Okay! I can help! Books are so confusing and they contradict each other so much that it leaves you and your dog confused and frustrated! That's why I paid $3000 in dog training for my Yorkies to learn puppy management; I sell Yorkie pups, so I teach this to my pups and their new parents every day!
* Your first problem is that your Yorkie has too much room in his crate! I know those crate are deep, but here is what I do;
1)
You need to shorten the amount of room your pup has to sleep in. The easiest way to do this is to buy a Precision pen or other "wire" pen (They are the ones that you can see through, like a rabbit cage). The Precion crate (and others like it) come with a Divider. You must put that divider in the crate at 1/3 of the crate's size. This may seem cruel to you, but your puppy should only have enough room that if you put him in sideways and closed the door, he'sd only have enough room to lay down (and room to turn around if he squishes himself up a bit). It should resemble a triangle, NOT A SQUARE!
* The reason for this is your pup has a small bladder and won't hold it unless he HAS to. The only way he HAS to is if you give him NO other choice!! A dog won't potty where they sleep and eat; UNLESS there is enough room (and your pup's interpretation of enough and yours will be VERY different!!) for him to sleep and eat in one corner and potty in the other!
So you must make this space very tight for him. Also, you must remove the cushion-y bedding (he can EARN this back once he stops peeing in it). This may also sound mean to you, but if the bedding is highly absorbant, he won't mind it being a bit damp if most of the urine is absorbed (that is a choice for him and he's rather lie on something a bit damp than learn to hold it!).. Replace his cushy bedding with something disposable, like a paper bag, paper, newspaper, etc. Seriously, it won't hurt him a bit!!
Now, if you cannot afford or don't want to by a Precision pen, use his crate, but get
two shoe boxes that are small enough to stand up in the back of his crate. You will push both shoe boxes all the way to the back of the crate and put his bedding up front, with no gaps (he won't want to pee on his bedding if that is all of the room he has, but he will pee on
any open floor space, if he thinks it won't soak his bed. He should have very little room and the shoe boxes need to be wide and tall enough that he cannot get on top of them or reach the top, nor get on the side of them and knock them down.
Once you have shortened his bedding, he will have no choice but to hold it. make sure that you take him out after every nap, first hting in the morning, 30 minutes after he eats, and after hard playing/running, etc..
Make sure you feed him and give him water in his crate! When he is done eating and drinking (give him only 10-15 mintues with food and water 3-4 times per day, then take it away and take him potty 30 minutes later, but leave him in his crate until it is potty time!) You have to know when he has to 'go and the only way is to control what goes in his body. He will be fine; that is enough food and water for him. 24-hour-water gives him no restraint in filling up his bladder!! Leave the food/water dish in his crate without the food/water!! This will confirm to him that he is: 1) sleeping in that area and 2) eating in that area ONLY!!
This system will help!! Even my most difficult potty-training pups have caught on to this. It also shows him that you are his master, because you control when he gets to eat, potty, and drink, and how long he may take to do all of these things (that will help as he gets about 6 months old and starts wondering if he is the master, which leads to many more issues, like leg lifting, yapping/barking excessively, etc!).
If I have not been clear enough, feel free to email me! I have professsional dog trainers that coach us on caring for our dogs and we've spent thousands learning this. It works!! Email me if you have any questions or need clarity:
info@YorkieCouture.com