My main issue with all of these schedule guidelines is they're all for people who work normal hours... 9 times out of 10 I work the night shift so it's hard for us to get a schedule down. When I get home late at night, it's hard for me to fall asleep for a while so I try to keep her up with me so she won't wake up as early, but it hardly ever works :( Any advice from night shift workers out there for potty training?

hmmm that would be a hard one...lol...being a 3rd shift worker...do you work nights as your normal shift or just on some nights...

My normal shift is 3pm - 11pm.

How do you get to the pdf file? When I click on the link I get it is unavailable....

here is the link to the pdf file

www.leecharleskelley.com/images/Housebreaking.pdf

so do you come home and go to sleep right away? then wake up early and play and train the puppy? i would think it would be same thing as someone working 1st shift. Where they get up go to work, come home play with puppy and sleep through the night...yours would be just switched around...hehe

to country lady
 

This is for country lady and her 5 year old dog.

Even though she is 5 and you have been patient with her and diligently training her, she still has had 5 years of using the indoor as her bathroom. It will probably take at least a year of your being patient and doing what you have been doing. A Yorky is a dog and not a child that will someday "get it" right away.

There is a possibillity, because of her previous training, she may never completly "get it"; but more than likely, she will finaly "get it" . Keep doing what you are doing and keep being patient. Give her time,give yourself time too. This previous behaviour has been ingrained in her for 5 years.

If there is a professional dog trainer in your area, who has had experience with re-training older dogs like yours, it would be worth paying for that kind of expertise if they can help move things along faster. It will help with your frustration especially!

I am sure you are doing the right things, you just took on a more complicated training job than one of house training a puppy.

reply to: xxmxaxrxyxx
 

In perusing the yorkietalk site I see many many posts using capitol letters, and I am sure NONE of us mean offense to anyone. You don't know me, and I find your post to be personal, judgemental, and uncalled for...

Thanks Abby! We just keep on trying. Sasha is so smart, and we keep hoping it is only a matter of time! She is doing so well really. We live in a fairly rural area and NO dog training here....Also, hubby lost job over a year ago, and is now just changing careers, and starting at the bottom to become a teacher! (Woefully short on $$$!). Couldn't afford dog training anyway, but I think the 2 of us are doing the right things, and being consistent. I HOPE one day it all just clicks for good! Thanks for the encouragement!

well i am sorry i offended you...which was not my intention. i will unsubscribe to this thread! And yes i don't know you and you don't know me! I find your comment really offending when you used those caps as if you was yelling at me...so that is why i wrote what i wrote...

We usually stay up late.. until around 3 and I try to get her to sleep later with me, but that hardly ever works :-/ It's hard for me to fall asleep as soon as I get home... I'm just wired up from work. I guess it might be easier to switch my schedule rather than hers...

Very nice book!

the pdf file isnt working..can u email me it please? thanks...victoria

here is the link to the pdf file..

www.leecharleskelley.com/images/Housebreaking.pdf

Isn't there another permanant solution for working people instead of leaving the dog crated all day?

I am unemployed right now so I am home with my two dogs, but I'd hate to think that when I go back to work they'll be stuck in a crate all day, even if they do get out for a break around lunch time. I know there to small to be outside unattended, but has anyone had any luck with different options besides crating all day?

I want my dogs to be able to play and be comfortable when I'm gone.

Have you tried an exercise pen? They come in different sizes, or if you have a room small enough, they make gates in different sizes to block the doorway.

I use an exersize pen that expands to several sizes and conformations. I've put a car mat under it to protect the carpet for just in case. Inside are her bed,food,water,lots of chewy toys and interactive toys.

If you have an extra room that you can close off and puppy/baby proof, that could be a solution for you also.

Crating seems to be the best way to house train a dog in most cases. That of course is not the only way, but it does help to confine the mess if there is any while the owner is away.
I hope this helps.

Jackson's had free roam of the house since about 5 months old. He could be trusted though and still to this day has never eaten anything, pooped, or peed when we're not here. (When we ARE here... different story lol) so depending on the dog, I don't think all need to be crated. It's just a matter of how much trust you have in them and training. I did have an expen for the first 2 months of Jackson's life with me that I kept him in. The 1st time he had free roam was at my dads house and we all left to go to dinner, and he has 2 other dogs. My dad didn't have the heart to leave him in the crate with the other 2 out free and I was worried at first but we came home to nothing wrong or out of place! They just sleep when we're not there.

Hopeless dilemma
 

I have been trying to housetraining Freyja for 3 years. I started to train her on pee pads but got complaints from partner that house smells like dog pee all the time and is very angry about it. This has caused a lot of embarrassment with friends who have pointed out that our house smells like pee. Partner will not participate in any training because yorkie is "my dog". Freyja uses pee pads more or less reliable but she will still play with her poop and spread it all over our rugs if she isn't watched. I have sanitized, shampooed and scrubbed the rugs but she will still poop and pee on various rugs if i don't watch her, even after she has been let out and has pooped outside. I have confined her, crated her, walked her but she will still do her thing in the house. I have fed her on demand, on schedule, limited her water and/or food, and she still doesn't get it. Or maybe I don't. This has caused extreme family tension and I am frankly at my wits end.
Question: Is is time to give her away?

I'll take Freyja for you - she simply needs a firm pack leader and walks at the appropriate times. This is called Terrier temper - she's not stupid - she is seeking attention and excercise.

Dogs are not a pack animal they are a soical beings. She just needs on a time table that is stable and a person watchful enough to understand her signals no matter how small.
No need to resort to firm when it should be natural and calm and Relaxed.
House breaking has not a thing to do with lack of excersie and she better be seeking atention to get let out.

JL

Sorry!
 

I didn't mean to offend you - have you ever watch The Dog Whisperer on National Geographic? Firm does not mean get a belt! Firm is a state of mind for training. Calm and Relaxed is for cuddling. Excercise IS important for good digestion, and they might get a sniff that encourages them to do their business outside. Don't get rid of the dog ... train it!

Have you looked at BEYOND CESAR MILLAN - Home

Cesar is far to tough and has not one clue about actually dog speak and a little read of the link info by those that are actually dog knowledgable may a good idea.

A dog will poop it if sleeps all day long or it is dragged around and over excerise like Cesar does. You know S**T happens.

There are a great deal of us that think he is a flake and needs to stop training.

Note to those that like to smake me for talking Cesar they brought him up not me.

JL

So this is all really great information that I keep hearing over and over, but I have a question regarding doggie doors. Are they a bad idea then? We have a doggie door and all the dogs use them - to go play outside, to talk to the neighbors, and to go potty.... Even my little miss Izzy (1 yr/3 lbs), however, even though she loves going in and out of the doggie door, she is terrible about being consistent in using it to go potty. Sometimes she will go out to go potty and sometimes she won't. I've trained the others that if they go outside to potty, they get a treat... it doesn't seem to make a difference to her... Any suggestions?

Hi everyone... my wife and I adopted 6 year-old Sprinkle about a month ago. Although she is opening up in SO many ways, she still does not seem to understand that she shouldn't go in her crate.

She was doing great for about a week... no pee or poop in the crate. And then this last week, she has peed every single day in the crate and pooped most days (including this morning). My wife and I are both in the Army, so we are up early. We take her out every morning about the same time, again when we get home for a long walk, then before food at 7:30pm and then again before bed. She has PLENTY of time to go out and do her business, but she just seems to wait until she's in her crate.

Also... she had bad anxiety when we first tried crate training. We thought we had trained her through this, and she was not barking in a panic while we are gone... but, we were VERY wrong! I video-taped her today while we were gone for about 3 hours. She was quiet for about 30 mins and then barked non-stop for the rest.

Any suggestions with both of these?!? Kinda at a loss and getting very frustrated.

Thank you for your link. I am very new to owning a pet and my yorkie is 13 weeks. She poops and pee pee somtimes on the training pad. I will keep at it.

Please don't give up on your dog!
 

It is not time to give her away unless you want to give up on training yourself about how to house train your dog. Some of the things you are doing are right, but you are missing crucial parts of her housetraining lessons. I say this because while you mention all the right things, you didn't include some really important communication with the dog and keeping your eye on her at all times.

The purpose of confining and crating is to keep the poop and pee confined and most dogs eventually learn to keep their place of confinement clean. The area of confinement must be kept clean and the dog must be kept clean or they will mess the area they are kept in and become depressed. This becomes vicious cycle. Not implying that you would let it go that far, just mentioning it because it is important to keep everything from attracting her back to 'do it' again

So, when you are out of the house, keep her confined.
When you are home,put her on a short leash attached to you, inside your home. Make yourself aware of her every movement, while you're doing chores, if she moves, take a quick look and make note,'is she acting like she wants to 'go' ? if not, go back to what you were doing.

If you want to put her outside, put her on a leash and go outside with her and tell her in short, easy,(for her) to understand words,"go pee pee", "tinkle",etc
Praise her as if she has done the best thing in the world as soon as she has finished. Give her a treat and repeat what she did that was so wonderfull.

Do what ever schedual that fits you best. But, keep her confined when she is inside the home and not attached to you by a leash.

There are many wonderful books and methods, just keep doing what you are doing and include 'teaching words',praising words and keeping her confined while your out . Especially attaching the leash, an umbilical cord if you will...,can make you aware of her behavior and you will know where she is, not off somewhere doing what you don't want her to ;)

All dogs need exercise, the bigger they are, the more exercise they need and they love it! Thank goodness Yorkies are so small, but they still need to be walked every day. This helps their system to be healthy so they can regulate, digest and eliminate!!! This also helps them regulate their pent up engergy. They have lots of energy and need to burn it off every day or they get into mischef or create mischef out of bordom.

Keep at it and don't let your partner let the dog out of confinement if this person is not going to participate in housetraining. Only let them play with the dog under your careful supervision ;)
Good luck, some of these dogs take a while to learn and we do too ;)

Question for everyone, I have an almost 6 month Yorkie ( male if that matters) He does pretty good for the most part when it comes to potty training. I crate him while we sleep and then he wakes up with my alarm and I take him out for a pee and poop. He stays out while I get ready for work then back in from 9-12 another walk pee and poop then goes back in crate from 1-5 then another pee and poop. I have second job so in the evenings it either my boyfriend or my father that takes care of him, my boyfriend has been doing better with taking him out every 2 hours in the evening. But whenever Riley ( my yorkie) is with my dad who is sometimes home during the day he will sneak downstairs and pee or poop my dad is amazing with dogs but for some reason Riley always sneaks and pees or poop somewhere in the house. Also sometimes I will take him out and then an hour later he'll pee in the kitchen or last night took him for a walk and hour later peed in the hallway. And he never barks or anything when he has to go and I don't know how to establish that. He also has peed on my dads bed and my when my sister was taking care of him on hers but he has never on ours. Any suggestions???

confinement is a good thing
 

Wow. Day 4 of Yorkie, and I was getting overwhelmed. I could not figure out how to confine in my open floor plan, but I figured out a plan with boxes to keep him in the kitchen. I relaxed immediately, but Dinky was a little overwhelmed. I went back to square one with crate training, and in just one morning, he is more relaxed and happy. I don't quite get why the confinement made such a difference, but I am so glad that got him to settle down. He's 4 and 1/2 months. It's helping so much with his fearfullness. he was too worried about me to play, sleep, eat, drink let alone go potty anywhere he was supposed to. I'm sure we have lots of work in front of us, but I am so encouraged. This is night and day behavior. He even is walking on the leash a little when we go outside. :p

I need help
 

I have a 2 year old yorkie boy. He came to me at 9 months old. he stills poops in the house. I have blocked off my bedroom so the cat can get peace, he goes in there to poop as well as the end of the hall. Is it a marking thing or just bad training. I have tried to get him not to go in the house and to do basic training. I have had no luck.

Most likely its not a marking thing. Marking is when they pee on a surface that other dogs will go by and notice. Do you have other dogs in the house? Does he kick his poop or drag his hind feet and kick backwards after he defecates? That is marking also. However, if he is not doing either of those things, he is not marking.

Why do you allow him to run loose if he isn't house trained yet?

What methods or techniques are you using to house train your dog and what kind of basic training are you doing?



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