Welcome to YT. you will love it here.
I definitely do not have as mush experience as most of the other members here do (and they are wonderful), but I'll just tell you what personally worked for ME:
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Originally Posted by hairhome  1. She does the submissive peeing. I'm finding that it's generally upon greeting me when I come home from work, but does it other times as well (new people, etc.) In your experience, will she eventually grow out of this? We do NOT punish her or scold her. We simply clean it up. |
This may or may not go away. We had a poodle as a family dog when I ws a kid, and she kept it up till the last day of her life, which was 12 years! We just tried to manage it. I remember we would wait outside and call her out before we said hi and then we all entered the house together. And she would ALWAYS pee when we came home, regardless where or how we said hi.
When Sushi was a baby, she used to dribble a few tiny drops when I came home and said hi, but then I learned that it would help if I ignore her for a few minutes when I come in. and it worked. I would come home from work, go about my business without acknowledging her jumping up and down, and 2-3 minutes later as soon as she settled down, i would squat down and say hi. and it worked. she never did it again.
Now that she's older, sometimes when I come home she is so cute I can't help running to her, picking her up, and drowning her in kisses. And she doesn't pee anymore. I don't know if she just gew out of it, or she got conditioned NOT to pee upon my return.
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Originally Posted by hairhome
4. For those of you away from home 8 hours a day (or longer), PLEASE share with me your potty training experiences. We seem SOOO far away from allowing her to be in parts of the house other than the kitchen. She's good about using her puppy pads...but (and it's hard to ask this question): were we naive in thinking we could have a dog when we're away from home for hours a day Mon-Fri? I mean, don't most folks who have dogs.....work? |
This is how I did the whole potty training/crate training: I too work 8 hours a day. but I do have the luxury of being able to come home for lunch. So that helped a lot. They can only hold it in for so long (apparently the same number of hours as their age in months, roughly. So a 3 month old puppy can hold it in for 3 hous more or less)
I got her one of these playpens, with an open top, which had enough room for her little bed, half of a pee pad, and a water bowl. and a few toys of course. TV on. I did not free feed her, so i could control her in/out schedule.
At night she slept in my bed, and whenever she woke up and wanted to go pee, I woke up and took her to the pad and then brought her back to bed (i have a high bed, she couldn't/wouldn't jump down by herself. so I had full control of where she went and what she did at night. And she never messed up the bed, I was quick enough to jump out of bed and take her to the pad). The metabolism slows down at night too, so they don't need to wake up every 2-3 hours to go. My girl could sleep all the way till 5am in one shot most of the nights, sometimes one potty in between. And as she got older she slept longer ang longer.
Then first thing in the morning straight to the pee pad, then breakfast, then I put her in the pen while I showered and got ready for work. By the time I was ready to leave home she was ready for her post breakfast potty. a trip to the pad, then back in the pen. most of the time she would sleep until noon when I came home, and usually there was no mess in the pen. But if she really had to she would go on the pad (which she had no choice, it was either the bed or the pad, and I'm sure she preferred to have a clean bed. but the whole point it not letting her get used to peeing where she sleeps. that pad in the playpen was for emergency purposes only). At lunchtime, out of the pen and straight to the pad, then it was lunch and then playtime. Then before going back to work, same thing: potty and back to the pen. Same after work, straight to the pad, then free schedule: playing, going for a walk, etc, with a quick potty reminder every couple hours. when she was not eating or playing with me, or whenever I needed to do something without watching her, I would either put a leash on her and tie it to my waist, or put her in the pen for a little while. I never wanted her to have a chance to make a mistake.
Then dinner, then potty half an hour after, another one right before bed, and it was bedtime again!!!
You just have to be very consistent, and never even ALLOW her to make a mistake. And watch her like a hawk all the time. Dogs like routine. That gives them confidence. If they know for sure that at a certain time they are going to be let out and taken to the pad, they will hold it in for as long as they can because they KNOW for sure you're going to be there to get them out.
I have to admit it was not easy, I put my life on hold for about a couple of months until she got it down, and now she is 100% potty trained. I completely trust her and she NEVER makes a potty mistake. I'm so proud of her
With your schedule though, I don't know if you could have somebody to come home midday and let her out or not. it's going to be for a short while but definitely worth the effort.
I know yorkies have a bad rap for potty training, but I think it's more because it's easier to let a potty mistake go unnoticed with yorkies, since they are so small. But also do realize that accidents happen, and you can't blame yourself or the pup. All you can do is just clean it with a proper cleaner specifically for pet urine cleaning so the smell doesn't remain and encourage her to do it again in the same spot.
Good luck with the little one, and let us know how it all goes.