hind legs begging for his treat!

Overall, I think just the consistency of the method is helping Max to make the connection as he doesn't have the same place to go in all the time with the travelling. I am sooooo proud of him this week and really think he is the smartest puppy in the whole world (I know, you all think the same thing about your little yorkies)!

[Bailey's Peeps]

Originally Posted by alabamadreamers

. . .Overall, I think just the consistency of the method is helping Max to make the connection. . .

I really think that when you get right down to it, that's the answer - make the process as consistent as possible. Other things like treats, praise and minimizing distractions help, but the consistency of the process seems to make all the difference in the world.

[serrelind]

I agree that consistency is the key!!

That and a crate (in the beginning)

My 6month puppy is mostly trained. I'm so proud of him. The only 2 problems we have right now: him giving me the right message to go outside. I don't exactly know when he does need to go -- he doesn't bark or whine. He's always scratching my feet so can't take that as I-need-to-go-outside. I have a bell hanging on my door, but he doesn't seem to "get it" yet that he needs to ring it if he wants to go outside. So I try to avoid accidents by taking him out every 2-3 hours. Also, he's very distracted outside by many things and people and other dogs. But he's better than he was in the beginning.

Once we get down pat with the pooing and peeing outside, we'll work on him giving me the right message

But for now, I'm happy with his progress!

Good luck with your puppy.. remember patience and consistency is the key.

[smithgo9]

Originally Posted by LuvMySissy

Can't be of any help, but would love ideas also. Sissy almost always goes #2 inside (10 months old).

Just read your post (dated 2006) about your 10-month old Yorkie and potty training issues. My Chloe girl is 11 months old (3-24-09) and I'm having similar problems with potty issues when I am gone for 4-5 hours. Your Yorkie is older now, how are the potty issues by now. I just need some hope(ha)!

Chloe's mom in Colorado