Sorry you are having such a hard time. I was lucky. I got Nolee at 12 weeks and 1 month later he was potty trained. Of course, he did have some accidents, but he did learn very quick! Best of luck!

Don't be down -- took Sadie a good 10 mos, but when she got it, she really got it. Hang in there, it gets better, just be consistent and patient.

Sara was 6 months when we got her, and partly trained to go outside. Within a month, we trained her to use piddle pads, and now, at 3 years old, she knows exactly where to go. She also has a doggie door so she can go outside during the day. The problem is that she is so stubborn that we find little surprises periodically in the house. She always pees on the pad or outside, but likes to try our patience with the poop. Mostly goes on the piddle pad...but still likes to surprise us... Can't help but love her:).

Britster, we used a slightly unconventional way to gradually begin expanding Nikko's territory that he hopefully didn't want to pee in... We had recently moved, so we collapsed some of our moving boxes, taped them together, then taped them to walls and desks and other places to create whatever extended or oddly shaped "gate" we wanted. To convince him to not chew on the cardboard, we sprayed the edges with bitter apple spray for the first week or so and since then he hasn't bothered with trying to chew on his cardboard "gates." This enabled us to gradually expand his area by six square feet at a time or less, even if there was no conveniently placed doorway to put a traditional baby/pet gate in. We expaned his area approximately once every two weeks or so, but only by these small increments.

From what I understand, the idea is to make your dog feel like your whole house is his 'den' that he doesn't want to pee in.... and if you can expand his 'den' very gradually he may not make as many mistakes. It has been working well for us so far. If Nikko isn't in his "gated" "den" area, he is in our arms or in our crate. And we occasionally allowed him to sit/lay next to us on the couch before the living room was a part of his 'den,' but only under the closest supervision.

Lauren & Nikko

I agree, pick her up when she wakes and take her outside. Give her a command, mine is HURRY UP..You need to take her outside about every 20 min....

Don't give up. I have 3 and it took over a year for each one to finally be dependable.
The problem I have now is everyone who comes by wants to give the cute little beggars a bite of something...
Causes diarrhea..........anything that is not what I feed each day..

Good Luck......

There are a lot of great suggestions here. I will say consistency is key!

Paisley is 16 months old and I believe she is finally potty trained. She rarely had an accident in the house, but I believe this was because I took her out at all the "right" times. It took lots of patience and time. I was outside ALL the time.


With small children you will need help and a plan. I am a mom of two (7 and 9) so I know how hard it is to have small children.

Things that worked for me: crate, regular feeding times, blocking off small space for her, putting her on a leash when going outside to "potty", noting times for pooping, cleaning accident areas well, watching her like a hawk when she was given the room to run around.

Good luck and let us know how things are going!

My first Yorkie (male) was completely housebroken within a couple weeks and never had accidents. Piper is another story. She has been very difficult to housebreak. When we first got her at 9 weeks she piddled every 30 minutes. I was convinced that she must of had an urinary infection. Took her to the vets had all tests down on her urine and she was fine. The vet said she had an immature bladder and she just didn't realize she was capable of holding her urine. Piper would go potty every time you took her out but within a half hour she would have to go again. Luckily it was summer and was nice to be outside. She is now 10 months and just when I think this is it she's housebroken she'll have an accident. Piper doesn't ask to go out so you just have to bring her out every hour or so. I'm getting to know her body language when she runs back and forth you better take her out. When she does pee on the floor it's not a puddle but a dribble line where she had been running back and forth. I pick her up bring her out and then she goes. She still doesn't have good bladder control. When she has to go she has to go. Hopefully she will outgrow this.

THANK YOU everyone for the encouragement! I do believe I am doing the right things with her, so hopefully...she will get it within the next 6 months! Now I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. :rolleyes:

My girls just turned 2 years old and I STILL have problems with them .. I have to let them out , the still dont tell m when they need to go .. If they are in the kitchen all day when the grandkids are here they are fine, I let them run around the house they crap and pee.. even after ive let them out and theve gone they still do it !! They are the most stubborn dogs i have ever raised!!!! I see it must be the trend with these Yorkie breed !!! ;)

Buster is a little over a year old and he's finally getting pretty reliable. Maybe one accident every few days.

For the longest time, he'd get probably 80% of his functions on a pad, and one accident a day, sometimes while he was looking right at us.

He has been surprisingly difficult to train despite pretty consistent efforts from us, but he's getting the hang of things. Every once in a while, though, he'll have a span of a couple of days where either his housebreaking or obedience training go completely out the window before he behaves again for a month or so. :) We love him, but man he can be frustrating!

Mitzi is five months old. Since I have allowed her to sleep on the bed at night (I know, I know, a no-no to most of you) she has improved greatly. She holds her potty (both of them) until around 6:30 A.M. She is pretty good about going 'piddles' outside in the afternoon and evening, but the poop thing is driving he crazy; it's hit or miss. From what I've been reading on this site, it seems that six months of age is the golden rule for yorkie puppies. Here's hoping.

Well, you probably don't want to hear this but Ellie is 7.5 and while she knows where she is supposed to go, she sometimes doesn't want to wait for me to take her out, so she goes wherever she wants. And yes, I do take her out usually at least five times a day but she just has her own schedule I guess.:rolleyes: I expect that this will go on forever...

You may want to reconsider allowing your pup to be outside unsupervised. Some of us won't even let our adults out alone. There are just too many dangers.

Ive been "hard core" training Tucker since he was 7 weeks old. His breeder started him on pee pads, I kept using them because he was use to them and because it was really cold out, snow on the ground when I got him. I will never ever pee pad train a dog again. I do beleive this is why we have had so much trouble training him. He was the first dog I tried to pee pad train, all of my other dogs were fully outside trained by 4 months old. Tucker is 5 months old and is finally getting it, he is still averaging 1 accident a day but he is now going to the door most of them time when he has to go. I know where he is at all times, I take him out every hour that he is awake and we stay out there untill he goes, which usually takes about 5 to 6 minutes, the entire time we are out side I repeat, go potty, go potty. As soon as he goes, he is told good boy in a very high pitched voice and I give a treat (usually a cheerio). Then we go right back into the house, no playing. Untill he "gets it".. we only go outside to potty. If he has an accident in the house then he is told a firm NO and we head to the door, the entire time saying "potty outside". He doesnt have accidents in his crate and hasnt since he was 3 months old so Im no help there. I agree that if you cant train her outside because of the little ones then you need to get her an x-pen and possibly try washable pee pads. If you want her to continue to go outside then try putting her out every 30 mins untill she goes, then extend it to an hour etc. You can praise her and give her treats when she comes in. The biggest key is to be consistent, find something that works for you and your family and stick to it untill she gets it. House training alot of work!!
Good luck!! :)

Tucker is now 6 months old and he still has a few accidents in the floor occasionally. Sometimes though I dont think they are always accidents. I think he does it on purpose if he gets mad at me. The way we trained him was with an exercise pen lined with his pee pads. With using the pen I was able to lock him in the area till he pee'd and I was able to praise him for it when he did it. Because they dont have bladder control for long periods of time, if I was going to be gone more than an hour or two I would put him in the exercise pen instead of his kennel so I knew he could potty while I was gone if I needed to. If I wasnt going to be gone to long or just needed him out of trouble for a bit while I was doing other things I put him in his kennel. Now he jumps in the exercise pen on his own and does his business. I have recently reduced the pen from the full size that it was to just being about 2ft x 4ft.