I had this problem with Moe, followed by Pippy, first thing I did to stay sane durring the potty training time is get Moe a belly band and Pippy some girly panties.....this way any accidents werent such a tragedy , simply change the pad and try again. Then the next thing I had to do was make going potty outside fun.....like you do when you get a child to use the potty chair.....When I noticed one of them sniffing about or going in circles ect..each dogs got different signs that they are about to go.....that was my cue to say something like " Lets go potty outside!", in an overly excited happy mommy voice.....id go straight to the door doggy in arms to prevent accidents on the way, and out they went in the area set aside for doggy business.If we had a sucessfull outing....id point out what it was they had done(poo or pee) and get very happy about it all, this of course made them glad they had obliged.....I would say to them (deppending which it was) " good boy/girl you went potty/poopoo outside, what a good doggy...."as I pointed out what it was they did, yes this may sound a bit over the top...but a dog learns what it is in his or her life that gets attention, and they LOVE possitive attention, they also LOVE pleasing thier owners when they can.Its very important though whatever words you choose to use..they stay the same each time, as a dog also learns from routine.If we had an accident of poo in the house, I would in a sad voice , not angry....say" Poopoo goes outside ", as I picked it up to take it outside to the area they should of used.I have noticed with both my Yorkies, they aren't very verbal about letting me know it's time to go.....Moe silently goes downstairs and waits for me ..wether I know he is waiting or not.....so I try to be keen on noticing if he is missing, Pippy tends to stare at me intently..which I can easily mistake for her wanting a treat or something else.....so I have trained myself to let them out about every hour to every two deppending wether or not they have eaten recently, or had a big slurp of water.This has worked for my doggies....and Pippy was an older untrained pup when I got her....so hopefully it will be helpful to you.
__________________  Love & Light Always |