Yorkie Attitude Help

[Martie0905]

This is my first time posting and I'm new to the community. Does anyone else have troubles with their yorkie getting "mad" at you for leaving them so they go potty in the house where they know they shouldn't? When Our little guys gets mad at us for leaving him he either poo's or pee's under our dining room table. He knows he's not supposed to and he knows what he's doing because as soon as we see it he gives us the tilted "guilt" head and runs in the other room with his ears down. We don't have carpet so the floor isn't an issue but it's more a behavior issue that we'd like to stop. He's spoiled rotten and a great puppy but this is driving me crazy. It's not all the time...just when he is mad because we're gone too long. I need advice or tips from anyone who has corrected this kind of attitude

[canana]

Originally Posted by Martie0905

This is my first time posting and I'm new to the community. Does anyone else have troubles with their yorkie getting "mad" at you for leaving them so they go potty in the house where they know they shouldn't? When Our little guys gets mad at us for leaving him he either poo's or pee's under our dining room table. He knows he's not supposed to and he knows what he's doing because as soon as we see it he gives us the tilted "guilt" head and runs in the other room with his ears down. We don't have carpet so the floor isn't an issue but it's more a behavior issue that we'd like to stop. He's spoiled rotten and a great puppy but this is driving me crazy. It's not all the time...just when he is mad because we're gone too long. I need advice or tips from anyone who has corrected this kind of attitude

Welcome to YT!

How old is your Yorkie? Do you consider him potty trained? Does he have a potty schedule?

I have two comments...

1. I made sure that my two little ones were completely potty trained before giving them free reign of my home. Prior to that, they were first confined in their crates, then confined in a smaller room, before getting free reign of the entire place. The thing is, if they have accidents, it means they either aren't given the chance to potty enough (if they're outdoor potty trained) or they haven't been completely potty trained (if they have potty pad access indoors). If they haven't been completely potty trained, I'd suggest limiting the space they're allowed to be in. My two have a schedule and I know when they poop (during morning walks and after work walks) so I know they won't poop at home.

2. When leaving my Yorkies at home, I made sure to transition them slowly to prevent separation anxiety. Basically, you leave them at home alone, in increasing intervals of time, over a period of time. When I leave home, I know they're comfortable and don't freak out. My goal was to make sure they didn't destroy the place when I am away (i.e. no barking, no tearing up stuff, no potty accidents). They used to bark when I leave, so now I play a game of hide and seek treats before I leave. I hide treats everywhere and make them stay in one spot away from the door. They stay there until I'm at the door and I give the command "find it" and they have a ball hunting for treats. I'm a paranoid momma, so for the first week of letting both of them roam after the baby girl was finally potty trained, I watched them at home using an app on my phone to make sure they were well behaved.

[Zeus is Loved]

Our youngest, Perseus, has separation anxiety and literally chews and digs through sheetrock. We have had to alter the walls. Zeus has never offered to do anything. We have tried everything the dog "psychiatrist"/trainer suggested, and nothing worked. The only other option was to lock him in a kennel or pen, and this causes him worse anxiety. He almost broke teeth trying to chew through the wire on the ex-pen. We don't want to get rid of him, so our only option was to cover the bottom portion of the walls in the two rooms he has access to during the day. Neither never pee or poo in the floor though.

[Martie0905]

Levi is 7 months old and is totally potty trained. He goes outside when we're home and he uses pads while we're atwork and he never goes anywhere in the house except where we have the pads. We did start the transition gradually...we did it for a couple hours at a time and gradually worked our wayto a full day. He doesn't freak out at all when we leave. We give him a kongfilled with treats topped with peanut butter and I leave small treats all overthe areas he has access to. He has at least 20 chew toys and never chews onanything. His only tempermental action is that when he's "mad" at ushe pees under the dining room table. He doesn't do it every day...it's usuallyon Mondays when we've been home with him all weekend or our first day back towork from time off. He's not a barker unless someone bangs on the door and heis such a "chill" puppy. We are actually amazed at how good he is! Idon't think it's anxiety...I think he's mad at us because he knows he's notsupposed to do it. If this is the worse thing he does we are very lucky andit's not a huge deal. We just want to try to resolve the issue if possible.
This morning I put his favorite quilt under the table so hopefully he won't doanything but lay under there. He poops on his morning walk and thenon the evening walk when we get home. He doesn't soak all the pads and he neverpees under the table when we're home...so he knows what he's doing and he knowshe's not supposed to do it. LoL...Little s#it!
What app did you use? I wouldlove to get that and watch him in action when we're not there! I often wonderwhat he does all day?!?!?

[canana]

Originally Posted by Martie0905

Levi is 7 months old and is totally potty trained. He goes outside when we're home and he uses pads while we're atwork and he never goes anywhere in the house except where we have the pads. We did start the transition gradually...we did it for a couple hours at a time and gradually worked our wayto a full day. He doesn't freak out at all when we leave. We give him a kongfilled with treats topped with peanut butter and I leave small treats all overthe areas he has access to. He has at least 20 chew toys and never chews onanything. His only tempermental action is that when he's "mad" at ushe pees under the dining room table. He doesn't do it every day...it's usuallyon Mondays when we've been home with him all weekend or our first day back towork from time off. He's not a barker unless someone bangs on the door and heis such a "chill" puppy. We are actually amazed at how good he is! Idon't think it's anxiety...I think he's mad at us because he knows he's notsupposed to do it. If this is the worse thing he does we are very lucky andit's not a huge deal. We just want to try to resolve the issue if possible.
This morning I put his favorite quilt under the table so hopefully he won't doanything but lay under there. He poops on his morning walk and thenon the evening walk when we get home. He doesn't soak all the pads and he neverpees under the table when we're home...so he knows what he's doing and he knowshe's not supposed to do it. LoL...Little s#it!
What app did you use? I wouldlove to get that and watch him in action when we're not there! I often wonderwhat he does all day?!?!?

Awesome! Sounds like you've done everything right, from the slow transition to the treat-giving when you're leaving. Good job!! Very happy for you

So...this is just my own opinion, based on my readings and experience:
Every Yorkie is different (some say their Yorkies are potty trained at 3 months), but I tend to err on the side of caution and believe that they technically aren't fully potty trained until over a year. Reason being, between 7 months to 1 year, they are in the adolescent period. This is when they may "act out" and revert back to bad habits for no reason at all. I've read several posts of others' Yorkies who were angels and suddenly acted out during this period. Of course, not every Yorkie will do this, but I was mentally prepared for this to happen in case it did, which is why I didn't trust my two until they were each over 1 year.

My theory is always prevention. If they're doing something you don't like, unless you're there to catch him in the act in order to give a firm "no", then prevent it from happening at all. For your situation, if there's a certain area he's having accidents in occasionally, perhaps somehow blocking off that area under the table (i.e. barricade it with boxes or whatever you have at home. If it's a rug under the table he's targeting, then remove the rug for the time being (then put it back after a few months). Try this for a few months. Be persistent about preventing access while you're away. Hopefully within a couple to a few months, he'll start to settle down, get over the adolescent Yorkie tude and be a good accident-free boy!

The app I use is called Presence. It's available on iPhone and Androids. Presence I downloaded it on my iPad and leave it at home as the 'camera', which uses WiFi. You can set it to record only when there is motion and then you can watch the recordings later. At work, I can turn on the live streaming and watch them too on my desktop. If you have more old phones lying around that has a camera and has WiFi capabilities, you can set up multiple phones as cameras at home. It's pretty awesome! Just make sure to click the 'dim screen' to save batteries and keep it plugged in so the battery doesn't die.

[canana]

Originally Posted by Zeus is Loved

Our youngest, Perseus, has separation anxiety and literally chews and digs through sheetrock. We have had to alter the walls. Zeus has never offered to do anything. We have tried everything the dog "psychiatrist"/trainer suggested, and nothing worked. The only other option was to lock him in a kennel or pen, and this causes him worse anxiety. He almost broke teeth trying to chew through the wire on the ex-pen. We don't want to get rid of him, so our only option was to cover the bottom portion of the walls in the two rooms he has access to during the day. Neither never pee or poo in the floor though.

I recall my previous dog doing this too. She'd somehow dig holes into our walls!

Aww... poor little Perseus! I can only imagine that locking him in a kennel would make his mental state worse too. Very good idea to cover the walls! Prevention is Key!!

How old is Perseus now? I'm sure you've tried already, but have you left him treat dispensing toys when you leave? And leave him several chew toys? When mine were still puppies, I was obsessed and shopped for treat dispensing toys whenever I saw a pet store. I'm almost certain with time Perseus will get over this and you can eventually remove the wall covers. They all eventually calm down. Puppies all like to test our patience.

[Maximo]

Maybe I'm an optimist, but I don't believe dogs do things like this out of anger or spite. As you wrote, he knows it isn't right.

What is your pad setup? What are the surroundings? Is it possible that he feels safer pooping under the table when you aren't there? Or maybe he thinks he is hiding the poop under the table since normally he does it outside?

My older boy cannot stand having poop on the pad that is not taken care of right away. It's very upsetting to him.

My other boy was a shy pooper when he was younger. He also had the urge to go, slightly nervous poop, if we left him alone. Could be that your boy, although chill and well-adjusted, knows the weekend is over and just gets a little anxious about time alone and has the urge to go but doesn't want it on the pad.

I agree with Canana's suggestion about blocking access to under the table for awhile. Make sure the scent of the accidents is thoroughly removed from the area too.

Good luck!

[Lovetodream88]

I would block him out of that area and maybe put him in a play pen. Could he honestly just not be able to hold it?