No, he did not guarantee against liver shunt. I didn't get any kind of guarantee other than a verbal one: if something happens to the puppy or is wrong with him, he would replace him with another puppy. He told me the other day that he is willing to do this if it turns out Logan has a liver shunt. But I don't really want to "replace" him like I would a damaged pair of pants!

I do take him out when he wakes up in the middle of the night to go out. He woke me up at 4:15 this morning to go out, but then didn't get up again until 9:15. That's better. He was also quiet. So, he obviously prefers his crate over a little more freedom in his "own" room.

A reputable breeder guarantees against genetic diseases such as liver shunt. I understand what you are saying that you wouldn't exchange him 'like a damaged pair of pants', but, when a a breeder gives this guarantee it tells you, they breed responsibly. (in most cases) And in the case of liver shunt, very often, a breeder will help you with the expenses, etc. Reputable breeders are not quick to deny liver shunt; they want to know what is in their lines.

I wasn't suggesting you give him up.

Sheila

I have seen sellers refund the price of the puppy or exchange the pup for another but never any that will incur any of the expenses.

When I bought my tiny Kia, from Susan Harasim, of Stardust Yorkies, 9 years ago, as we went over her health guarantee, I made the comment I could never give her back, and Susan told me, that if anything developed, and I wanted to keep my puppy, she'd work things out with medical and help me.

I don't know how she handles things today, but that was how it was 9 years ago.

I also have a friend In FL that breeds Maltese and shows, and she has told me that she would also cover medical expenses. So, there are some excellent breeders out there...even if only few and far between.

Sheila

You need to make a decision on what you are going to do with the puppy.

If you are going to rehome..then rehome.
If you are going to keep him, then keep him with all his faults and love him and work with him to make him a valuable member of the family. If you keep looking at him as a pain in the butt, then that is how you are going to feel about him in general. That isn't fair to him.

If you find out he does have a liver shunt, are you going to get rid of him because he has a problem?

If having him makes your life stressful...then you are also making his life stressful, even if you don't mean to.

I hope you find a solution for both of you.

im so sorry you are having problems with him. i found that with my yorkie Teddy, we cut off the waterbowl about 2 hours before bedtime. my hubby then takes him out one last time before he comes to bed (i go to bed earlier than he does). i dont know if you have tried that. also, maybe take him to the vet and see what he advises to do to help him sleep through the night (so you can sleep) he may prescribe a light sleeping pill to use for a few weeks until he falls into the habit to sleep.. i dont know what to tell you besides that. just my 2 cents-others have given you really great advice here-im new.

I had the same problems with Carter. I'm still trying to crate train him, and I set my alarm for four hours after we go to bed so I can take him to his potty pad.

What if you tried the crate in the laundry room and leave it open so he could get to the potty pad if he needed to? I have no idea if that would work, I'm a new yorkie owner as well. Just a thought, though.

I feel your pain. After a week of having him I was exhausted and wanted to give him back. I decided I was too enamored and would miss him too much, but he is still frustrating a lot of the time. I'm hoping he's just being a puppy and will grow out of a lot of the frustrations, and hopefully he'll potty train.

I do plan on taking him to a trainer when he finishes his shots, and the trainer I contacted said she would help in housebreaking as well. Maybe this is an option for you too?

Here is my advice for sleeping through the night. Take away his water at like 10pm (if you go to bed at 11pm) wait about a half hour, then take him out to pee. Make sure he goes. Once you bring him in, put him in his crate for the night. Dogs generally do not pee in their crate (unless he truely does have a health problem). Put his crate next to your bed, put a softly ticking clock in there and an old sweater/sweatshirt of yours as bedding. Then lay a blanket over the crate. I bet you he sleeps like a baby all night long! :) :) Unless hes got an underlying problem, he is definately old enough to sleep through the night now.

I am going to have to echo Erin's comments. I know from personal experience what it's like to lose sleep because your yorkie has to get up to go pee, every single night of the week!

Millie has always gone in the middle of the night. In the beginning she did it 2 x a night and now she is down to 1 x a night. She is 3 years old! I know she will have to go in the middle of the night for the rest of her life. I am ok with that. It first started out as whining from her crate, then when she was reliably housebroken, we let her sleep with us and now she climbs on my back and chirps in my ears and will keep at it until I wake up. (sometimes, it takes a while for it to sink in thru my heavy sleep daze :D) So for her to get me up in the middle of the night only reinforces to me that she is housebroken! She will not do it in the house. So I rejoice at this!!:bravo::bravo::bravo:

So be thankful that your yorkie whines to get you up to let him out. I think this is splendid and should be looked at like a "positive". (I have just acquired a rescue that will not let me know she (Jazzy) has to go. She does hold it most nights throughout the night, but every now and then she will just do it in her pen and move to the side to avoid it. She will do it on her pillow where she sleeps if there is no other room to go). So you need to reward your little one for whining, because he cares enough to let you know he has to go out.

Oh by the way, I am 52 years old and I work starting at 7:30am five days a week. Having Millie 100% housebroken is worth maybe 5-10minutes of loss of sleep every night.

I too have noticed that Millie will sleep the entire night, only when we have had a very very eventful day and she gets very little sleep during the day. These would be week-end days. Because even though she gets a good 30 minute walk every day and she is active as soon as we get home from work, this is not enough to keep her from waking up a least the 1x a night.

I hope you find the right solution for both you and Logan.

Of course, the breeder said that it's probably not a liver shunt...Vet or not, many, many breeders will do whatever it takes to deny liver shunt in their lines...

I want to add that dogs with liver problems have bladder problems secondary to the liver disease. Because the liver is not functioning properly, it causes problems with stones/crystals...I tell you this because when my yorkie was feeling sick, he would pee off the pad and pee somewhere to get attention. It was his way of telling me that he was not feeling well. He does have liver problems and we have finally gotten the bladder problems under control. My advice to you is to have a urinalysis and urine culture done. Have them check for crystals in Logan's urine and have them check his pH.
Does he eat dry food or canned food and what kind?

I agree...A reputable breeder will never make you give the dog back for a refund or to exchange for another unless that is what you choose. I know of several reputable breeders who will help with medical expenses.

It's important to find out if the dog has liver problems. Water should not be withheld for liver compromised dogs ever. They need access to water at all times and should have access to pee whenever they get the urge because of the fact that many liver compromised dogs do have bladder problems.

Maybe Logan feels isolated in the laundry room or he sees it a a punishment. He obviously like his crate. Can you bring his crate to your room or just outside of your room? I don't know if the laundry room is a place that Logan spends anytime other than sleep in but I would think that environment has something to do with behaviour. We have Hot Rod's pen in the family room where we spend all our evenings. We've never really had any issues with him pottying. I had a baby monitor so I could hear him before he started barking. Maybe he just feels insecure and needs to be closer to normal surroundings. Some also suggested that it might be a uti, could he have kidney stones?

Puppies have lots of energy. What may be tiring to you may not necessarily be tiring to them. I know that we play with Hot Rod a lot in the evenings and we try to walk with him several times a day. We probably walk total of about 1- 1 1/2 miles a day. He's only 3 lbs so that is a lot for him, I think but he seems to tired out at the end of the day. We play fetch with him for quite awhile at night so he can run off his energy.

Just some suggestions. I wish you the best with Logan.

This is what we were doing. I left the crate door off and put the pee pad next to his crate so that he would have to walk by it on the way to the entrance to the room. He peed everywhere besides the pee pad and didn't like being in the laundry room. He seems to like being closed in his crate and placed next to our bed.

We took him to PetSmart for pet training, and I asked the trainer about housebreaking. She didn't have anything new to offer other than what we were already doing.