Since you’re especially concerned about potty training, I will tell you my experience (so far) with my yorkie, Jax.
Jax just turned one year old. He was quite tiny (26 ounces) when I brought him home at twelve weeks, but he’s now between four and a half and five pounds.
Jax learned the basic idea of daytime potty training without any problem. The vet didn’t want him to go outside, so he started training on a puppy pad, which he learned quickly. After about a month, though, he started shredding the pads, so I had to stop using them, as I was afraid he’d swallow pieces and get impacted.
After a few failed attempts to find an indoor alternative to puppy pads, I finally found one that worked — a “potty box” that uses a pad covered by a grate. It has worked really well for daytime urinating. I don’t remember the last time he had a daytime pee accident. It’s been a long time. The box works pretty well for daytime pooping, too, except sometimes while he’s in the act, he starts in the box but walks a step or two and ends up depositing his poop just outside the box instead of inside the box. I don’t consider that to be his fault; he tries.
My problem is night time potty training. Jax has slept in a crate since he came home over nine months ago, and he still urinates in his crate multiple times a week. He poops in his crate less often, but he does it a couple of times a month. This despite the facts that (1) I have the majority of the crate partitioned off, so he just barely has enough room in there to turn around and stretch out and (2) I get up and take him to his box to potty every three to three and a half hours during the night, which he does. But I literally have not been in bed for four hours straight for the past nine months — and he still potties in his crate multiple times a week. He just seems to have too small a bladder to wait more than a few hours, and he never makes a sound until after he’s already done it in his crate. (The crate is only a few feet from my bed, and I’m not a sound sleeper, so I know he isn’t trying to let me know beforehand.)
Anyway, I expect my experience is fairly unusual — but my vet says this happens sometimes with very small dogs. They just can’t hold it very long. |