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

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!

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.

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! :D 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!

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...

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...

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

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!

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.

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..

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.

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...........

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

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.

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.

She crates him which works great while she's gone. He manages to hold it the entire time she's gone in there. Sometimes I work nights and when I'm here I let him out. He gets treats from me everytime he doesn't go inside, but does go outside from me, but doesn't from my girlfriend.

I completely agree with the setting them up for success comment and I'm here to accept advice on an animal I know little of. He's gonna be taken out every 3 hours from now on period. That will probably eliminate some of the problems. The rest of it is gonna be him taking the training which will take time.

He isn't scared of me at all unless I'm yelling at him. The ONLY time I've ever yelled at him is for going on the carpet when I catch him in the act. He knew what he was doing was bad today which is a good thing. I think that's a good start. I've gotten him to where when I walk to the door he gets excited because he thinks he's getting to go out and get a treat. That's a good thing too. He's actually gotten pretty attached to me since I've started working with him (probably because of all the treats I've given him).

I know this dog is trainable and because he means so much to my girlfriend, he means that much to me. That means getting him trained and that's why I'm here.

globemaster, I think you're right that you need to get your girlfriend on the same page with you. The crate will be really helpful. When I was getting the basics down with Thor, I would let him have (somewhat) free roam for 2 hours max after a potty break. So the next time you are getting busy with your lady, maybe put him in the crate. ;)

There are a ton of potty training threads here. You should look for the ones on training your dog for outdoors only, since it sounds like that's what you are going for. You should be confining him to one room until he really gets it.

I don't think anyone knows for sure why yorkies are so hard to train... I think honestly because they can pee SO fast that they have accidents that aren't noticed, and so even if you think you are being 100% consistent, they still think that a quick pee indoors is okay.

FYI, go get some Nature's Miracle for his accidents so your furniture is not ruined.

Sounds like he is getting mixed signals from the 2 of you. You 2 need to decide on how to train together and stick with it. The dog will never learn properly if he getting mixed signals. I would only give treats for the times he pottys outside. He doesn't understand what the treat is for when "he doesn't go inside". I'm not sure either of what you mean-in the house or in the crate?

Also, how long does he spend in the crate? A dog should not be crate for more than 4 hours. I didn't crate mine, for the short week before we got our expen, for more than 2 hours-3 hours max. If you or your girlfriend cannot be home to let him out, you can do 1 of 3 things, get someone to let him out for a walk or get an expen and have his crate, food and water and pee pad in there or gate him off in an area with his things. This will allow him to be able to stretch and use his pad when he needs. It is good that you will taking him out every 3 hours, but make it sound so concrete and expect his bladder to conform to your time table. Yes, routine will help but he is just starting his training from what I've read in this post. You cannot expect him to pick it up right away.

My 10 mo old is very good on the pad and going out but one morning about 2 mos ago, before I got a chance to put her harness on, she was still a bit sleepy thought she was already on the grass and peed right in front of me on the carpet. Just be patient and diligent. My 18 mo old is just finishing up his treatment for a urinary tract infection...he is VERY good about pottying, yet he peed 2x on the floor in the laundry room from his uti. So take it slow and just be gentle. Good luck.

Some other stuff:

- it's okay to correct your yorkie IF you catch him in the act. A correction would be a stern voice, hands clapping, and taking him outdoors immediately. If you find stuff after the fact, he's very unlikely to know why you're upset.

- if you are finding stuff after that fact, he needs to either be confined or watched more closely. Help him do the right thing 100% of the time.

Reading what you have just posted makes me very upset because I can see that you are very angry. First, I would like to say that a Yorkie is a very delicate dog and not a English Setter or Cocker Spaniel. They have very delicate bones and can become perminently injured or even killed. If you don't believe me just how delicate they truly are please read this story and think about what might happen if you continue to handle this little guy roughly.
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sic...old-puppy.html

Please stop torturing this dog before you seriously hurt him. I have 4 dogs in my house and not one runs in fear of any of the members of my house. If I were to find out that one of my sons treated any animal the way that you have just described there would be hell to pay!

There is no need to train by threats and intimidation. It is a proven fact that all this does is break down the spirit of humans and animals alike. I know that I would not like to live my life with fear of anyone.

If you truly want to correct his house training you need to begin crate training him and stop with all of the forced head jerking and rubbing in the pee. Purchase a crate that is just large enough for him to turn around in. You need to take him out JUST to go potty. Pick him up and take him outside. Put him onto the ground and allow just enough time for him to pee. No more that 5 minute. If he goes praise and bring him back into the house. Allow about 45 minutes to an hour of play time. Then back into the crate and at about 3 hours he can go back outside to potty. No play time, pee, praise inside and free time. If he doesn't potty outside then he needs to go back into the crate. You need to keep this up until he is accident free. You also need to get a good urine cleaner and clean the entire apartment or you will never correct what is going on with him.

DO NOT EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES FORCE THAT DOGS HEAD INTO ITS URINE! If you do not understand how delicate that these dogs are you need to go back and reread that above link and watch that video again. http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sic...old-puppy.htmlThat puppy has a neck injury that he will probably never recover from~you could easily be responsible as well for injuring your girlfriends dog. There is NO ARGUMENT that this treatment could cause great bodily harm to this little tiny dog. He is not a cocker spaniel or a English Setter~those are both larger and more sturdy than a delicate Yorkie. PLEASE stop what you have been doing.

Even better yet~have your girlfriend watch that video and decide for herself what needs to be done.

Omg! This thread is making me sick, poor dog.

Please follow the others posters advice.

How do you think I found this site? The dog has already learned its bad in around a month which is more than he learned in the previous 17. Punishment is part of training. You punish your kids, there are "punishments" at work for underperformance, etc... Its all part of life. You're exaggerating when talking about breaking bones. I understand he's small and he never gets hit. I've yet to figure out how holding a dog's nose in pee hurts it.

This dog is not an "innocent baby". He's a dog that before me was known to pee on the carpet, right in front of your face, at 17 months, 15 minutes after being taken out. Thanks to me he's getting better about it. I can assure you there was zero improvement before me - I've been dating her for over 6 months.

The belly bands are needed to prevent the dog from marking. My girlfriend wants to breed him. The order didn't go through for whatever reason last time. The Ceaser Milan Videos did. If anyone has that link, it would help.

I will have a "big slobbery mouth dog" one day as that is the type of dog I'm most comfortable with. I'm a C-17 pilot right now and can't take care of one full time. However, this dog will probably one day be my dog, so long as I can successfully train it. The dog is VERY important to me. I'm upset that as important as the dog is to my girlfriend, his training is completely UNIMPORTANT to her. I don't care if he barks, chews, jumps up on people, or pulls on his leash - I'm not going to live in a zoo and a house isn't a Yorkie Urinal.

His comfort is also equally unimportant to her as I often ask her if he needs to be taken out and she evidently has no idea how often that should happen. Heck tonight she told me he DIDN'T need to be taken out AFTER he peed. Then she didn't clean up after it while I was walking "her" dog. He peed several times when I took him out - mostly marking.

I've bought books to read on the subject and been reading all kinds of posts on here. I've presented the books to my girlfriend and highlighted pertinent information for my girlfriend to read. She's done nothing to help out with his training.

globemaster, I think it's clear you care about this dog, as you said. How about this: you agree to stop rubbing his nose in it so everyone's blood pressure can go back to normal, and we'll agree you're a nice person. Deal? ;)

Oops, one more thing: if your girlfriend does not have the time / inclination to train her dog, it doesn't sound like she should be breeding him. Please consider getting him neutered.

:thumbup::thumbup:

And this is her 2nd yorkie. :eek:

Thanks for the advice. Putting him in the crate is a good idea for that from now on. I've gotten advice on here to restrict his movement, but I don't think my girlfriend is doing it when I'm not around. I've always got him on a leash as one poster mentioned and haven't had any problems other than tonight since I started that. I've gotten some amazing advice on here and have even recommended the site to my girlfriend, who's never been on here.

That may account for all the yellow stains that I don't think have ever been cleaned. Because he hasn't been properly monitored, I'm not sure what's from when he was younger and now. I watch him so closely that I don't think he's doing it on my watch.

I'll try the nature's miracle. He's probably gonna mark until he's fixed and maybe after from what I've heard on here.

Also, I liked the name of your dog so much that I actually told my girlfriend about it a week or so ago. Thor... I may not get Yorkies, but that is pretty funny for such a small dog!

Aggragerating about breaking bones. Once again please see the video. He was STEPPED on. His spine is crushed. You could step on a Cocker Spaniel or an English Setter and not crush a spine~they are delicate. :(

As for breeding this dog :eek:if your girlfriend is not able to get his potty training under control PLEASE think twice about breeding. There is a lot more that goes into breeding a dog than just owning one. Unless she has a lot of experience as a Yorkie breeder there really isn't any need to make puppies. If she wants to make something have her make cookies.:rolleyes:

Furthermore, if this dog is now marking and is not fixed what do you think he will be like after she allows him to breed? It is known that after a male is allowed to breed the marking will increase and their personality changes as well. I can only imagine how he will then be peeing all over her apartment. Look into neutering him, getting him a crate and stop the punishing/nose rubbing.

I think that he is marking and at his age it can be almost impossible to stop. I think the best chance is to get him neutered, but at his age it might be too late already.

Marking is an extremly strong instinct and this is going to lead to a very unhappy, frustrated owner and a very scared yorkie. You must likely will have to use belly bands at all times especially if you breed him. Most stud dog do have to wear them at all times due to their constant marking. I would seriously perhaps think if you can not stop with the rubbing of his nose in it, or using negative punishments that maybe you should think to rehome him. All the best.

She told me that she's NOT keeping the puppy, but just wanting to breed him because of his genes. She claims she can get $800-900 for one of his pups which I have no reason to question. He is a beautiful dog, she just hasn't trained him at all. He's a very loving dog too. He barks waaaay too much, but my only real issue with him is the constant soiling of the apartment. That is gonna be an interesting argument if she wanted ANOTHER one. I'd be pretty upset, because she's obviously done nothing to train this one, despite her being meticulous about grooming and feeding him.