Quote:
Originally Posted by Rachael1983  I tried the playpen, with pads, food, bed during the day scenario as well but that still caused accidents. When I removed that and only used the crate I had much better success.
The crate in the bedroom and blanket covering is a great idea. I've done this as well.
To give you an idea of our set up when I worked outside of the home:
Crate was in my bedroom.
As a puppy no blanket until I felt comfortable she wouldn't have accidents in the crate. Size crate 18 (this was about a month)
After a month put baby blanket in the crate.
Schedule 6am Wake up, straight outside
610-630 (While I'm getting dressed for work) She's playing in gated off area, eat
630-Potty Time & Last snuggles before leaving
640-Crate (
1140-12:15 out for potty time, snuggles and play, has a snack
12:15 Quick Potty
12:15 back in the crate
3:00 (My daughter got home from school) potty time for dog, play time, snack
4:50: I'm home from work (potty time again)
This is where I had her out the majority of the evening as she was monitored.
7 pm last snack (Emma is free fed, so she nibbles when she wants)
8pm last potty time before heading upstairs
8:10 Crate time
She slept through the night and we started right back up the next morning
I did this with 2 yorkies and despite challenges with different methods in the beginning this is what has worked for us and our household. Only accidents when I am not paying attention. I do trust Emma with not having an accident if I've left the house for a few hours, but my carpeted areas are blocked off just in case.
I work from home now, so Emma (she'll be 4 in February) and she often times will be in my office with me while I'm working throughout the day, she will alert me when she has to go potty but my rule of thumb is when I have to go, I take her out first. We live in an area where it does get cold and she will potty outside but I have to do 2 trips sometime if she won't poop right away.
Potty training a yorkie took me a year to get to this level and my carpets thank me for it. |
This is basically how we crate-trained our Bella. The key is using a small crate. The only difference is we always had a baby blanket in her sleeping crate from the very beginning--she never soiled it. She sleeps in her crate on our night stand where she can see us if she wakes up in the night, and that seems to make her feel more secure. If she whines in the night, we will take her downstairs to use her pad--usually she has to pee. We trained her to use potty pads AND to go outside. That gives us flexibility on super-cold days. Always give your dog lots of praise when he/she goes in the correct place. We still give Bella a small treat every time she poops on her pad, and verbal praise when she poops outside. It took us maybe two months or so before she was 90% potty trained, and a year before she was 100% potty trained.