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Originally Posted by broodizt  Where do you keep Thor all day? Do you keep him by your side? in a bed room? Are you with him all day? Are you able to accomplish anything during the day? Do you keep and eye on him every minute? I've got two of them so it's seems doubly daunting. Any suggestions will be great!!!! Thanks, Shellie Muffin and Cassie  |
I pretty much keep Thor by my side all day. I work from home a lot, and when I go to work, I am allowed to bring him with me. Usually he's sleeping on the couch and it's easy to see him. It's a little more difficult when he's up and moving around. I try to take him outside for a lot of exercise once per day to keep him reasonably calm in the house.
Now that he's been successful for a week, I've been letting him out of my sight for maybe five seconds at a time. To be honest, yes, it's hard to get anything else done. I find that I'm a lot more productive if he's in doggy daycare. He does spend a lot of the day asleep, though. If I need to go out or take a shower, I crate him.
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Originally Posted by ParrotLady Did you start Thor in just one room for freedom and the pad in a different room? I am confused about them not soiling the den or something like that.
We have got to do something here with Penny and reading Thor's progress is soooooo encouraging! We need to get Penny to use the pad so we can teach her she gets a treat right now. 
Should we have the pad and her crate in the same one room? Maybe that is our mistake. Also, I didn't know it was OK for her to hold her poop for 40 hours. I was afraid we would have a vet visit if that happened.
We finally let Penny free this evening to poop and pee where she wanted because she hadn't gone since yesterday and I was afraid she would get sick.
So I will check back tomorrow morning and see if you found my post. If we need to stay in one room for everything, that is what we will try tomorrow.
Tracie &  Penny the Princess |
Thor is 2 years old, so I'm not sure if it's okay for a puppy to hold it that long or not. Initially, Thor preferred going outdoors to using the pad, and I didn't want to "force" him to use the pad. I didn't think he would get sick, but I thought there might be some psychological distress in pushing him to the point where he had to do something he knew was wrong, ie, potty in the house.
However, Thor started peeing on the living room rug several times per day, and I felt like I had no other options. And this was the turning point for us. Once he figured out that he would not be let out of the crate without pottying AND he got a fabulous potty treat, he and his pads got along like a house on fire.
My guess is that if your puppy needs to go, she will go. As you can see from other threads in this forum, yorkies are not particularly heroic about pottying - even if they are trained, many won't hold it if they really, really, really need to go.
I suggest being very strict with your puppy about pottying on the pad, especially since you say she's used it a few times now. If you are really worried about the poop, I would make her potty on the pad, and then follow her around until she squats to poop. Then interrupt her, take her over to the pad, let her finish, and give her a treat.
Also, what are you feeding her? Thor only poops once per day. Depending on her diet, your puppy may not need to poop after every meal. If you want her to go more, maybe give her a few beans with each meal - I'd say one bean / lb, so if she's three pounds, give her three beans. Don't give her much more, because they stimulate digestion very strongly!
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Originally Posted by lemonlauren You know, that's something that's always confused me about potty pads as well. You don't want your pup to pee in his den (your house).... EXCEPT for these couple of little white square spots you lay out inside his den. I dunno, it sounds confusing to me, but mad props to those of you who make it work!
Nikko has taken to doing his business not only just outside recently (yay!), but he also does it as far away as possible from our house - in the corner of his fenced in yard that is the furthest spot away from the door we come out of. It's been well over a month now since he has peed even within five feet of the outside wall of our house. I'm taking that as a good sign he's catching on....
And by the way, we are only FOUR DAYS away from a full month!!! I know it's a little ridiculous, but I'm starting to panic a little. I don't know if I could handle it if he had an accident on Day 29, lol. My brains might explode out my ears, cartoon-style. :-)
Lauren & Nikko
PS: I almost forgot to add: GO THOR!!!!! Pottying in the right places has its advantages, eh? |
Congratulations, Lauren & Nikko! I'm positive you will make it. Nikko, you are almost officially a Big Boy!
Thor is such a picky little monster, he now feels that ham is not a good enough treat for pottying. He gave me this really disappointed look this morning when he got his treat. That boy drives me crazy!
Good point about the den thing, I'm not sure why it works... I guess when the dog is pottying indoors, he doesn't consider the entire place his den anyway, and a dog's sense of territory can expand and shrink. It's very common for dogs to designate an infrequently used room as their bathroom.
To answer your question, I have a pad out in any room Thor is allowed into. Sometimes when he is running around, he doesn't make a full potty stop, so he needs to be within 10 feet of a potty pad at all times.
I think after another week, I'll start moving the pads around a little bit so he knows the PAD is the key, not the LOCATION. Also, they are all prominently displayed in my house at the moment, and at some point I'd like them not to be.
Sorry for the super super long post. I hope this answered everyone's questions!
