Housebreaking advice?
 

Hi! I'm a college student who just got her first Yorkie. He's actually my first dog that I've been solely responsible for. Bailey is a super sweetie, and generally as good as gold. I adore him. But I have no idea if I'm on the right track for housebreaking him. He's only 10 weeks old, and I've only had him a week, so I know it's ludicrous to expect him to be housebroken already, but I don't know if what I'm doing is getting through at all. This morning he had more accidents than he has the whole time I've had him! I take him out frequently, and he's learned the command "Go potty" really quickly, and I always praise him when he goes. And when I catch him having an accident, I scoop him up and say "Bad dog" and give him a light tap on his rear. If I find a new one, I just clean it up, because I know puppies can't put two and two together about that, and he just won't understand. Am I doing this right? And tricks/tips that might help? I'm home for a lot of the day, so I'm trying to be consistent, but I'm afraid I'm consistently wrong! :) Thanks so much!

I don't think you should be saying bad dog and tapping his butt IMO...what you should do when you catch him in the act is pick him up and put him where he is supposed to go...as you stated before anything after the fact he will not understand...they do soo much better with positive reinforcement versus negative. Also are you treating when he goes potty in the right area?..Treats are a great motivator, secondly you puppy is very young to be away from it's litter already and usually most breeders keep them together till about 12 weeks..it is not realistic to expect him to be fully potty trained until at least 6 months when they can hold there bladder better..some take years...your puppy should not be going outside until he has all his shots (unless you are taking him into your private backyard)...where there are no chemicals, poop from any animal etc...because they can get extremely sick!!! Also look for signs tha he has to pee or poop..nose to teh ground, running in circles, smelling his scent...use a good clean up spray so that he can't smell where he peed or pooped last time!!!

I'm having the same troubles. My puppy is 14 weeks old.
I think I need a Housetraining 101 course.
I'll take any advice.
She thinks my area rug is a giant pee pad!
I'm going to get rid of the rug but eventually I want an area rug.
When I take her outside, she loves it! She runs around and sniffs everything. We stay outside for like 40 minutes and then bring her back inside and then she goes potty.
I love her lots and wouldn't trade her. I just need help, too.

I had the same problem with the rugs!!!..What I did was pull up the 2 area rugs I had ..and steam cleaned them, I then rolled then up and out them away, I got Maximus suing the pads for both pee and poop and now that he is 5 months and has that pretty much down I put the rugs back down. The trick is that he has a set place where the wee-wee pad is and he know that THERE is where he has to pee/poop...also it helps if the area rug isn't too light because I think for some reason they have a problem deciphering between the wee wee pad and the rug. Also when I was wee wee pad training I bought a housebreaking "aid" spray that you spary on the pad and the phermones are supposed to attract them to pee there...I had Maximus pee pee pad trained in about 2 weeks..the poop took almost 2 months...lol, but what I did was reward "great" treats when he got all the poop on the pad (piece of ham, cheese, or chicken breast) things you won't GIVE AT ANY OTHER TIME!!!..also make sure to give a treat everytime they successfully pee on the pad and you see it (cheerios, pupcorn, nutro chicken and rice stick cut into pieces, etc.) pm me if you have any questions!!

Good advise already, I would add that you need to NOT let them have run of the house. I mean, not even the run of a room. They should be at your side at all times, either on a lease, in an xpen (where you are watching their every move) or in a crate (when you can't watch their every move). There should be no exception. The purpose is to make sure that they have the fewest accidents in the house, as possible. In the beginning you should take then out every hour on the hour. (repetition is key! you want to constently be repeating the proper behavior. Dogs learn thru repetition, so make sure that you are repeating proper behavior more than the improper behavior of peeing in the house) Taking them out should be strickly business, no playing. Keep them on a leash for this or block off a small area using an xpen or something like it so they can concentrate on their business and not other stuff. Rewards are good. Sometimes, their reward for going potty can be to let them have some free time outside for play, but only after they have gone potty!

If you have them out for 40 minutes and they won't go pee or poo, then when you bring them in, put them in the crate, 10 -15 minutes later take them back outside. (repeat this until they go and then you can let them out of the crate for supervised free time) I would never give the dog free range if they have not gone outside when they were given the oppertunity. They have to learn that going out is for this purpose and not for play.

Puppies should stay in confined areas or on leash with you until they are house broken. Puppies should earn their freedom (and this is part of the reward system too).

This is a very good point that I forgot to mention...Maximus still does not have free roam over the house when I am not home..I did not crate train but I gated him off in the living room with his food, water, pee pads and, toys and his crate..when we get home that is usually where he is anyways!!!...when I get home I open the gate and shut the bedroom and bathroom doors so he can follow where I go..but otherwise he is usually in the living room with us!!! There are too many things that they can get into even when they are potty trained so it is good to get them used to having a set space when they are alone so that way when they are older they just accept that as "normal"!!

I appreciate all the advice, too.
See, I knew I was the one who needs training.

I agree with that, because they are doing just what comes naturally to them. They don't know ahead of time at that age that they need to go... ;)

we all do....lol!!! Everyday you learn a little more :)

Thanks for such fast replies! Like I said, I know he's really young, so I'm not expecting him to be trained anytime soon, but I want to get him on the right track as soon as possible since I know Yorkies are notorious for being hard to housebreak.

I tried the treats, but he really isn't one for them. I've tried lots (my parents have let me sample some of their dogs', and I bought some other types), but he nibbles for, like, a second and then isn't interested. I praise him lots, though, and love on him, because that seems to be his favorite treat.

And if saying "no" is a bad idea, how do you get across that in the house isn't the place to go? I'm def. a supporter of positive reinforcement, and I do that much more, but I don't know how to let him know that inside isn't where we go. Any alternatives?

Gotta go...Bailey nibbles.

I would say "no" in a stern tone when you catch them at it. Otherwise, I would probably wait until they are at least 12 to 13 weeks of age to say anything more, because I believe they just don't understand yet.

housebreaking
 

[ Yes I agree it does take time and it is frustrating :) I have had Jack for almost 4 weeks now I am outside every 45 minutes with one dog or the other and Mandy is quite a bit older so she is on a different time schedule she is almost 6 months and I have had her for 3 weeks. Thank God I am home at the moment because it would be insane. But what I do when I get frustrated is to say to myself this CONSISTENCY WILL PAY OFF IN THE END. I have 2 xpens one outside and one inside. The crate is inside the xpen and when I am not home or nighttime I put them in there. I really believe that determination, patience and consistency is key to the success in housebreaking and also the support :aimeeyork of you guys on YT :) ;)


Jack and Mandys Mom :animal-sm

New development. His crate training is going out the window. When I got him, he never ever ever did anything in his crate. But the past few nights, he either doesn't wake me up, or wakes me up and doesn't do anything, then opts to poop in his crate, then just buries it with his blanket and goes to sleep. I clean it out with Nature's Miracle so it gets rid of the smell, but his has been going on for about 3 nights. Help!! I don't know what to do!

And age correction. My mother can't do math...he's almost 12 weeks old. :)

At 12 weeks they still can't be expected to hole it all night ...probably no more then 3-1/2 hrs... you have to make sure he pees/poops(depending on hius schedule before he goes to bed and then set your alarm every 2-3 hours to take him out and see if he has too pee/poop. Some people wake up every hour during the first few weeks to do this!! Have you contacted your breeder to see if she has any advice also, did she start paper training before he left or outside training??

I agree with Luzangela - you may have to wake up every 2 -3 hours for a few weeks. The other thing you can do, is throw in some food or treats in the crate and let him eat it in the crate. They won't poop (or are not supposed to) where they eat.

Also, when is the last time of the day that you feed your puppy. All food and water should be taken away after 8pm. That should give him time to poop and pee before bed time.