Quote:
Originally Posted by momof4CA   Potty training takes lots of time and patience.
You should expect to have accidents in the first few weeks. My little guy, Leo is 17 weeks and anytime he has an accident it is usually my fault...I missed his potty signal.
Leo is pad trained so somethings will be a little different for you.
Here are a few ideas to try:
**The first thing you have to do is make sure his crate is only big enough to lie down and turn around in. You can use boxes to fill up the extra space.
**I control all his food. I feed Leo every 4 hours during the day. I never let him have food and water in his crate. I believe the crate is only for sleeping and quiet time. *If you give them food and water in their crate they can't get out to go potty.
** keep a journal at first. So you can see patterns in his behavior.
** You have to learn his "potty" sign. For most it is sniffing around or running around in a circle... like they can't find something. I sat and watched my dog for the first few days so I could "watch" for his signal. Once you see it, you do not have a lot of time to respond. Their bodies are so small they can not hold it for to long. When they have to go...they mean right this minute.
** If you are going to allow him out in to house. Gate off a small area...for me it was the family room. I did not allow my dog any more space until we had a few days of no accidents. Then I added another room...the kitchen.
**Never leave your dog alone to have accidents. They have to be with you at all times or in their crate. For the first two months that we had Leo he was never left alone. Where ever we went, Leo did too. If he couldn't go, someone stayed behind.
** Do not put pressure on yourself!! You have to figure he will get it with time. He is a baby! You would not expect an infant to be potty trained!! Go into it with a relaxed attitude. Most yorkie's take a year to potty train. If family won't watch the dog until it is potty trained...find someone else. That is to much pressure.
** He will have to go potty in the morning. After play...watch for the potty signal. A few minutes after eating or drinking. After any naps, as soon as his eyes open and he startes to stir, take him out. ** Getting potty training down is a full time job, in the very beginning. But, so worth it! The more time you put in now the better. I would rather put all my energy into it now then to have a life time of troubles.
I hope this helps! |
Thank you so much for all the tips. I hope I don't give the impression that I expect Logan to be potty trained overnight, so to speak. I have had experience house training a dog only once before, so that experience alone is all I have to go by. I'm trying to gauge the success I will have with Logan based on how well he's doing so far. Perhaps that is not a good thing to do.
I filled his crate with a baby blanket to help take up more space.
I do not keep any food or water in his crate.
So far, he has not given any potty signals (our last dog did). Last night he was playing and all of a sudden just stopped and peed. We caught him before he did much.
He has limited access in the house. After he has gone potty outside, we have on occasion let him exercise by chasing us around the family room. After awhile, we stop and take him out to potty again and to see if he needs a drink of water, which is kept in a play pen.
What I'm going to do differently than I have over the past week is not let him spend much time in his play pen. He will be in his crate, outside going potty, exercising, eating/drinking in his play pen (then back to his crate), or resting in our arms.
We have been taking him most places with us, even to restaurants (in his carrier). We do not leave him alone for more than 2-3 hours max.
Thanks again.