Thanks. I guess the first question should be potty training, since that’s been ongoing for almost five months. I’ve read everything from “Yorkies are really smart and easy to house train” to “Yorkies are notoriously difficult to house train.” My experience is that we take one step forward and then two steps back, so maybe others with Yorkie experience can tell me what I’m doing right and wrong.
First, I should mention that because of his vision impairment and his tiny size, it’s not safe for him to run around the house unsupervised, so he has a 3x 6 pen, and he gets out to run around the house several times a day under supervision. Also, because he was so tiny when I brought him home, and he was also behind in vaccinations, my vet advised me to pad train him and not take him outside.
Pad training worked really well for about a month. He learned quickly, and after a few weeks, he had very few accidents. Unfortunately, then he decided that shredding pads is super fun, and I couldn’t teach him to not do it. I tried a pad holder, and he figured out within minutes that he could scratch the pad out of the holder. I tried a grass pad, which I had to take away because he chewed on it. I tried cloth pads, which he dragged to his bed like a blanket. I tried a cycle of “potty - play - crate,” but he would still rip the pad even while I was standing there watching ... and he would still have an accident on the floor 15 minutes after he peed last. Finally I found a “potty box” with a snap down grate that prevents him from getting to the pad, and it’s worked better than anything else. However, he is still inconsistent. He’ll use it for a couple of days without an accident, and then he’ll pee on the floor, or in his bed, or on his blanket three times in a row.
So I guess the main question is: is this normal? Will he “get it” eventually? Or is there something else I should try? I do offer him treats for using the box, but as I mentioned earlier, he’s not food motivated, so the treats don’t mean much to him.
In a related issue, somehow I managed to find a puppy who is not food motivated but is a determined poop eater. He almost always does that in his box, but then he turns around and either eats it or carries it to his bed and hides it in his blanket. He does this even though he has dry food in his bowl all day long. So, ugh. I’m hoping he outgrows it, because nothing else seems to dissuade him from doing it.
Sorry for the long post. I have more questions for later. |