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Originally Posted by brebuhr  OK well i have a very strange one and if anyone has ever had this problem PLEASE let me know how you fixed it!! 5 month old male yorkie, we live in a condo and he has the pee pad thing down. after he got all his shots we started taking him outside with his big sister (3 year old yorkie). he is pretty small (only 3.5 lbs) so he was a little unsure at first of the whole going outside thing but caught on quick. All has been great since - until 2 weeks ago.....He is now SO scared to go outside and as soon as his harness goes on he starts shaking. i can't even get him to walk down the stairwell that he used to race his sister down. If i want him to walk i have to literally drag him down the sidewalk because he just puts the brakes on or lies in the grass. now he really won't even pee or poop outside. We have a park right accross the street so if we take him to the park he's fine and does his business, so it's not that he's now totally opposed to being outside at all. I have no idea what to do and this is just getting rediculous. Nothing happened to make him scared it was just like a switch was flipped all of a sudden. we have tried being over encouraging, doing the potty dance, treats etc. and nothing is working. HELP!!!! |
His size is definitely a factor and you have already begun to put yourself in the very big world of a teenie tiny teacup. My female is a teapot, not so small, but she too is neurotic. This is very typical with this breed....not so reassuring, but true. Some days she is totally in love with going outside, and some days I, too, have to drag her down the sidewalk. I refuse to drag her, so I pick her up, carry her a few feet, place her down again, and continue. It's almost as if her brain goes into overload with all the large things and loud noises....external stimuli overload. I think as the pup gets older, he will change drastically. I know Lilly did. She was happily pad trained for two full years, facing but missing the pad half the time, so I decided to make the move to outdoors. I believe that socializing in the park is an excellent start, so I would not push the outdoor potty training issue at this stage. It is quite possible, if most of his outdoor experiences are negative, that this behavioral quirk will be very hard to undo once he has determined that "outdoors = bad". While in the park, being that it seems to be a "happy place," be sure to reinforce ALL good potty behavior with treats and exuberant praise. It's all a step-by-step process.....frustrating at times and definitely not as quick as we'd like it to be. When he stops dead in his tracks, tell him "No," pick him up for a few feet, and place him down in stride. This works 90% of the time with Lilly. They are quite simply stubborn with iron-clad wills. All the best with your furbaby....Lisa, Lilly & Jesse