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Originally Posted by bridget212  Hi!
I am new! I rescued a 3 year old male from a mill last Saturday. He is adorable! I have zero experience with Yorkies. Any info you would like to share would be great.
Here is some info on Bam:
He is around people all the time. Eats Natural Balance food and gets a little cheese as a treat.
He sleeps a lot! He also sleeps in bed with me at night.
He is petrified to go outside. I take him out with his blanket for a little while each day. He is not house trained. I refuse to crate him because of his past. I have the kitchen gated off and have bought training pads and dog litter. I am not getting far. Help!!!
He will start to squat and when I reach for him he bolts and poops on the way!
Thanks for listening and any thoughts are appreciated!
Bridget  |
Bless your heart for adopting Bam! I assume he is your only dog? Rescues usually try to place puppymill rescues in homes with other dogs since they are the only security they have ever known. It really helps them to have another trained dog in the household as a role model for housebreaking, etc. A friend with two Maltese adopted a Yorkie puppymill resuce and he learned everything from them. He's totally housebroken now.
Crate training does not work with these poor souls since they have become used to pooping and peeing in their cages. Crating him would not accomplish anything but traumatizing the poor guy more.
Praise and reward will work best with him. I'd get an x pen and cover the floor with pads. Gradually start removing the pads and praise him if he uses the pad. Are you home with him during the day? This may be hard to do if he's alone for long periods of time.
Hopefully you can gradually get him used to being outside. Poor guy. He's never been out of his cage. If he can get better about being outdoors, maybe he'll potty there.
Just be patient and accept the fact that he is emotionally damaged and will always be a special needs baby. With love and consistency, hopefully he'll come around as far as housebreaking.
That is so sweet he sleeps on the bed with you. He probably can't believe how his luck has changed!