The other two dogs you have/had, how large were they? It is a lot easier for large dogs to hold it for longer periods of time than small dogs. Many times the smaller breeds (yorkies for example) cannot hold it for more than 2-3 hours, esp. when they are still so young. At this point they have to relieve themselves, and depending on what they've been taught so far they may only know to relieve themselves in their crates, or wherever they can just to empty their bladders. Your first yorkie may not have recieved the crucial potty pad/outdoor training that she needed during those first 4-6 months of being in her new home so she may have learned that she can't trust the humans to let her out, or give her the right place to go, so she would just go wherever she could. 6 months of training for a yorkie you recieved at 6 months of age is not enough to train her. Do you know what kind of house training she recieved at her previous home? Maybe they allowed her to go wherever and was never corrected, those owners just "expected" her to learn and when she didn't they sold/gave her up.
Anyway, with regards to your new puppy, don't expect much. She is still too young to hold it for more than an hour. And at her age it is very dangerous for her to be left alone for 5 hours, someone needs to be there to give her nutrical/nutridrops, food and water. The little ones can easily fall to hypoglycemia, and in a short ammount of time. Maybe you have someone that can come check in on her during that time period, or at someones house who doesn't have any pets (since she is too young to recieve shots)?
Like above posters said, an expen is the best way to go (expen is short for exercise pen) It doesn't have to be a large one, cover the floor with potty pads except for the area that her bed and food and water and toys are. Over time, once you see she is getting used to going just on the pads, slowly start reducing the number of pee pads you leave down until you make it to the one potty pad down mark (should be about 4-5 months old by then) Slowly increase the size of the expen by adding pannels while leaving the potty pad down. Eventually start blocking her off in room with a baby gate (that she cannot climb or squeeze through the bars of), again leave a potty pad down. If you see that she is still only using the pad, then you know she is at least 95% potty pad trained, and you should start experimenting with increasing her roaming room, (shouldnt be until they are 8-9 months old, or at least until they are done teething) Make sure that the areas that you allow her to roam in are puppy proofed (just because your labrador doesn't find anything to chew up/choke on your yorkie is sure to find something)
It is a long, long, long, long, long process to house train most yorkies, but well worth it, as you won't feel like you have to re-home them.
I recommend always having potty pads as an indoor option, as she'll be left alone for about 5 hours during the day, and it will be useful during bad weather. If she's anything like Rizzo, she may refused to go outside to potty if there is a storm going.
Good luck, remember patience and praise! |