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Originally Posted by EmmasParents  Our little yorkie, Emma, is 10 months old. We are having a few big training issues and I don't know what to do?!?
1) She uses a potty pad and "was" completely trained. Now, for the past two months or so she refused to poop on the pad even though she knows she is supposed to. She pees on it just fine though. Then, when we even call her name after she is done it in the wrong spot, her ears go back and she immediately knows what she did wrong. Not sure how to get her completely on the pad again ... nothing is working.
2) We are still having serious issues with bed time. If we put her in the crate she cries and cries and cries and cries. This has never changed since day 1 ... it is horrible. She can go on all night long. So, we started to put her in bed with us. We have to take her to the potty pad 4+ times in the middle of the night and sometimes she has accidents in our bed. We just got brand new bedding so this is not an option any more. We just have no idea how to stop her from crying all night long in her crate...
SO ... how do I get her to go #2 on the potty pad and how do I get her to sleep through the night in her crate without waking up our entire condo building?? We are out of ideas ....
Thanks for listening ... any help is greatly appreciated!!
Becca  |
Welcome to Yorkie Talk!
I completely understand what you're going through...in fact, some of the similarities are STRANGE...I too have an "Emma" who is now a year, and we got her when we lived in a condo. I think that once you put them in your bed to sleep at night, you can't go back. Once they sleep with the "pack" it's hard to retrain them NOT to sleep with you. We have Emma in our bed every night since we had problems with her crying at night in her crate or pen in the condo. Now she sleeps with us every night and has no problems making noise, unless she hears something outside. Emma will get down and go potty at night by herself if she needs to-but we have a lower style platform bed.
You might try crating her with her favorite blanket and non-squeaky toy, and putting the crate next to your bed. If she cries, tell her "NO" firmly. Don't talk to her or use a "baby" voice to soothe her-it will only make it worse because she'll like the attention.
The first thing I would advise you to do is to take her to the vet and make sure she doesn't have a bladder infection...4 times to potty in one night is too many. Next, I would advise you to keep her on a food/water schedule. Offer food at the same times (2 or 3) every day, leave it down for 10 minutes, and then pick it up. If she doesn't eat, pick it up anyway. She'll soon learn to eat when there is food down. Feed her no later than 6:30 at night, and she won't need to poop after you go to bed. Also, take her water away at 8 pm. That way, her potty trip before bed should be her last until morning.
Finally, I would recommend that you not let her nap before bedtime. Make sure she's active especially in the 2-3 hours between dinner and bedtime, quieting down but NOT sleeping for the hour just before bed. That way, you can be sure she's not getting TOO MUCH sleep, and she'll be nice and worn out and sleepy when you're ready to go to bed too.
Good luck, and let us know how you're doing!