Training Emergency!!!
 

Hello eveyone,

I have a problem. My just turned 6 month old baby is still urinating on the floor. Ok, here's the routine: Each morning between 5:00 - 5:30, Mickey will wake me up to use the potty. I'll take him outside for his morning walk and he will poop and pee. I then bring him back in the house and he goes into the utility room where he has his crate, toys, food and water. My routine is to put down a potty pad before I leave for work, which by the way, he would go to and use. But within the last two to three weeks, I have taken up the pad and placed him in the crate until around 12:00 - 1:00 at which time, my boyfried would come home to let him out. So far, this has been working... But, the other day, my boyfried and I decided to not crate him and let him go free (within the utility room). When my boyfriend came home for lunch, Mickey had not urinated or pooped on the pad, he waited until he went outside. So, I thought..."hey, maybe he's catching on".... NOT! Today, when my boyfriend came home, Mickey urinated three times, in three different spots, in the utility room. My question is this: Do I need to take up his food and water during the day? How long should I leave his water down? What's a good training method? HELP!!!!!

My advice would be to leave a pad down if you are giving him run of the utility room. They usually won't potty where they sleep (crate) but he has room to go in places in the utility room without having to lay in it.
He might just be too young to hold it.
We always leave water down for our babies, I know some people don't when they are gone. As for food. We don't free-feed them all day. They eat at specific times and we don't leave it down all day.

Consistency is key, it's best to stick with one routine for him to get used to!
Good luck!

Thanks, but at what point do I take away the potty pad? I want to be able to get him to tell me when he wants to go outside. He's pretty good in the morning when he want to poop.

I've heard that if you want them only potty outside, you shouldn't even start them on the pads. It's inconsistent and it's confusing for them. On the other hand, there are some people that have success training them for both outside and pee pads. It takes a lot of work, patience and "accidents" though.

Can you continue to leave him in the crate as you did before and have your boyfriend come to relieve him? I think you are giving him too much room as the above poster said.

For a yorkie, he is still too young to catch on, I think.

Go back to your routine, since it was working. If you go back to the "peepad" routine, you will know when you can take it up because he will hold his pee and poo and you will come home to a clean pad and floor everyday for a few weeks.

Thanks, I think I will go back to crating him when we are at work. But, it seems so cruel. He looks so so so sad.:cry:, which makes me sad. Ok, I must be strong and firm (that's what I'm told anyway). Ok, I guess my main concern is whether I should take up his water bowl before I leave. Also, once we return from his morning poop (5:30 a.m.), I normally put his food and water down and he normally eats all of his food before I leave at 6:30 a.m., but should I take up his water?

He probably likes his crate while you are at work...they feel safe and they usually sleep while you are away. I agree, don't leave a pee pad down if someone is able to come home to let him out. I think in the long run it's more confusing. I crate mine during the day with no problem, but if I let them have run of the laundry room (tiled) they will use the bathroom.

I know, Mickey will use it on the pad. I have noticed that now he is lifting his leg.....:eek: Ok, I will go back to the crate action. But, I really need to know at what point to a give him a little leverage to be able to let him get use to roaming around the house (while we are there). I really want to get him to the point where he can signal me that he wants to use it. I feel as long as I am putting down the pad he will continue to use it and not try to alert me to go outside. Mickey is not the only one confused!:(:confused:

I will tell you what I have done with Millie - as soon as we woke up we took her out to pee (and poo, maybe). Then we would feed her. Before we left for work, we took her for a short walk, to make sure she had all her pee out of her and to give her a chance to poo, if she did not do it earlier. Then we would crate her. No water and no food.

When we got home. We would have her go out immediately. She would pee a couple of times and she would poo once. Then we would take her for a walk and after we would feed her and put her water down.

We took her water up again at 7 - 7:30pm. Thru out the evening we would take her out every hour on the hour and make her walk to the door and say "let's go potty. Let's go outside and go potty."

Initially, at about 8 months old, she would come to us and stare at us. She would not go to the door to ask to go out. So we had to guess that that was what she wanted. Only after she was over a year old, did she actually go to the door and stand by it to go out. No barking or scratching. Just standing there. She now scratches at the door, but she is over 3 years old.

So you see, it is a long evolving process. As long as you keep your puppy on a potty schedule and his food and water on a schedule, you will see progress little by little.

Oh, thank you so much. That is basically what I have been doing, with the exception of taking his food and water up. I wasn't sure if I needed to let him drink throughout the day. I only feed him twice a day (once in the moring and in the evening when I return home form work). So, I will do exactly what you have suggested! Thanks!!!;)

One more question: Did you come home during lunch to let her pee or did you keep her crated until you returned home from work.

Ladylavender, pls i just want to know...... while potty training, do i also leave her in d utility room at night as i do when am off to work?

Since we live over 45 minutes away from work, we did not come home during lunch (impossible for us to do). Millie did fine (well, really great!) But if you can come home for lunch, in the beginning, I would do that. At some point you need to work her/him up to a full 8 - 9 hours.

We made sure the crate was super small inside. We got the smallest crate and then stuffed it more so that she only had enough room to lay down or turn around and that's it. After she was doing real well for 3 -4 months we put her crate in an x-pen that had her toys and a bed (there was very little empty space for her to find a place to pee) And she was able to stay in there for 8 1/2 - 9 hours without going. This x-pen area was her living area when we were not home or needed to keep her unsupervised and when we went to bed at night. So she was used to this area being her "den" and learned not to pee or poo in it. If she had to go she would whine and yip, so we responded immediately so she knew she could depend on us to let her out, so holding her pee and poo was doable.

Also, when we came home from work, we would take her out for walk and she would pee 2-3 times and poo 1 time. Plus, the walk helped get her energy out from being cooped up all day. We would also take her for a short walk in the am before we left for work.


I think that the utility room is too much room to give to a puppy especially at night when you are home. If you are putting him/her in the utility room during the day, there is no reason not to crate him at night and have the crate in your room with you. This way your puppy is secure in your presence, (even if you are sleeping) and you can hear him/her whine to let them out to pee (if they have too).

Thanks a bunch for d tips! Would start making Calla use her crate, but she hates going near it.

You need to make it a good place for her. Sprinkle food in it and let her rummage around to find it. Make it a high quality treat, though, like chicken or hot dog. If you can spread peanut butter or cheese spread on the sides so she can lick it, do it. When she associates her crate with good things, she will not object to it.