[shaderhacker]

All:

I received our yorkie from a fellow co-worker about a month ago and Peanut is 4 months old. He has gone from peeing and pooping on the carpet (when we first got him) to doing it in his crate. We finally came to the decision to section off a small part of our kitchen (we have an apartment) with one pee pad and his cloth bed. He has been doing pretty good, but occasionally when we aren't watching him, he will have an accident on the carpet (usually pee). My wife was pretty good with him this weekend because she noticed the signs of him looking around for a place to pee, and would quickly put him in his area. He would go on the pad and then bark to let us know that he is done.

The problem? My wife doesn't want him in the kitchen any longer because she thinks it's unsanitary when cooking and handling dishes and such. Plus there are areas in the kitchen (like the drawers) that we don't have quick access too. Anyway, she wants to know if moving him to the porch is a reliable option. I am reluctant to do this because:

1) He is supposed to be a in-house dog.
2) He's too young.
3) The wind could blow away the pee pad and we would be left with cleaning up stuff from the porch floor.
4) We would have to have him in the house at night anyway.

Do any of you keep your yorkie on the porch during the day while noone is home? How safe is it (we live on the 2nd floor, so noone can steal him)? Would changing his environment cause him to be worse? We bascially want him home trained so that he will only go to a spot when he has to, but I understand this will take time.

-M