YorkieTalk.com Forums - Yorkshire Terrier Community - View Single Post - Frustrated -- perhaps yorkies aren't for us?

celstu1 · 01-11-2007, 10:11 AM

Friley,
Don't give up hope yet! I am a single furbaby mom! I work all day mon - friday. I leave the house at 730am and get home at 6pm. I know this is a long time to leave my boys alone but they do wonderfully together all day without me.
I do not give them weewee pads/peepee pads anymore at all as they were eating them too. I leave down newspaper... something about the smell of it or something but they don't eat it! During the day my boys are also gated into the kitchen (check your cabinet bottoms, mine are chewed up I just realized

) What I do recommend is getting them an indoor/outdoor plastic type pen. It has 4 sides and will fit in your kitchen (that way they cannot eat your cabinets or walls either) but it still gives them enough room. For a couple days or a week maybe watch where they tend to potty the most. Once you think you got it, move the paper there. My boys tended to potty the most in the front of the kitchen, I mean it looked liek they pottied wherever but after awhile I noticed that it was mostly in the front, so I moved the paper there. For months I put down paper there. Soon, they were going on the paper at least 90% of the time. Then I moved the paper to a different area and they just go on the paper now for the most part, i'd say 98% of the time they go on the paper, and never tear it apart like they did the pads.

When I am home and they are not gated into the kitchen, I let them out every 1/2 hour. They are NOT housebroken yet though but I let them out and everytime I do I tell them to go pee or poop outside. I use the same word, same phrase and the minute they lift a leg outside I start to praise them! They are doing better now. At least in my house they are. I also notice that mabye 50% of 'accidents' in the house, they actually go to the paper in the kitchen and do it. So thats good.

Put down paper where yous ee them pee most often. They will begin to get that you want them to pee on the paper. Then you can move the paper a little bit each week and they will keep peeing on it.

As for crating them in your room at night... I did not let my boys out in the middle of the night, they did not mess their crate at all. They would sleep 8 hours straight through the night. The first 20 -30 mins I put them in there they would cry & whine really loudly! What i did was made their crate comfy for them, nice soft blanket, some favorite stuffed, soft toys and I put a clock in it under the blanket, a clock that ticked softly. Then I would put them in and pet them in their crate for a few mins, then shut the door and put a blanket OVER the crate! If they could nto see me or really hear me or really smell me they went to sleep and slept through the night. The blanket over the crate was key for me really, that is when they got good at sleeping all night, once I did that. Now they sleep with me and they sleep through the night with no middle of the night trips out or no 'accidents' in the bed!

I hope that helps a little bit!

I know its overwhelming with these guys at first, they ARE a handful, they do need a lot of attention, but they are so worth it if they are trained.

Maybe it would benefit you tremendously to take them to training classes? I know its pricey, but its a good way to get them trained quicker so that you can spend more time loving them than yelling at or punishing them!

Good Luck!!!!

01-11-2007, 10:11 AM	#28
celstu1 Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 10,534	Friley, Don't give up hope yet! I am a single furbaby mom! I work all day mon - friday. I leave the house at 730am and get home at 6pm. I know this is a long time to leave my boys alone but they do wonderfully together all day without me. I do not give them weewee pads/peepee pads anymore at all as they were eating them too. I leave down newspaper... something about the smell of it or something but they don't eat it! During the day my boys are also gated into the kitchen (check your cabinet bottoms, mine are chewed up I just realized ) What I do recommend is getting them an indoor/outdoor plastic type pen. It has 4 sides and will fit in your kitchen (that way they cannot eat your cabinets or walls either) but it still gives them enough room. For a couple days or a week maybe watch where they tend to potty the most. Once you think you got it, move the paper there. My boys tended to potty the most in the front of the kitchen, I mean it looked liek they pottied wherever but after awhile I noticed that it was mostly in the front, so I moved the paper there. For months I put down paper there. Soon, they were going on the paper at least 90% of the time. Then I moved the paper to a different area and they just go on the paper now for the most part, i'd say 98% of the time they go on the paper, and never tear it apart like they did the pads. When I am home and they are not gated into the kitchen, I let them out every 1/2 hour. They are NOT housebroken yet though but I let them out and everytime I do I tell them to go pee or poop outside. I use the same word, same phrase and the minute they lift a leg outside I start to praise them! They are doing better now. At least in my house they are. I also notice that mabye 50% of 'accidents' in the house, they actually go to the paper in the kitchen and do it. So thats good. Put down paper where yous ee them pee most often. They will begin to get that you want them to pee on the paper. Then you can move the paper a little bit each week and they will keep peeing on it. As for crating them in your room at night... I did not let my boys out in the middle of the night, they did not mess their crate at all. They would sleep 8 hours straight through the night. The first 20 -30 mins I put them in there they would cry & whine really loudly! What i did was made their crate comfy for them, nice soft blanket, some favorite stuffed, soft toys and I put a clock in it under the blanket, a clock that ticked softly. Then I would put them in and pet them in their crate for a few mins, then shut the door and put a blanket OVER the crate! If they could nto see me or really hear me or really smell me they went to sleep and slept through the night. The blanket over the crate was key for me really, that is when they got good at sleeping all night, once I did that. Now they sleep with me and they sleep through the night with no middle of the night trips out or no 'accidents' in the bed! I hope that helps a little bit! I know its overwhelming with these guys at first, they ARE a handful, they do need a lot of attention, but they are so worth it if they are trained. Maybe it would benefit you tremendously to take them to training classes? I know its pricey, but its a good way to get them trained quicker so that you can spend more time loving them than yelling at or punishing them! Good Luck!!!!