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Originally Posted by dogbert  I've been where you are at. A little over 8 months ago I adopted a 4 yr old breeder release yorkie. I'd never had a yorkie before either, and she knew nothing and was scared out of her mind. She has come a long way and is house trained now. It takes more patience than work with our yorkie to make progress, but she is smart and is coming along. You have to remember they know nothing of the real world and have no idea why they are with us or what we want from them. Mine had never been shown affection, the first time I tried to kiss her she threw herself back, I think she thought I was going to bite her face. It's teaching an old dog new tricks. I can't crate our dog because of her past, she just freaks out. I can't gate her off as she climbs right up the side and over the top and I'm afraid she'll land wrong and hurt herself. She'd never had treats or toys or played before, so we had to try different treats till we found a couple she really liked. Then I started taking her out about once an hour. If she peed she got a treat if she pooped she got two treats. If she did nothing she got no treat and the potty treat was the only time she got that treat. I used other treats for rewards on other tasks. Lots of patience and love goes a long way, our dog had so much fear if she did have an accident I never punished her. I would sit on the floor and let her know I knew what she did and pretend to be sad or cry. Stange, but it was like she knew my sadness and reacted to it, we never yelled or spanked her. Still haven't. The more she went potty outside the longer I would stretch out the time between. Now she's good for hours, sometimes she looks to me for a treat when she comes in sometimes she doesn't. If she does I still give her one if she went potty. I could write a book on what we have done and taught this little girl over the last 8 months. She still doesn't get toys or playing and has fear of some things and everyone but my hubby and I. I read an article on Puppy Mill dogs that said some get over the fear, some never do. Feel free to contact me if you need anything. I am not an expert, just someone who's a few blocks ahead of you in the same race. The vet said sometimes she would have accidents out of panic, if we left she thought we were going to abandon her and she had no idea what to do but panic and pee. |
What a great story and lots of really great advice too. With time some do learn to play with toys and loves their treats. When I brought Bogey home he had no idea what a toy was and now he plays and romp with the other two like a normal happy little pup. They really do come far and surprise you in the abilities to blossom and grow. I think I was lucky with Bogey because he was very young and not mentally ruined. He didn't know treats, toys, potty, tricks, good food, was so think and a total mess. He was not able to go up and down the back 2 steps and I had to carry him until he learned. Now he is an official meatball who loves to play, romp, run up and down the back stairs and have a grand ole time with his sister and brother.
Whenever they would come into the house everyone would line up at the kitchen cabinet for a treat~just because
Pebs and Doodlebug would sit, give paw, roll over like little goofs and Bogey would just look at the two of them. Then one day out of nowhere Bogey gave me paw for his treat!
I cried
Now he can do down and roll over. He's the first out the door for potty and the first to come when called.
Your little guy will make leaps and bounds but you need to start with baby steps.