house training a puppymill yorkie
 

Hi!
I am new! I rescued a 3 year old male from a mill last Saturday. He is adorable! I have zero experience with Yorkies. Any info you would like to share would be great.

Here is some info on Bam:
He is around people all the time. Eats Natural Balance food and gets a little cheese as a treat.
He sleeps a lot! He also sleeps in bed with me at night.
He is petrified to go outside. I take him out with his blanket for a little while each day.
He is not house trained. I refuse to crate him because of his past. I have the kitchen gated off and have bought training pads and dog litter. I am not getting far. Help!!!
He will start to squat and when I reach for him he bolts and poops on the way!
Thanks for listening and any thoughts are appreciated!
Bridget:aimeeyork

I'm answering in order to bump up this question. It needs to be answered for you considering that you are doing an angel's work. Now this is JMO......since you are unwilling to crate him, it sounds to me that what you are doing by taking him outside a bit at at time will help. There are also belly bands which I use on my boys when we are at my family in MS just to reassure them:eek:. He will come around. I have a mill rescue. She is mentally challenged and has many health issues. I've been blessed to have had her for 10 yrs. considering her start in life. She is not house-trained....I am trained to take her out at intervals. Have you thought about using an ex-pen that is not so confining? Again, I hope that when more people come on-line that someone will provide some ideas for you. Good luck. ~Joanne~

Bless your heart for adopting Bam! I assume he is your only dog? Rescues usually try to place puppymill rescues in homes with other dogs since they are the only security they have ever known. It really helps them to have another trained dog in the household as a role model for housebreaking, etc. A friend with two Maltese adopted a Yorkie puppymill resuce and he learned everything from them. He's totally housebroken now.

Crate training does not work with these poor souls since they have become used to pooping and peeing in their cages. Crating him would not accomplish anything but traumatizing the poor guy more.

Praise and reward will work best with him. I'd get an x pen and cover the floor with pads. Gradually start removing the pads and praise him if he uses the pad. Are you home with him during the day? This may be hard to do if he's alone for long periods of time.

Hopefully you can gradually get him used to being outside. Poor guy. He's never been out of his cage. If he can get better about being outdoors, maybe he'll potty there.

Just be patient and accept the fact that he is emotionally damaged and will always be a special needs baby. With love and consistency, hopefully he'll come around as far as housebreaking.

That is so sweet he sleeps on the bed with you. He probably can't believe how his luck has changed!

Bless you for saving this little one. I got Pixie at 13 months from breeder but she was not use to being outside ever and was not potty trained. When I first brought her home I lined my whole bedroom with potty pads and when she went on one I praised her and gave her a little treat. I kept reducing the number of pads and she got pretty good at using the pads. i had a pom that only went outside and another yorkie who was pad trained. After about 6 months of this she suddenly decided she like to potty outside like my pom who she loved. So she now goes outside to potty but does not stay out like my others and hates to go on walks to this day, 2 years later. When my pom passed away last month she regressed and wouldn't go outside but after about a week she started to go outside again. So I would try lining the area you have him in with pads and see if that starts to work. I know he will need more time due to his past.

First off, how awesome of you. Second, I've never had experience training a rescued dog, but can I just say (while I do completely totally understand why you wouldn't want to crate him because of his past...) dogs do NOT think in the past or the future. Their minds are in the now. And I think a lot of people will rescue a dog, spoil and baby it because of the past life he had and then they become out of control and hard to handle and train because they know they can get away with everything. So make sure rules still exist to him. But personally, I wouldn't crate him either :) Just trying to say to treat him like a normal dog and give him the same rules and boundaries you would a little puppy. Congrats on your new dog!

I admire your strength and courage...that with patience, persistence and praise will get you far. Make sure he is on a schedule...take him outside first thing in the morning, after he eats and every hour between...unless he is sleeping of course. I have confidence that you will find a way to make this work...may you be blessed in life, because you are giving him his life back...

Thank you to all who have replied!!! You are so kind!
I do not quite get the belly band and what it does. LOL
I will further research a 'x pen' also. I am assuming it's like a gated kitchen? ;-)

Bam is to die for and I agree I am blessed! I will try to get his picture uploaded like everyone else's babies!

PS It is hard not to baby him because of his past...I have read up on small dog syndrome and am trying very hard not to fall into that pattern.
Thanks, Bridget and Bam~!
Have a wonderful Monday!!!!:aimeeyork

Oh man! I had this great post to you and I lost it!:mad: So here I go again....

Welcome to YT! I would like to first thank you for opening your heart and home to Bam! He will fill your life with great joy and give you undying love and gratitude for what you have done for him.

I too have a puppy mill dog but he was just a puppy when I brought him home and I also had Pebbles so she taught him all of the ropes;) I understand you not wanting to crate him and you are right on the money with that. He has lived his entire life inside a crate and you cannot crate train a puppy mill dog. What I would suggest to you it to put his harness and leash on him and keep it on all the time. This way you will have some control over him and if he want to run you will be able to gently control him. This will also work for his potty training as well. Since you cannot crate train a puppy mill dog you need to keep him near you at all time and confine him space. Do not let him wander around your house and keep him next to you at all times while he is attached to his leash.

When you take him out, which should be at least once an hour be sure that he goes out for only a few minutes at a time. As soon as he does his potty, immediately give lots of praise and an immediate treat then pick him up and back into the house. If you would like he can have a little freedom but not too much. If he is afraid and running from you get down to his level and always speak in a low tone. Never raise your voice or yell as this will only cause him to fear you. When you are on the ground with him allow him to come to you and accept you.

There are several books that I would suggest that you purchase.
Let the Dog Decide and Second Hand DogAmazon They are both excellent books and will really help.:)

Finally, what is the name of the rescue that you got Bam from? How long did they have him in foster care before he came to you? Did his foster mom give you any ideas about his habits or potty training successes or failures? Please let me know if I can be any more help to you. You can always PM me and I am more than willing to do whatever I can to help you with your new little man. Make sure you take it slow and you will have so much love from him you will not know what to do. :p

Just want to welcome you to Yorkietalk, I've had a few older dogs that weren't house broken, but they weren't puppymill dogs, so I'm not sure if my suggestion will help. I would just take them for a walk every few hours, and praise them when they did their business. There were accidents, but not many. Dogs seem to really like going outside, even Joey who is pee pad trained, seems to prefer going outside, if it's not too cold or hot. Bless you for taking this little guy, and can't wait to see pictures. I found some great tips on this website. Free House Training for Puppies and Adult Dogs - No More Accidents Starting Today!

Thank you!
 

Happy Monday All!

Bam was placed in a humane society not a foster home. :-((
I am so glad we found each other tho!!! He is soooo adorable!

I am using the gated kitchen more and watching his eating. He doesn't eat much.

I have looked at the ex pen (thanks)...he paces in the kitchen against the baby gate~it kind of freaks me out, like a tiger in a cage. So I would imagine that the pen would be worse.

Can somebody give me the scoop on belly bands? I so don't get it!

:-)

Bridget:aimeeyork

Thank you!!!
 

Thank you for all the info, books and websites!
I am amazed how caring you all are!

Poor Bam. Circling is a habit so many of these poor souls develop because they are confined to such a small space all their life.

A belly band is a wrap, like a diaper for males. I would advise against using one and try leashing him to you instead as megansmomma suggested. If you use a belly band, you are basically giving up on housebreaking. You can see what they look like here:

Washable Dog Belly Bands www.PersonallyPaws.com Washable Reusable Pet Training|Whelping|Potty Pads - PersonallyPaws

It's a shame a rescue group didn't foster him and work on some of his issues first before he was just adopted out. I hope some of our YT members who have adopted puppymill dogs can help you.

I've been where you are at. A little over 8 months ago I adopted a 4 yr old breeder release yorkie. I'd never had a yorkie before either, and she knew nothing and was scared out of her mind. She has come a long way and is house trained now. It takes more patience than work with our yorkie to make progress, but she is smart and is coming along. You have to remember they know nothing of the real world and have no idea why they are with us or what we want from them. Mine had never been shown affection, the first time I tried to kiss her she threw herself back, I think she thought I was going to bite her face. It's teaching an old dog new tricks. I can't crate our dog because of her past, she just freaks out. I can't gate her off as she climbs right up the side and over the top and I'm afraid she'll land wrong and hurt herself. She'd never had treats or toys or played before, so we had to try different treats till we found a couple she really liked. Then I started taking her out about once an hour. If she peed she got a treat if she pooped she got two treats. If she did nothing she got no treat and the potty treat was the only time she got that treat. I used other treats for rewards on other tasks. Lots of patience and love goes a long way, our dog had so much fear if she did have an accident I never punished her. I would sit on the floor and let her know I knew what she did and pretend to be sad or cry. Stange, but it was like she knew my sadness and reacted to it, we never yelled or spanked her. Still haven't. The more she went potty outside the longer I would stretch out the time between. Now she's good for hours, sometimes she looks to me for a treat when she comes in sometimes she doesn't. If she does I still give her one if she went potty. I could write a book on what we have done and taught this little girl over the last 8 months. She still doesn't get toys or playing and has fear of some things and everyone but my hubby and I. I read an article on Puppy Mill dogs that said some get over the fear, some never do. Feel free to contact me if you need anything. I am not an expert, just someone who's a few blocks ahead of you in the same race. The vet said sometimes she would have accidents out of panic, if we left she thought we were going to abandon her and she had no idea what to do but panic and pee.

What a great story and lots of really great advice too. With time some do learn to play with toys and loves their treats. When I brought Bogey home he had no idea what a toy was and now he plays and romp with the other two like a normal happy little pup. They really do come far and surprise you in the abilities to blossom and grow. I think I was lucky with Bogey because he was very young and not mentally ruined. He didn't know treats, toys, potty, tricks, good food, was so think and a total mess. He was not able to go up and down the back 2 steps and I had to carry him until he learned. Now he is an official meatball who loves to play, romp, run up and down the back stairs and have a grand ole time with his sister and brother. :D Whenever they would come into the house everyone would line up at the kitchen cabinet for a treat~just because:rolleyes: Pebs and Doodlebug would sit, give paw, roll over like little goofs and Bogey would just look at the two of them. Then one day out of nowhere Bogey gave me paw for his treat!:eek: I cried :rolleyes: Now he can do down and roll over. He's the first out the door for potty and the first to come when called.

Your little guy will make leaps and bounds but you need to start with baby steps.

Great suggestions everyone!!! I personally think the advice given here would work on any Yorkie, not just a puppymill dog. I've done all the things mentioned...they work!!! Also, I would not use belly bands unless the dog was elderly or incontinent...you can train this dog...you'll both be happy you did!!!