YorkieTalk.com Forums - Yorkshire Terrier Community - View Single Post - Why are Yorkies so hard to Potty Train???

Rainbows · 12-09-2013, 05:12 AM

They aren't hard to train at all. All dogs are equal when it comes to difficulty and potty training, what is different though is each individual dog responds to rewards differently and you might need a different approach. The myth that small dogs are harder to train because they can't hold it as long, is because they tend to get away with it when bigger dogs dont simply because they have less pee, smaller poops and fit under beds and other places and because they are small they tend to be spoiled and get away with it more often then a bigger dog would. It's not like they are holding the same amount of pee as a bigger dog in a smaller bladder, they have no anatomical reasoning for the myth that they are harder to train. I find smaller dogs easier to train actually, my girl is the first small dog I've ever had, we had a chow-chow/lab mix when I was younger and he was a nightmare to train. This was the early 90's and my uncle ended up rubbing the dogs nose in every mess he made because if we'd leave for an hour we'd come back there would be 20 piles of poop, and piddle puddles everywhere and one day my uncle had enough and rubbed his nose in every single accident and put him outside and he never accident inside again. While I don't agree with his training methods, it just goes to show you all dogs are virtually the same. It's all about YOUR method, consistency and rewarding it has nothing to do with the dog or it being the dogs fault. I knew someone that was very very abusive with a labrador puppy because the pup ''was untrainable'' this person had the dog free roaming in the house and physically abused it for peeing on the floor then threw it outside and let it back in 20 minutes later, no treats, no consistency, no rewarding. They gave up on that dog and rehomed him, he was only a couple months old and labs are supposed to be smart and the easiest to potty train they say right? It doesn't matter how small the bladder is, when they get the tingle sensation they will go even if they have to go every 20 minutes, the point is to train them to go when they need to. The fact my girl is 3 months old and almost 100% potty trained ( only about 1 accident off the pee pad every couple of weeks now...) makes me wonder who came up with this idea they are harder to train.

12-09-2013, 05:12 AM	#20
Rainbows Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: South-East England Posts: 78	They aren't hard to train at all. All dogs are equal when it comes to difficulty and potty training, what is different though is each individual dog responds to rewards differently and you might need a different approach. The myth that small dogs are harder to train because they can't hold it as long, is because they tend to get away with it when bigger dogs dont simply because they have less pee, smaller poops and fit under beds and other places and because they are small they tend to be spoiled and get away with it more often then a bigger dog would. It's not like they are holding the same amount of pee as a bigger dog in a smaller bladder, they have no anatomical reasoning for the myth that they are harder to train. I find smaller dogs easier to train actually, my girl is the first small dog I've ever had, we had a chow-chow/lab mix when I was younger and he was a nightmare to train. This was the early 90's and my uncle ended up rubbing the dogs nose in every mess he made because if we'd leave for an hour we'd come back there would be 20 piles of poop, and piddle puddles everywhere and one day my uncle had enough and rubbed his nose in every single accident and put him outside and he never accident inside again. While I don't agree with his training methods, it just goes to show you all dogs are virtually the same. It's all about YOUR method, consistency and rewarding it has nothing to do with the dog or it being the dogs fault. I knew someone that was very very abusive with a labrador puppy because the pup ''was untrainable'' this person had the dog free roaming in the house and physically abused it for peeing on the floor then threw it outside and let it back in 20 minutes later, no treats, no consistency, no rewarding. They gave up on that dog and rehomed him, he was only a couple months old and labs are supposed to be smart and the easiest to potty train they say right? It doesn't matter how small the bladder is, when they get the tingle sensation they will go even if they have to go every 20 minutes, the point is to train them to go when they need to. The fact my girl is 3 months old and almost 100% potty trained ( only about 1 accident off the pee pad every couple of weeks now...) makes me wonder who came up with this idea they are harder to train. Last edited by Rainbows; 12-09-2013 at 05:16 AM.