[sepulchralx]

Hello people, I'm new to the forum - name is Michael and I have an 11 week old, 4.5lb male Yorkie I named Newton, that my wife purchased for us three weeks ago.

My wife and I work 9 hours a day (she's a nurse, I'm an engineer) so we're crating him in a 13" x 23" crate during the day. Currently, my biggest challenges with him are:

- Getting him to become a bit more independent from us (stop crying and squealing from his crate when we are leaving)

-Getting him to stop biting us and unapproved objects.

- Getting him potty trained

Because I live in an area full of wildlife, and without a fence, Newton spends almost all his time finding rabbit and squirrel poop in the grass and proceeds to eat it. He also hates Going Potty outside because of the colder temperatures. I personally hate taking him outside, because he gets coverd in vegetation and dirty and gets it everywhere, and eventually just ends up Going Potty anyways. Not to mention I have to go through the screened porch just to let him out.

Currently, he won't separate from me or my wife when he needs to Go Potty, so he'll just do it on the floor wherever we're at. If there is a Puppy Pad nearby, he might use it, but, I ultimately want him to be able to have some initiative to go to a "potty area"...I've recently discoverd he likes pooping on the garage floor. So I'm thinking of putting a doggy-door from the kitchen door that goes to the garage, and permenantly having him Go Potty on either a potty patch or something else in the garage. Please state your opinions on this, but I have a few questions concerning this:

Is this a viable permenant solution? If so, is a potty patch the way to go, or a giant pooping tray with kitty litter?

Do you think this could be detrimental to his training of not Going Potty outside?

Any alternate suggestions?

How can I get him to actually go to his "Potty Area" and separate from us when he needs to Go Potty? Or does this come with age?


Thank you all