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Originally Posted by momladynh  Maggie and I are new to Yorkie Talk. She is 5 1/2 months old and the hardest dog I have ever tried to housebreak. I take her out and walk around for quite awhile and as soon as we come in, she does her business in the house. I have 2 other dogs, so she does have role models. Any help? |
yorkies are notoriously the hardest breed to potty train. it takes a lot of patience and a lot of hard work. you have to be very consistent. what works for us is that we covered our entire living area in large blankets. we gated her off so she could only be in that room. whenever we were watching her fully focused then she was allowed down in the living room. if for any reason at all we couldn't be fully watching all attention on her we'd put her in a crate. the trick is catching them in the act. everytime you catch them start to squat give one sharp NO or clap hands to sorta startle them a bit. they usually stop. then you take them to the door of the outside area you use, have a small service bell by that door. touch her paw to the bell and say outside. then take her out there and let her finish. stay out until she does. when she goes praise and give treats. this teaches not only to go outside but also how to tell you when she needs to go.
when you are not home and can't watch her for more than an hour or so place her in a larger crate or something like an excercise pen ours was a 4x4 size. i still use this when i'm gone because i like that it's plenty of room and it's safer for them to be contained than to be loose running and jumping off furniture all day. you can also just block them off in a kitchen or bathroom with tiled floors as they become more and more reliable. start small and open up one room at a time until they are reliable.
my two are both fully trained and yet we still have accidents all the time. they will come inside and poop in the basement. they don't pee as much but they both still have poop accidents occasionally. it's a yorkie thing. they just don't ever seem to really really get it, and on top of that they have smaller bladders so if we forget to get them outside they will go in the house.
another good thing is to get them on a routine. feed on a routine and you will have elimination on a routine as well. we feed twice a day. basically it works like this. get up in the morning PEE then eat, then poop....pee again late morning. pee again before mike goes to work, go into x pen for the day, mommy gets home at 6:30, pee eat poop. pee again before bed and that's that. they are very regular and predictable!
hope this all helps
