[mayerae23]

Hey! Don't feel bad about starting to hate your dog. I love Cricket, our first yorkie who is now a year old, more than I can tell you... But when he was a puppy, there were times that he pushed me so far to the edge that I talked to my husband about giving him away.

This dog, this tiny, adorable pain in the ass, did the following: Woke up several times a night, cried consistently if he didn't get his way, peed everywhere if we let him run for any amount of time, and... drumroll... LOVED to poo and roll and eat it.

Ick. I'm clean. My home is clean. And Mr. Cricket was a dirtly little man.

He would also wake us up all hours of the night, sometimes to go potty, sometimes just to wake up.

Cricket sleeps with us--he refused to do the kennel at night, and we tried everything, literally. So this was a big issue.

My first tip: Run the hell out of that sweet little furbaby when you get home from work, and don't let him sleep a lot when you're around. Keep him up, keep him alert, keep him busy. We actually got two of those razor scooters that kids play with so that we could go faster and wear out the dog faster. And it works like a charm.

My second tip: Work on those potty commands. Reward with treats or "good job!" or excessive petting when the pup potties outside during the day--whatever it responds to best (Cricket's is praise and petting). If he isn't pottying during the day, he needs to learn that's the time to go.

My third tip: Restrict water and food. Cricket eats at 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. with a few little treats here and there. He gets water all day, but we've learned that he always gets a big drink at 9:15. That's it. No more water. We take him out to pee at 10:30 or so, and that's the last call. He always pees then--99% of the time. He poos at 7:15 a.m. and between 5:45 and 7 p.m. That's our schedule. Cricket loves it, and we love it.

Don't feel bad--just try not to beat him or kill him. The schedule has been good for us. Regular meals and regular water equal regular potty, and regular exercise plus regular potty equal SLEEP.

You can do it! Training them is a real you-know-what, but you'll get there. Take your breaths, stay patient, and you'll get there!!!

Also, grab some yorkie books from the library and read up on those subtle things you can do to show that you're the dominant boss (like going through all doorways before your dog). Those make a huge difference in training.

You can do it!!!