[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by Bluebells

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.

Have you tried making it where he can get to the potty in the night like either use a crate where you can fit a potty inside with his bed or like a play pen around he crate with the potty right outside or something similar?