Welcome. We men are definitely a minority here but we are here. I think a man actually started this board. Anyway I live in an apartment too but I am home all day. I work from home. A new dog in a new environment will probably have some issues when being left all day alone. To curb seperation anxiety this is what I did. I crate train my dog so when she was in the crate I would cover it so she could barely see out of it. Do this while you are home so she knows you are there but just can't see you that good. This actually curbed the dreaded whining a great deal and she never goes crazy anymore when we do have to leave her for a few hours.
I feed my dog twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening so you will be feeding her enough. I would suggest you don't leave food out all day but a lot of people here do that and you can't tell them otherwise. It actually teaches them that they will always be able to get food anytime and it makes potty training them that much harder because you never know when they have eaten.
I would try the playpen idea but I don't think that will curb accidents. She will probably go wherever she pleases until you can train her. I had my yorkie now for 5 weeks and I'm so glad that I got some solid advice. A lot of the advice here is good but a lot of it seems to be to let the yorkie run the roost and be cute and wish for the best. My yorkie doesn't have accidents anymore, has almost stopped her whining, has lost her separation anxiety all in 5 weeks. Whatever you do, train your yorkie and you will have a better time with her. |