How old is your furbaby?
Crate training is a great method for potty training, even if you free feed. You need to get your yorkie to understand who's boss. The reason you can't catch him to put him in his crate is bc he thinks HE'S the boss. I would get some treats and put them in his crate. Start letting him eat the treats in there with the door open. Then after awhile, get a treat in your hand, get him to come to you, pick him up with the treat still in your hand, then put both him and the treat in the crate and shut the door.
Now with crate training, you should not have food or water in the crate. Also, no wee wee pads in the crate. If you are crating him for potty training purposes, then he should not be able to use the bathroom in his crate. If you find that he IS going potty in his crate, you need to make the crate smaller. It should be so small that he can touch every inch of the bottom of the crate when he lays down. You can make it smaller by putting a box in the back, or books, or tupperware or something like that. Keep him in there for 2-3 hours at a time. Then right when you take him out, take him right to the potty pad and tell him to GO POTTY! Then let him have some food and water and let him play for a little while. Then after about an hour, put him back on the pad to see if he has to potty, then put him back in his crate for another 2-3 hours. Repeat this process. If you notice that he can hold his pee for 2-3 hours, then you can start increasing the time by one hour each week.
I crate trained both of my yorkies and I also free fed them. It worked for me. The key with crate training is making sure the crate is small enough. Otherwise, he'll pee in one corner and lay down in another corner. |