Darwin and Mabel seemed to take a few weeks until they realized the routine. Neither were great in the beginning and it took a couple of months of lots and lots of walks. When they were babies I took them out every 1/2 hour and kept increasing the time. Now they get walked regularly every 5-6 hours. When it takes them forever to pee you know you're taking them out to often. Neither of them peed in their crate - the crate was just big enough for them to lay down, turn around if they needed but not too big. They were just crated at night or for really short times when we had to go out. It's just a lot of repetition and praising. I think it's much easier if they are trained for only going outside and we've never used pee pads. There are quite a few people on YT that have their dogs trained for both though. I think if the dog knows it's only acceptable if it goes outside it gets through their minds faster. On those cold, nasty days I start to think I'm totally crazy for not doing the pee pads but it's too late now! Seriously, I am really glad they go outside only; especially like what happened last night it shows they have really got the idea - Yorkies are really smart and so it only goes to show that they can be trained to do almost anything - maybe not driving the car but you never can tell!!
