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Old 04-28-2013, 07:29 PM   #9
Beth Boofa
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: USA
Posts: 291
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pstinard View Post
Do you mean that she won't go inside the crate willingly, or that she barks her head off when you put her in there? I didn't have any problems crate training my Bella, and here is how I did it. I got the smallest pet carrier possible and put a terry cloth towel and soft t-shirt inside to line the bottom. I put in a small stuffed animal and a small rope bone, and I put her inside the crate. She didn't go in willingly, but you need to show her who is the boss. I turned the crate so she could see me in the room beside her going about my daily business. Every hour, I took her out to use a potty pad. At first, I had the potty pad inside a cage exactly the same size as the pad so she HAD to go on the pad, but eventually (after a couple of weeks) I opened up the side of the potty pad cage so she could have more freedom and go in and out on her own. I played with her 15 minutes per hour and gave her access to food and water. Then I put her back in the crate. She never peed inside the crate. As time went by (over the course of a couple of weeks), I gave her more and more time outside the crate, but watched her like a hawk, and of course I gave her praise and a treat for proper use of the potty pad. Now (one month later) she spends all day outside her crate and she will go to her potty pad to pee and poop.

At night, I keep her in her crate on a nightstand right by the bed so she can see me sleeping. The first two weeks, I set an alarm for 2 AM so I could get up and take her out to potty. After that, I would rely on her to bark in the night to let me know when she needed to potty. She only had one accident inside her crate when I didn't hear her bark in the night . She still needs to go once in the night, but she's only 12 weeks old, and I expect that eventually she will be able to hold it all night.

Now, if you don't have someone around 24 hours to keep an eye on your Yorkie, you will have to modify the procedure, such as putting her in a crate that is big enough for a bed area and a potty pad, and pray that she learns to use the pad and not wet her bed. Or use a larger pen with a pad in one corner and a sleeping area in another corner. If she's using the pad properly during the day when you put her in the bathroom, she's doing great, and you just need to get her to learn to potty in the correct area the rest of the time. The key is confinement and showing her who is the boss. If she barks hysterically and continuously when she is crated, you will have to train her to be accustomed to being crated, such as slowly increasing the time she is crated in your presence and praising and treating her lavishly, but if you're going to crate train her, then by golly she is going to have to get accustomed to being in the crate.


This is great advice! You must show her who's boss. I'm sorry but you can't spoil ur dog when she's in the training stages. I'm mean u can w/toys, beds, treats etc. But not with giving in every time she cries, which of course she's going to when u first put her in the crate. Bella cried for two nights nonstop, loud howls..she destroyed her cage. But I didn't care, she needed to be trained. Eventually she grew to love her crate, goes in & out as she pleases. I did constantly put treats & new toys to occupy her, so this helped I'm sure. If you don't do this now, ur going to have problems later on.
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