Latest "Incident"... Need opinions...

[globemaster]

Ok... Some of this might be too much info, BUT... I need opinions and feel more comfortable at internet distances...

Things have been going well. Its been a month since he's gone inside on my watch, but I travel with my job and am not always around. We've managed to restrict his movement and the praise/punish system has gone well. I haven't been very physical with him with the accidents, but he gets his face rubbed in it for a LONG time when he messes up. Good behavior is always rewarded with treats EVERY time he waits to go outside.

TONIGHT... I was having some... "intimate" time with my girlfriend and we left him out during. At the end of it during pillow talk, he left a nice little puddle on the floor that I heard and I yelled at him. The scene of the crime was about 10 feet from the bed. He ran away, hid and was visibly scared when I found him, so I've obviously impressed upon him the penalty for peeing on the carpet (a minute or two of face rubbing in pee). It happened about 4 hours AFTER he'd been let out last. Was this a jealousy thing or did we wait too long to take him out and he was in pain?

Thanks for the help and sorry about the unnecessary details!

[MyFairLacy]

You waited too long to take him out. My dogs are adults and rarely go 4 hours without going outside. Rubbing your dogs face in the carpet is cruel and unneccessary, especially for 1-2 minutes! He ran because you yelled and he was afraid.

[jencar98]

Originally Posted by MyFairLacy

You waited too long to take him out. My dogs are adults and rarely go 4 hours without going outside. Rubbing your dogs face in the carpet is cruel and unneccessary, especially for 1-2 minutes! He ran because you yelled and he was afraid.

I agree! Rubbing his face in "it" is not a good method of training. If you're not available to take him out often enough, perhaps you should make a pee pad available. Punishment for something that isn't even his fault is cruel.

[Erin]

Please don't rub his face in it! Hiding is a good indication that he is afraid of you hurting him (as in, rubbing his face in it) Try throwing some water on the floor and having the same reaction, I bet he will still run away. I think he truly had an "accident" and you are punishing him for it and that's not fair to him. If you feel the need to "punish" give him a time out instead and immediately after the time out allow him the opportunity to potty in the proper place and get a cookie for it.

You don't say how old he is, but the only time I expect my adult dogs to go 4 hours is at night when they are asleep. You definitely should have let him out before hand. I bet he probably gave you some sort of indication he needed to go out and you didn't catch it. If you were unavailable to let him out, you should have crated him (after letting him out, of course.) Sorry! I have to blame the human for this one! Even if my two don't ask - if they are awake I send them out every 2-3 hours.

He might have been stressed but I doubt jealous - mine sometimes get jealous of each other, or over a toy, but barking or jumping on a lap is usually the response, never peeing on the floor. I'm certain he just had to pee!

[globemaster]

Originally Posted by MyFairLacy

You waited too long to take him out. My dogs are adults and rarely go 4 hours without going outside. Rubbing your dogs face in the carpet is cruel and unneccessary, especially for 1-2 minutes! He ran because you yelled and he was afraid.

Boy I just disagree about that. I'll agree that we may have waited too long, but punishment has worked with every dog I've ever owned. All of them have been very fond of me (mostly English Setters, but also Cocker Spaniels and an Irish Setter). I've never owned a Yorkie though.

I'm thrilled he ran, hid and was afraid. It means he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt he doesn't need to be going inside. He'll continue to get that treatment every time, just like how he gets a treat every time he does go outside when he's supposed to.

Part of it is not being use to these dogs. My girlfriend's dog is 18 months old and before I started working with him a month and a half ago, you'd take him outside and he'd come right back upstairs and pee on the carpet right in front of you 15 minutes later. That is UNACCEPTABLE behavior. Part of me wonders if my girlfriend just did nothing the first 18 months to train him, because he had no idea he was being bad 6 weeks ago.

There is absolutely no physical harm done to the dog by rubbing his face in it and I don't care if he doesn't like me so long as he doesn't pee on everything and my girlfriend is happy with him. He means EVERYTHING to her and she means everything to me, so its up to me to make sure I don't end up living in pee.

Sorry so long...

[globemaster]

Originally Posted by Erin

Please don't rub his face in it! Hiding is a good indication that he is afraid of you hurting him (as in, rubbing his face in it) Try throwing some water on the floor and having the same reaction, I bet he will still run away. I think he truly had an "accident" and you are punishing him for it and that's not fair to him. If you feel the need to "punish" give him a time out instead and immediately after the time out allow him the opportunity to potty in the proper place and get a cookie for it.

You don't say how old he is, but the only time I expect my adult dogs to go 4 hours is at night when they are asleep. You definitely should have let him out before hand. I bet he probably gave you some sort of indication he needed to go out and you didn't catch it. If you were unavailable to let him out, you should have crated him (after letting him out, of course.) Sorry! I have to blame the human for this one! Even if my two don't ask - if they are awake I send them out every 2-3 hours.

He might have been stressed but I doubt jealous - mine sometimes get jealous of each other, or over a toy, but barking or jumping on a lap is usually the response, never peeing on the floor. I'm certain he just had to pee!

Ok... He's still gonna get the punishment for it - I want him to be scared of it. There was nothing that was done to hurt him. HOWEVER, I know nothing of Yorkies and it sounds as if they definitely need to go out more often than the dogs I'm use to. It sounds to me as if the problem is that I need to talk to my girlfriend and establish that he needs to go out FAR more often. I probably need a 3 hour rule with him.

What really irritates me is that she didn't want me to let the dog out afterward, then didn't clean up the mess while I was taking her dog out in the rain. She fell asleep and still is...

[andibaby]

OMG! Are you for real?? I am just going to refrain. I think you are quite "unacceptable" as a pet owner.

[QuickSilver]

I think anyone who comes on and asks questions is showing an interest in doing right by their pet.

globemaster, yorkies are notorious for being extremely difficult to train. My guess is that it will take longer to train this guy than your other dogs.

ALSO: how old is your dog? It's not uncommon to for yorkies take up to a year to be fully house trained.

Dogs can eat each other's poop, so I don't think that rubbing a dog's face in it is as objectionable as it would be for a human. However, one to two minutes is an ETERNITY. I agree with others that the basic idea is unecessary and outdated. Seriously, I second the suggestion to throw some water on the foor and then yell at your dog. I bet he will react the same way. He might be scared of your tone and a mess on the floor, but he doesn't necessarily connect that with his own body functions. I'd guess that the treats are probably doing more.

Assuming he is an adult, yes, you should probably take him out every three hours, or even two. If he's on a regular schedule, you should be able to determine when he'll need to go; after meals, excitable play, etc. Good luck!

[MyFairLacy]

wow. If you were my boyfriend and treated my dog like that I'd dumb your ass. I wouldn't have someone in my life that didn't love my dogs and treat them well. Take the dog out more often. Punishing does not work and teaching a dog to be afraid of you is aweful. If you are really that concerned about pee, get all hard floors so it can be easily cleaned up or use belly bands.

[YorkieOwned5]

I think your girlfriend should be held accountable for HER Yorkie and YOU keep your HANDS OFF of him. She needs to teach him how to use pee pads so NEITHER of you will be bothered to take him outside. Better yet, Let someone ELSE have him... HE will be MUCH HAPPIER without dealing with your BIG HAND and LOUD VOICE scaring him to death!!!!!!!!! GET OVER YOURSELF..

[globemaster]

Originally Posted by MyFairLacy

wow. If you were my boyfriend and treated my dog like that I'd dumb your ass. I wouldn't have someone in my life that didn't love my dogs and treat them well. Take the dog out more often. Punishing does not work and teaching a dog to be afraid of you is aweful. If you are really that concerned about pee, get all hard floors so it can be easily cleaned up or use belly bands.

Having dog urine everywhere is unsanitary. Do you pee all over your house? If she wants to dump me for attempting to train her dog then I'd be better off without her. Its apparent that she hasn't done the groundwork herself. She should be and is thankful for me putting forth the effort.

I've never had dogs that needed to be taken out that often unless they were puppies, but I do understand that there is a difference. He's gonna be taken out every 3 hours from now on.

Punishing has actually worked better with every dog I've ever trained. We never gave our dogs treats - just praise. This dog gets a treat every time he does what he's suppose to - go outside. All our dogs were trained young (6-8 months) and at 18 months peeing right in front of your face 15 minutes after being taken out was unheard of. Sadly you blame the owners for most untrained dogs. He's catching on - my girlfriend isn't. I love the heck out of her though and training the dog is worth any amount of effort to me. That includes taking tips at 1AM when I've got a 7AM show time at work.

At least after training the dog and cleaning up after him, I'm online attempting to figure out how to properly take care of him.

[YorkieOwned5]

FYI, after reading posts from this guy since 2/19, the dog is about 18 months and hasn't been worked with very much. He loves his girlfriend so much that he is going to continue to use this punishment on this innocent baby until he Learns Not to do it again. He needs to by pee pads and Belly bands, but dosen't know where to buy them, LOL... Anyone on here want to send him a couple of Belly bands so he will stop torturing this poor Yorkie PUPPY!!!!!!! Buddy you need to have a big slobbery mouth dog.. Yorkies are to FRAGILE to be handled this way, Next we will here that he has a broken bone or something...... JERK>>>>>>> It takes a special person to understand the way a Yorkie acts. There is all kinds of info on the web, just type in Yorkie training.......duh...........

[YorkieOwned5]

you need to tell her to train her dog or your outta there.....

[Mom to Hot Rod]

It's obvious that you are looking for input on how to deal with this situation. You will find that a lot of responses will be to not rub your poor dogs face in the mess. That is just not right. Just because it has worked (as you say) for other dogs does not make right. I would encourage you to not make a big deal over the accidents and do make a big deal over the correct behaviour. As someone said, have pee pads available if you don't want pee all over the house-let it be one spot that he will know is okay to go. I have 2 yorkies and 2 pee pads inside the house in case I do not make it home on time or get busy with something--and the get walked 4 or 5 times by 5 pm. I think of this way, they are little so their bladders are little. Set the dog up for success and you will have success. And I agree, that poor little guy is probably scared to death of your tone and how you are dealing with him.

[globemaster]

Originally Posted by YorkieOwned5

I think your girlfriend should be held accountable for HER Yorkie and YOU keep your HANDS OFF of him. She needs to teach him how to use pee pads so NEITHER of you will be bothered to take him outside. Better yet, Let someone ELSE have him... HE will be MUCH HAPPIER without dealing with your BIG HAND and LOUD VOICE scaring him to death!!!!!!!!! GET OVER YOURSELF..

This is insane... So having your dog pee all over everything through infinity is acceptable? That is not sanitary. When we have children one day, is my 2 year old supposed to be walking around in his pee all day? What about my 8 month old crawling through it? How destructive is too destructive? Is all of the expensive furniture that I've bought supposed to be destroyed so he can pee on it? I guess nobody would ever be able to come over to our house. I'd be too embarrassed to have them smell the house or see the dog pee everywhere.

My girlfriend is gonna be held accountable for her Yorkie, but I care enough to help train him. If she refuses to train him and refuses to let me then she can wallow in his urine for the rest of his life. She happens to be a sane person though and at least understands that having a boyfriend who cares enough to train her dog is a good thing. 99% of the other guys I know would smell her apartment, see all the urine stains, figure out her dog isn't a puppy anymore, and find other options.

He doesn't need pee pads. He needs to be taken out on time. As a previous Yorkie owner she should know what that time specifically is. The issue is that I'M the one online figuring this out FOR her at 1:30AM online.