new puppy owner and need lots of help!

[newproudmom]

Hi,
I am a new puppy owner. He is a 4 month old yorkie name Charlie. My husband got him for me for christmas. I am learning and need suggestions or advices from all of you. I am currently house training him. Having such a hard time. He likes to poop and pee in the house during the daytime. He is pretty good at night time. He can sleep through the night without accidents. I am still trying to get use to feeding him and taking him outside on a regular schedule. My husband's coworker told me to crate train him. That is what I am currently doing however, i hate putting him in the crate all day. Inside the crate, he has his blanket, bed, and two stuff animal toys that he likes to chew on. He gets overly excited when he gets out and likes to bite me. I am also afraid to let him run around or play b/c i am worry he might have an accident inside the house. My husband told me to relax a little around him but I just can't. I am always watching him and yet there are still accidents. I don't know what to do. How did you house train your yorkie and how long did it take for them to be housebroken?

Another thing with Charlie that I am worry about is that he is constantly eating things off the floor. He is like a vaccum cleaner. I tried to sweep the floor and vaccum the house as much as possible yet he is able to find things. I am afraid he might eat sometime that is not good for him. He would rather walk around eating things off the floor than his own food. I am not sure if I am feeding him the right kind of dog food. When I take him outside to do his business he likes to eat things outside too including rocks. He would eat it and run away so I don't see him. I have to go after him and open his mouth to take out whatever he is eating. I wish he would eat his food instead of things on the floor. He acts like I don't feed him. Do you have this problem and how did you deal with it??

I am also trying to train charlie basic commands such as sit and come. He doesn't seem to get it. He does it to get the treats. Sometimes, he get so aggressive that he would jump up and try to bite my hand for treats. I don't know why he is so aggressive and over excited all the time. I tried to take him for walks to help get rid of the over excitment but he doesn't want to walk. He pulls in another direction (always toward the house) or would just sit down. He gets aggressive during the walks too. Help me with this? I don't know if I should take him to training classes.

and lastly, he always scratch himself. I don't know why. I thought maybe he has fleas and got a tick and fleas shampoo yet it doesn't seem to help. What kind of shampoo do you use on your yorkie? I want a shampoo that is gentle enough for once a week bath that won't irritate his skin.

Sorry for the long thread. Thanks for reading and for any suggestions/advices you can give me. I really want to bond with Charlie but it is so hard with all these things. He has been with me for almost a month now and I am afraid the longer I wait, the harder it is going to be to train him. Thanks!

[kelly jo]

I don't know if I can help, but the treat thing, Roxy was extreamly aggressive when she got a treat, which is nothing but her kibble, I have learned that when I give her one I use my whole hand with the treat inbetween my fingers and say nice. With my hand basically over her whole head she dosn't bit at me. I don't know why she does this and it's new but my new trick works too. I also have used no bite. These lil ones seem to crave attention so I also have her blanket that I wrap her up in like a baby and she just lays on my chest. It might take him some time to realize that your mama but he will, Roxy has loved this since day one. We talk about our day and just cuddle. They are strong willed and will test you at all times. She's one to grab off the floor too. I can't clean 24/7 so I got her alot of chew bones and toys and that was great. She will go to them now. I don't have little kids anymore, so I was out of pratice of child-proofing my house until her. lol. Roxy is 9 mts now and just finally got the sit thing down pretty good. I feel left behind too but I love her just the same........

[Sempai-mj]

or should I say the master of the House!
Patience, Persistence and regular routine will prevail.
Yorkies can get very excited at times and the best way to curb that reaction is to ignore it, show them affection when the behavior is the one you want, ignore them when they react in way you don’t want. They learn fast and they are boss as they will rule your home if you let them.
Good luck!

[QuickSilver]

Welcome! Many of your questions are discussed at length in this forum, particularly in Health and Training. You'll find lots of good ideas there.

I do believe that a tired dog is a well behaved dog. If he doesn't like to walk, perhaps there is a dog park nearby that you can let him loose in?

[TLC]

CONGRATS!!!!

First it is gonna take some time and patience.

I don't believe in crate training, so I can't help you on that one. 4 months is still a baby and he can't hold it that long. When mine were little, they were confined to one room, which I closed with a baby gate. Inside 'their' room they had their food, water, beds, toys and pee pads. They pretty much stayed in that room when no one was home. I of course had to puppy proof the entire room, which included taking card board boxes and opening the up and taping them together and than wrapping fabric around this 'train of boxes'. I had to 'line' the room with this set up, b/c mine started to chew on the wood door and mouldings (hahahahahaha). This is a puppy/bored phase though and in time it will pass. I do think you have a good couple of months though until he steps out of this 'puppy - chew - bite' phase. Mine were 1.5 yrs when they were finally trustable to let have freedom in the house when left alone. Before that we had really, really good weeks and some bad weeks of regression in training, so back to basics we went.

Dogs like routine, they like the same schedules. Keep things simple. Use one word ques for your training and be consistent.

Always enforce good behavior with positive praise and a good small treat for rewards to do help.

Ignore the 'bad behaviors' - Dogs like attention, any attention, so don't reinforce any bad behaviors...

What food are you feeding?

[phfgkl]

Originally Posted by TLC

CONGRATS!!!!

First it is gonna take some time and patience.

I don't believe in crate training, so I can't help you on that one. 4 months is still a baby and he can't hold it that long. When mine were little, they were confined to one room, which I closed with a baby gate. Inside 'their' room they had their food, water, beds, toys and pee pads. They pretty much stayed in that room when no one was home. I of course had to puppy proof the entire room, which included taking card board boxes and opening the up and taping them together and than wrapping fabric around this 'train of boxes'. I had to 'line' the room with this set up, b/c mine started to chew on the wood door and mouldings (hahahahahaha). This is a puppy/bored phase though and in time it will pass. I do think you have a good couple of months though until he steps out of this 'puppy - chew - bite' phase. Mine were 1.5 yrs when they were finally trustable to let have freedom in the house when left alone. Before that we had really, really good weeks and some bad weeks of regression in training, so back to basics we went.

Dogs like routine, they like the same schedules. Keep things simple. Use one word ques for your training and be consistent.

Always enforce good behavior with positive praise and a good small treat for rewards to do help.

Ignore the 'bad behaviors' - Dogs like attention, any attention, so don't reinforce any bad behaviors...

What food are you feeding?

I agree 100% with this. If you do a search on crate training, a puppy should never be left in a crate for any longer than his age, such as 4 mos. 4 hours, 5 mos 5 hours, etc. My advise on what I do believe 100% in is an xpen, this way, they are confined to a bigger area, can't get hurt, have a pee pad, water and food bowl, bed, toys and room to play and get some of the energy out. You can leave a tv or radio on for them also, that will help out some. Can you imagine a baby having to hold their bladder at 4 or 5 mos for 8 hours?