Paper and Pee Pad Training Pros Out There- I need your help/support!

[Honey's_Mom]

OK, OK, I know there have been like a billion threads about house training but here's another one. Your patience and advice is greatly appreciated!

Honey is paper/wee wee pad trained and does GREAT while we are at home (we keep her papers/pad in our master bathroom) - she goes to the bathroom door and scratches to be let in and then she goes to the pad. She is rewarded with a treat and LOTS of praise!

When I leave to go to work, I put a baby gate up in the bathroom and she has her bed, food and water and pee pad/papers. When I come home from lunch, it seems almost always she has peed somewhere else on the floor (not on her pad/papers)!! It is kind of hard to catch her in the act becasue it happens while I am gone. Then I get down and scrub my grout with bleach cleaner every time to keep it from getting gross in there!! I almost dread coming home because I know what I am going to find!

I am so frustrated and just don't understand why she can't get this down!! I can't think that this is what it is going to be like for the rest of her life! She is two years old (gasp!- that's right, not 100% potty trained!) and otherwise is very good behaviorally.

We chose to paper/pee pad train her because of being away for long periods of time at work. As a result, she has no bladder control - she has never had to hold it. I know that it would make sense for us to put her in a pen, more confined during the day, but I want her to learn, dangit! And at least having the whole bathroom seems less cruel than confining her in a pen (not a crate!) for hours on end.

I guess I am just high once again from the bleach fumes - but anyone who's been there, please give me your two cents!

Thanks in advance,
Honey's Mom

[jennifermcb]

How well does she hold it at night? If she sleeps thru the night, or for several hours at a time, then she does have some type of bladder control.

My suggestion would be to be a bit more aggressive and crate her for a few hours during the day, everyday. Be very diligent about taking her out as soon as you get home so that she will relieve herself on the wee pads. They learn so quickly that I can see her mastering this in no time.

FWIW, I am not a Yorkie training specialist but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn.

[Honey's_Mom]

Through the night, she sleeps a couple of hours at a time but does not hold it the whole night - sometimes we get up 3-4 times with her (that's the most). But she has never slept through the whole night without getting up to pee! I am embarrassed to type that out!

The breeder we got her from says she thinks it is probably just a bad habit she has gotten into (getting up whenever she feels even the slightest urge). She sleeps with us several hours during the night but also sleeps some in her bed. She has never peed in our bed or hers either but will get down and pee on the bedroom carpet or bathroom floor if we don't get her on her papers quick enough.

As has been said before on this forum, they're cute, so they get away with alot!

I've turned her into the Yorkie I said she'd never be - SPOILED ROTTEN!!!!

[spydergurl]

That's pretty much how I trained my Chewy. But I put papers all over the floor, not leaving any bare spots, except where her bed and food were. That way, she always went on the papers. Then, I gradually removed the papers that weren't being used (because they will pick their own spot and go to the same place). Then, as she got a little older, I did the same thing with the living room and kitchen, closing off the other rooms. She again picked her favorite spot, and I gradually removed the other papers she didn't use. And, to this day, she's now 6 years old, I have the papers in the one spot she picked. I made a frame around it out of thin, curved molding, so it doesn't look so bad and keeps the papers in place. As soon as she got the hang of it, I didn't have to keep her confined to the bathroom anymore, and she had the run of the house. So....good luck to you.

[spydergurl]

I just read your last post, where you said she gets up in the night and goes on the bedroom rug. Well, just put papers all over your bedroom floors, and let her pick where she goes, as I said before. I know it's kind of a hassle in the beginning with all of the papers and all, but she will pick a spot pretty quick, and then you can start narrowing down her spots. Even if she has one favorite place in every room for a while, it will eventually get down to one or two places.

[orinskye]

when i was training toby we used pee pads because he was and "illegal" dog in our apartment complex, BUT, i found that he didnt get the pad thing at all..... my ifrst tactic was to ignore the mistakes he made unless i saw him do it, WRONG THING TO DO IN MY SITUATION he thought it was ok and confused him more when i caught him in the act, THEN, i started punishing wether i saw him do it or not, this made an improvement but he still wasnt 100%......... NOW, since he is legal i put the pad out on the balcony (and he knows that the place is his spot) and he hasnt had an accident in FOREVER... i dont think he recognizd the difference between the pad and the rest of the house because regardless his potty spot was IN THE HOUSE, once he got booted out it was a dramatic improvement.....

[Carolina girl]

How long are you gone before lunch? Maybe you could crate her in the morning for a little while. If nobody is home it won't matter if she fusses. It maybe be better vise versa put her in the kennel in the afternoon. If you want her kennel trained this maybe the opportunity to train without hearing her fuss. You would like her to learn to hold it some. This is about the only way for her to learn to hold it. My pup is weird. She cannot go all night so I bought one of those xpens that fold different ways. At night I put her in the kennel with the door open and a pee pad outside. (no other room) She has no choice but to go on the pad. But in the day I gate her in a small bathroom with food, toys and pad. She doesn't go all day ever She can hold from around 11 am to 6 pm, but she can't hold it long enough to sleep in the bed. She goes on the bed. Go figure. HTH

[Honey's_Mom]

I am gone usually only 4 hours or so - Do you think she would just sleep all morning if she was in the crate? Sometimes I think because she lazes around so much during the day that she doesn't feel like sleeping all night.

I dread the day I try to put her in the crate - She absolutely HATES to be in there! I put her in the crate when we are in the car and I think sometimes she would claw her own nails bloody to get out of there if I left her in there for a long time!

I suggested to my husband the other day that crate training may be the way to go, but I can tell he's not going to give me a lot of support on this one - he says he thinks it is way too cruel to leave them so confined. Although he's also not the one on his hands and knees twice a day scrubbing the floor either!

[lickthestar]

dogs tend to go where they've gone last. So, if it's on the floor, they'll continue to keep going on the floor. Archie likes to go on lush, green grass...

Anyway, when they see the pad, they don't know that it's there for bathroom purposes. So, you need to train them to think "pad = pee pee." Since dogs work by scent, the only way to do this is to make sure that the scent is not on the floor anymore. Unfortunately, i don't think that bleach works to eliminate the scent because it's organic, and bleach only really kills bacteria and plus, it's really harmful to dogs if they lick it. have you tried Nature's miracle or some sort of enzyme stuff to clean it up? Also, might want to put a little pee pee on the pad so that they associate it with peeing. After a while, they figure out that pad is there only for one purpose.

Archie is trained to go outside, but I've caught him in the middle of the night, with sleepy eyes going into the bathroom to pee on the pad in there...it's pretty funny.

[Carolina girl]

If she is two I would try the crate for half of the day. It won't hurt her. I don't think she would bloody her toes. She fusses because she knows it bothers you. If you are uncomfortable with it try putting treats in the crate and leaving the door open at night when you are just lounging around. You might want to try using a kong toy and filling it with frozen yogurt. That will keep her occupied for a while. HTH

[Honey's_Mom]

Thanks for the tips, lickthestar... She definitely knows that she is supposed to pee on the pad - and does it great while we are there and awake...

I didn't think about the bleach organic vs. enzyme thing - I do make sure that I rinse it off well after it sits there for a little while so she can't get to it - I use it primarily to keep the grout in the bathroom tile from getting really slimy, pee-soaked-gross. I just thought since it was bleach and all, it was also taking out the smell. I will try the Nature's Miracle, though.

I wish I could catch my sleepy one peeing in the right place - better yet I wish she would just go in the right place in the middle of the night and get back in bed on her own without us having to get up and coach her through it! I don't think I have slept through the whole night in ages! That's the first thing my husband and I ask each other when the alarm goes off - "How many times did YOU get up??"

[Honey's_Mom]

Thanks Carolina girl!

I am going to have to work up my courage for that one - I know it is what needs to be done but, whew... it will be a tough one for both of us!