[yorkietalkjilly]

My Yorkie was 9 mos. old, kennel-crazy, said to having spent those 9 mos. in a cage under a shelter alone in the backyard. So I feared he would become a hard-to-train dog having had no housebreaking training at all, getting used to going in his own quarters. Every mistake he had in the house was cleaned with the biocleaner that biologically removes all traces of urine or feces so he got the idea any attempt to mark his territory was useless as the odors were immediately removed. The rest of his housebreaking consisted of a regular schedule ensuring him that he was going to have ample chances to go outside, where it is natural for a dog to eliminate.

I simply took him outside every 30 minutes when I was home for a good 2 - 3 months, really making his peeing/pooping outside seem like a great big win for him by clapping, smiling, praising & treating him after every "go". He soon realized that he was being taken out so often he was always too empty to go in the house and once he knew he could count on being taken outside, he worked to hold his eliminations for the soon-to-come 30 min. trip outside, the happy win when he "went" and the treat. Came to look forward to going outside.

I also confined him to whatever room I was in and watched him like a hawk just in case he felt the need to go inside, rushing him outside when he began the purposeful sniffing, intense interest in the floor and circling behavior that indicated he needed to pee/poop. He had very few accidents after that as he began to enjoy those outside trips, the big win, the happy rewards of "going" outside. After 3 mos., I stretched out his trips outside to every 40 minutes and slowly worked up to every hour, then every two, then three, four. He slept in the bed with me at nights, at first in his hard-case airline carrier, and only soiled it once the first week I let him sleep in the bed out of the carrier.

I confined him to his cage crate every time I left the house and immediately took him out just before leaving and immediately after returning home. Kept that up until he was 18 mos. or so, when he was finally allowed to roam freely throughout the house, but always checking on him if he left the room and stayed over 2 - 3 mins., which I gradually increased as he showed he was reliable. By age 24 months, he was totally clean in the house and I was fairly well exhausted and SO glad that intense training was finally done! It was so worth it, though, and I'll always be glad for the intensive housebreaking training invested as he's paid rewards ever since. A reliable, frequent schedule the dog could count on and obsessive observation when inside were the keys to his training.