Ok, Fess Up!!

[mistyinca]

Originally Posted by Sookie

I promise not to get bored. PLEASE post!!

LOL...

OK, but it isn't finished... So far, this will be several posts...

Training

OK... LOL...I know I'm going out on a limb with this post, but I thought I'd put it out there. This is a long post that I’m breaking up into several consecutive posts.

I keep seeing so many people say that yorkies are difficult to housebreak, and that has NOT been my experience at all. Chloe was housebroken (except for a very rare accident once in a while) by 5 months of age. So I thought I'd make a post on how I trained her, in case anyone is interested.

This is in no way to suggest that my method is any better than anyone else's, and some don't care to utilize this type of training, and that's cool . I'm just putting this out there for those interested in Crate training.

Important: when you get a puppy, you will get pee and poop on your carpet. Have some neutralizer (such as Nature’s Miracle which you can get at Petsmart) on hand. But most importantly, accept the fact that you WILL have accidents, and lots of them, before your puppy is housebroken. If you cannot accept that, then a puppy is not for you. Be patient and consistent and it won’t last long.

Chloe, for all intents and purposes, is my first dog, so I came into this as a total noob. This method is a combination of all the wonderful advice I got from my sister, my friend and groomer, and other dog savvy people who gave me great advice.

First of all, we utilize crate training. For those that don't really know what that is, it's a whole method of providing a "den" for your dog. It becomes a kind of "safe haven" that they seek out for comfort. It is not cruel, as dogs are, by nature, denning animals.

...to be continued...

[mistyinca]

Getting through the nights

When we brought Chloe home, she cried in the crate for the first three nights. The key is to NOT go to them or you will teach them that their cries get them out. After the third night, she has been quiet all night since.

When yorkies are young, they physically cannot hold their bladders for very young. The rule of thumb is # of months + 2; so for example, a 2 month old yorkie can hold it at most 4 hours (this is at night only). Your goal is to get them to hold it for as long as they physically can at their age, but don't push it too far. Set your puppy up for success.

Take away food and water after 7pm in the evenings to make it easier. So for nighttime, we set up our crate like this (see picture below). The crate is in an x-pen with a pad for potty. Place a used pee pad in there, so they know that is where they are supposed to go. The first week, I kept the crate door closed, and I got up after 4 hours to let her out and put her on the pad. Make sure to make the night-time potty break business only. (Don’t use it as a time for sitting on the couch and cuddling because that will encourage her to cry in the night to be let out. Take care of potty, give her a quick praise, kiss, and back in the crate.) After that, we left the crate door opened in the night, so she could go out on her own to potty. This was also the method we used when we would leave the house for more than 2 hours.

After 4 months of age, I found that most nights, her pad was clean in the morning, and she had been holding it all night anyway. So I decided to shut the crate door one night and see if she could make it through the night without an accident. Well, that first night, she did have an accident. Make sure to always clean out their crate and bedding if ever there is an accident. You want them to like having a clean den (which dogs do by nature anyway) and don't want them getting used to sleeping in it.

So that first night with the door closed, she had an accident. We cleaned it up, decided she was not ready, and waited a whole week before trying it again. When we did try it again the following week, she made it through the night. Since then, she has slept in the crate, accident free.

The next post, I’ll talk about potty training during the day…

...to be continued...

[mistyinca]

Picture of the night time crate set up

[mistyinca]

Training during the day.

I can’t stress enough, how important it is to successful potty training to take the time to actually train them. They will not train themselves, and it takes consistency and patience to be successful. If you can take extra time off work in those first few weeks you have your puppy, it will really help. I’m a stay at home mom, so I made a point to make sure that I never let Chloe out of my sight during those first several weeks. We had the whole family working on it. Someone had to watch her constantly. If she could not be watched, we put her in the crate.

Decide where you want to have potty be. We use outside on the grass. Sidebar: the whole idea with housebreaking is to get the dog to realize the house is his “den,” and that he does not want to soil his den. I have read that sometimes with pee pads, that it can be confusing to dogs because they often cannot tell the difference between a pad and the rug, and that it is telling them that it is okay to pee in the house. If you do use a pad, it is best to keep it away from eating, sleeping, or playing areas, but close enough to get to in a hurry.

Schedule.
During those first weeks, it will make life easier on you just to schedule potty breaks. Start with every 1/2 hour. Take her to the potty area (whether it is pad or outside), and have treats ready. Note: Chloe did not like pre-packaged treats. So we used tiny pieces of cooked meats; you MUST have a treat your puppy likes. We took Chloe on a leash outside to the grass. Say “go pee-pee” (or what you want to call it) When they go, praise and treat, and I mean get all excited and high pitch about it! Then say “go poop.” In these first weeks, they don’t know the difference, and they CAN poop every single time. They will poop several times a day. It will taper off eventually, but try and get poop out of them each time.

Watch.
Despite scheduling, your puppy WILL potty other times. This is where it becomes so important to WATCH your puppy like a hawk. Watch for the signs: stopping, circling, squatting. New puppies tend to pee when they are playing, so not only is it important to be on top of it, but it makes for some great opportunities to train them.

If you catch your puppy about to potty on the floor, startle him out of it, either with a sharp NO!, a clap of the hands, or a shake can (a few pennies in a soda can works). I found that the shake can was never where I could grab it fast enough, so the clap and NO! worked well for us. Then immediately take your puppy to the potty area.

Note: the idea is not necessarily to prevent that episode of pee pee or poop from happening, but to let them know that it is not acceptable to potty in that place. Chances are you won't be able to stop that instance of pottying from happening, but it is still essential to startle, stop, and redirect the puppy to condition him into knowing pottying there is not allowed.

...to be continued...

[Erin]

I don't mean to interrupt, but for those going outside - At night we put Loki's crate in the bedroom. VERY SOON we learned the difference between an "I want out" cry and an "I have to potty" cry. We took him outside in the middle of the night for probably the first 2 months. (Again bladder probs, but still) He finally learned to WAKE ME UP when he needed to go out, and so that's when he got to sleep in the bed. He mostly slept through the night. When he DID wake up, we went outside just to avoid an accident.

Sammy slept with us in the bed from the first night we got her. She sleeps through the night very well. Again, if she wakes up, we go outside. She usually licks my ear if she wakes up and I don't. Gross, but it works well because I scream EEEWW and get up.

My point is that they CAN sleep with you, but you MUST be willing to get up and take them outside if they wake up.

[spiked_poodle]

Originally Posted by Ladylavender

Millie is 100% housebroken and I can say that it was several things that got her that way. My husband and I work, so it is possible to housebreak (at 100%) even though you work. But it is tough, hard work and can last up to 4-5 months. Never once did I let up. It was the only priority in my life for those 4-5 months.

1. I never (not once) introduced her to a peepad. She was strictly taught to go outside.
2. We crated her while we were at work. (we were lucky, she never did go in the crate)
3. She never ever ever had free range of the house.
4. When she was out of the crate, I absolutely never took my eyes off her. Not for a second, not for a moment, not to turn around for something, not to answer the phone, to pick something up or any other number of reasons people on this forum give. Not to watch t.v. When she was out of the crate, I either was playing with her, had her in my lap or was watching her.
5. When we were home, I took her out every hour on the hour. Rain, shine, cold weather, snowing or any other kind of inclement weather. This was rough, but I did it.
6. Kept her in the crate at night to sleep and would wake up in the middle of the night to take her out when she whined, sometimes it was once a night, sometimes it was twice a night. And took her out first thing in the morning when we woke up.
7. When we got home from work, she went out for a walk. She and I did not come in until she had peed 2-3 times and pooped once.
8. Once she was clicker trained I would "click and treat" every time she squated to pee or hunched to poo. This really reinforced the connection of what our expectation was when we took her out.
9. I did not free feed her. She was fed 2 x a day. that way we were able to control her bowel movements.
10. NO water after 8pm.
11. If she squatted in the house, I would give a firm NO! Pick her up and take her outside and gave her plenty of time to pee out there. (I never really had problems with her going poo in the house)
12. I never ever relied on her to tell me she had to go. (This came much much much later in the training).
13. Once she was reliably housebroken for one room, I introduced her to another room. I never never never assumed that if she was housebroken in one room, that she would be for the rest of the house. With each room she was introduced to, we started from square one. (This included other peoples houses too. Just because she became housebroken in my house did not mean she was house broken in other's homes. So I operated on basic training when in stranger's homes).
14. At some point, when I knew I could trust her (and we did this in baby steps) I expanded her crate into an x-pen to give her more room. But I kept the crate in there, with her food and water (so she would know that it was her den) and toys and a bed. There was no floor space for her to go pee in. We would move the crate/x-pen from room to room and be there with her, so that she could get used to other rooms.

There were many times, that I thought getting a dog was not a good Idea. I had at one point (for about a week, only) considered giving her up. (Thank goodness my husband had that stick-to-it-ness when I needed it). Because now she is absolutely the light of our lives. She has free run of the house and other homes we visit. We long gave up the crate and x-pen. She goes in and out at will thru a doggie door. She has never once messed in the house once she was house broken, not even when she has been horribly ill with diareaha and pancreatitis. Pottying in the house is not even an issue that we have to deal with AT ALL. So for the short time (4 -5 months) that I was invested in the training and all the time it took, coming home and being tired and having to deal with the whole potty issue thing when I did not feel like it, my weekends consumed with it and revolving around the puppy, was so worth it! Just think: 4-5 months to deal with the potty issue or the rest of her life of dealing with potty issues? I am so glad I picked the 4-5 months.

Of course the training did not abruptly end at the end of the 4-5 months, but with each month, it lessened and lessend. With each passing month we were able to relax more and enjoy her more. As time went on, she got more and more privileges as she matured and earned them. She now sleeps with us, but she was over 1 1/2 years old before she got that privilege. She has free run of the house and goes every where with us. She is such a good girl!

Except for the clicker training this pretty much sums up how I have house trained every dog I have ever had. It works.

[mistyinca]

This is the basic set up of how I potty-trained Chloe. Over time, I started extending the time between scheduled potty breaks. I started to notice after a while that she would scratch at the door to be let out. I would give her a treat and praise when I saw her scratching at the door, and after she'd potty outside.

Pretty much by the time she was five months old, there stopped being accidents in the house. Occasionally, there will be a phantom turd that appears from no where, but these are extremely few and far between, and usually when no one has taken her out, or the kids are playing video games, and probably not paying attention if she scratches at the door.

[Brandnugirl]

Gabby and Tessa are 14 weeks old and rarely have accidents in the house. I watch them like a hawk and take them out every 30 min that they are awake. I say, "Let's go potty!" and they run to the door. After they potty they get treats. At night they sleep with me...the first week I got up every hour or so...now they sleep 5 hours then when they wake up I take them to the sod. I have sod (grass) that I put in a rubbermaid container (like an under the bed container). I did this so I wouldn't have to go outside in the middle of the night. They only use this at night. They are so used to it as soon as I put them on it they squat and pee. It is wonderful. The first 2 weeks I had to keep putting them there and saying "go potty"....now it is automatic. They also have a small crate that has the divider put up so they can not even walk in the crate, they can only sleep. I leave them in there when I leave, I don't leave them in there any longer than 4-5 hours.
Hope this helps

[laurenr]

Originally Posted by mistyinca

This is the basic set up of how I potty-trained Chloe. Over time, I started extending the time between scheduled potty breaks. I started to notice after a while that she would scratch at the door to be let out. I would give her a treat and praise when I saw her scratching at the door, and after she'd potty outside.

Pretty much by the time she was five months old, there stopped being accidents in the house. Occasionally, there will be a phantom turd that appears from no where, but these are extremely few and far between, and usually when no one has taken her out, or the kids are playing video games, and probably not paying attention if she scratches at the door.

Misty, I am totally with you on that scheduling deal! Worked like a charm with Mango, who was also completely potty trained by 5 months old. (And because I have met Chloe in person, I can totally vouch for her excellent "manners".) The only time she's had an accident, was after I had to board her for 2 days, and I think she was teaching Mommy a "lesson" for leaving her.

I think that a very strict schedule, if kept to religiously for the first few months, definitely pays off for the whole lifetime of your Yorkie.

[lcbear]

I am soo envious of all of you who have successfully house broken their babies.

My Teddy is 9 months old and Rosie is 4 1/2 months old. They both are crated at night and never have accidents in their crate. They usually go to bed at 11 p.m. and wake up to go outside at 6:00 a.m. I let them out to go potty and then they go back to bed for a couple of hours.

But the house is another issue. They are restricted to the livingroom and kitchen. I happen to ask them about every 1/2 hour if they want to go out to go potty and they will do that but they NEVER ask to go out and if they have to go before I ask them, they will go where ever they want. To me, this is not housebroken.

They know how to ask to come in but they never ask to go out. I have tried everything, the crating, praising when they go outside, etc. And they know they are not supposed to go inside - you can just see that look of "Oh I am soooo sorry mom - devil made me do it". You all know that look they give you.

I get kind of frustrated but I just keep up with what I am doing and am hoping it will dawn on them one day. I just don't know how to get them to let me know they have to go outside. Like I said, I have tried just about everything except keeping them crated all day. I can't do that, for one thing they would cry and I did not get them to have them crated when I am home all day. I want them with me.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Brandnugirl]

I don't know if you have a fenced in backyard...but if you just let them out alone they may just be going to play and not potty. It's best (read: pain in the butt) to take them on a leash and keep saying "go potty" and when they do immediately give treat. Gabby and Tessa don't give me any clue yet to go outside, if I don't take them out they will go inside. I think I might try the bell thing.

[kalina82]

Originally Posted by Gingergirlsmom

9.when we go outside to potty I can say "go potty", and she almost immediately squats! Sometimes I think she's faking it!

LOL morgan does this too. Somestimes when i take her out she'll quickly run to a spot and pee for like 2 seconds then run back to the door. I KNOW she isn't finished so i'll tall her to 'go potty' again. So she'll run back out and really pee.

Or sometimes i'll take her out and she doesn't have to pee but i keep telling her to 'go potty' so she'll squat and pretend to go just to satisfy me


Morgan is 100% potty trained outside and never has an accident unless i forget to take her out. SHe usually doesn't ask to go because i take her out 4 times a day and that is enough for her. WHen she really really has to go she starts dancing around in front of me or starts whining, or walks around by the door alot.

[pea496]

Originally Posted by lcbear

I am soo envious of all of you who have successfully house broken their babies.

My Teddy is 9 months old and Rosie is 4 1/2 months old. They both are crated at night and never have accidents in their crate. They usually go to bed at 11 p.m. and wake up to go outside at 6:00 a.m. I let them out to go potty and then they go back to bed for a couple of hours.

But the house is another issue. They are restricted to the livingroom and kitchen. I happen to ask them about every 1/2 hour if they want to go out to go potty and they will do that but they NEVER ask to go out and if they have to go before I ask them, they will go where ever they want. To me, this is not housebroken.

They know how to ask to come in but they never ask to go out. I have tried everything, the crating, praising when they go outside, etc. And they know they are not supposed to go inside - you can just see that look of "Oh I am soooo sorry mom - devil made me do it". You all know that look they give you.

I get kind of frustrated but I just keep up with what I am doing and am hoping it will dawn on them one day. I just don't know how to get them to let me know they have to go outside. Like I said, I have tried just about everything except keeping them crated all day. I can't do that, for one thing they would cry and I did not get them to have them crated when I am home all day. I want them with me.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Conner did not ask to go out until he was a year old. Now he will stand at the steps until someone sees him. I have ordered bells so that he can alert us if we are in another room. Now if he leaves the room we are in, I look to see if he is standing at the stairs.

[Mari-Lou]

Ahh the pleasure of having a puppy to train properly. I adopt older (3-4 yr olds) and never really get them housetrained. No problems, I bought a good rug shampooing machine. Need it now for spills from the grandkids anyway. I work every day to get the yorkies as house trained as i can and don't sweat the accidents. Praise for what they do right. Mari-Lou

[Sookie]

....for all your wonderful responses! I spent the entire week-end working with Kalina and I'm getting pretty good at catching her. She had two "accidents" in the house - both on the pee pads that I am hoping desperately to do away with eventually. When I am not at home my daughter is working viligently with her also.