It can take 18 months to train small dogs. Ours is 2 yrs old, and because we changed strategies a few times out of desperation and listening to the wrong people, he still poops inside on the floor on occasion. He's good with pee, thank heavens!
I agree about scolding... when we tried that, he simply went behind the couch and in bedrooms.
Our biggest problem with potty traing has been that he doesn't eat on a regular schedule (we feed him twice per day, but he doesn't eat!). If he's not eating on a schedule, he's not eliminating on a schedule... which makes potty training much more difficult. So, now we feed him and take the dish away after 20 min... and then only give dry dog kibble as treats, so that he's getting some nutrition and not filling up all day.
One strategy is to use the tether method where the dog is tied to you all day so that you will alway see when s/he starts to do her business and you can pick her up and take her outside (or to the pad).
One thing that messed us up is that we tried to teach him both indoor and outdoor training simutaneously. In retrospect, I wish we had just started with outdoor training, but we live in the north and we got him in winter. There are days he just can't go out because it's much too cold, even with a jacket... plus, stopping your dog from peei g so that you can put on a jacket is not an easy feat!
Also, we switched pad types. We started with pee pads in the frame, but he wouldn't use it unless we placed him on it. Then we switched to cat litter because the pet store convinced us to, and he hated that... like, really, really hated it. Then we tried newspaper for a bit, but ended up going back to pee pads, but without the frame. We just lay them on the floor (he chewed them up once or twice, but luckily, that hasn't been an issue for us).
I suggest you read up on this extensively, and once you pick a method, stick with it. Every time we changed something, we set him back weeks, if not months. It wasn't until I met another Yorkie owner who said it took them 18 months to train their dog that I started to relax and stick with one strategy.
He now uses the pee pad when home alone, and asks to go out when we are here. We're still working on the pooping, but I know that the problem is that I don't catch him in the act often enough. I am working from home now, which will make the process easier.
Oh, how naive we were to think we would get a dog at the beginning of our holidays so that he would be mostly trained before we went back to work! LOL. This is not our first dog, but we've only had big dogs before, so this has neen a real eye-opener! But we love our little guy so much, it's all worth it. |