Hi and welcome to you too. I am also a new yorkie owner or rather the yorkie is my owner. Actually, I am kidding about that. I have decided that the best way to have a wonderful yorkie is to be her boss and remember that she is a dog and not a human (even though she is reallly cute). In response to the pooping question: I have a cocker bigon mix that was very tiny and eat her poop in the beginning. I was mortified. I called the vet. She gave me a powder that I had to be mixed into her food for a few days. Well, at first I thought that it wasn't going to work. Everytime I saw her going for it I told her to leave it. I cleaned it up immediately. After about a week or so, she stopped eatting it completely. It actually worked! Now she may sniff at it but she leaves it alone. I still clean it up immediately. That dog is trained for the outside. I also do believe that in reality dogs do prefer the outside over the pads. We make the pads fit for our conviences and their size (weight) but outside is really what is more natural for them. Now back to the training tips. I feel like I am slowly becoming either an expert with it or nuts about it.
After reading so many comments and talking to many trainers, I have finally come up with my plan which seems to be working. It is a combination of many of the comments from people on this very site. And let me tell you, in one week I have been all over the map
. So here is what I am doing: I bought a little 22 inch crate with a divider in it. I placed it inside a metal pen (rectangular shaped with door in front). I put a dog bed in the crate and a wee wee pad in the pen (in front of it). I leave the crate door open. I have gone back to the one room at a time method too. This set up is in a main entertainment room (den like) on the first floor. It is also next to the backdoor. We spend alot of time in this room. At any rate, I leave her in this pen set up while I am at work all day. When I come home from work I say hi and keep telling her to go potty,"hurry up, go potty." i figure that since she is so excited to see me she will have to go potty (I've been right so far). Then I open door to pen and pick her up and praise her. I continue to put her in the pen when I see the signs (sniffing) or I think she is due. I do this until she goes and then I open the door for her to walk out and give lots of praise. WHile she has freedom in the room, I leave the pen door open so that she can go in and out as she chooses. I also put her in there (pen) whenever I have to leave the room. If the weather is nice out then I take her out back and do the same (it snowed here today and she doesn't like the snow). Yesterday was 50 degrees so this was all done outside, today 15 degrees and windy so inside. Now for the big part, I leave her in this (pen) to sleep too. She is not in the room with me. It took a night to get this going but it is working. I have made the decision that she is going to be a wonderfully trained and unspoiled (ok....a little spoiled
addition. So, now for the results: She goes on command (in only a few days) outside and on the pad. She has wondered to the pad while out in the room (I never have my eye off of her when she is out and about), she goes into the pen area without complaining and stays there without crying. Nice start. When I am sure that she keeps returning to the pad (or goes to the door), I will then be able to allow her upstairs. It will depend on how big she gets (if she can walk the steps) if I will need a pad upstairs or not. I assume I will. I figure that when she gets to be about 3 pounds, I will then begin to close the crate up (versus the pen) during the night hours (so she can learn to hold it longer). I do believe that at some point I will not see any wet spots on her pad during the night anyway. She had many the first few nights but only 1 last night (around 5 I think). I want her to be able to sleep with my daughter but not until she is fully trained. I figure at least 9 months. I am in no hurry. She will be around for a long time. A year to make sure she is trained right will be worth the 15+. I have trained other dogs and so I am now of the thinking that if I want those same results I will need to train similiarly (except using pen because she is soooooooo little and I do not want kidney problems). Sorry that this is sooooooooo long. I hope it helps though.- Kathy
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Originally Posted by Romeo's Mommy Hello everyone! I just became a new yorkie mommy of an 8 week old male named, Romeo. I am trying to start the potty training thing but it isnt going so well. I really don't expect much because he is so young. I just needed a little advie. I heard crate training was the best so this is where I began. This is disgusting so brace yourselves. If I leave him in there for any time at all, he poops, pees, etc. but this is not the worst. I guess if he feels he is in there too long, (I never leave him in the crate over 2 hrs.) He will actually try to eat his poop! I dont know?! I know that is terrible, so I switched to potty pads, and he does okay every now and then, but mostly he just goes wherever he pleases. Then, I show him his accident and put him on his pad. He doesnt try to eat the poop unless he is in the crate! Help!! Any suggestions of advice would be greatly appreciated! |