I have another question that might seem stupid to some. Each time I get Deb out of her crate she is so excited and squirms so much that it is next to impossible to get her harness on her quickly. I know that her little bladder is very full when she wakes but it takes me forever to get her situated. Do you keep your babies harness on all the time or do you take it off when he is not going outside? I just bought her a harness that is like a little shirt on her. It velcros on her back. Is it safe to leave it on her?

We kept Chewy harnessed all the time, partly for the very reason you just mentioned. Perhaps that's why our potty training went so well....

I never leave his collar, harness or clothing on him when he's not in my eye sight. That's of course my own personal preference. Harley's a punk and likes to try and ditch his 'gear' and has become caught up in or torn apart his things when they are left on him. He also is EXTREMELY insane when I wake him up in the morning to go outside but every morning since I got him I pick him up, walk him to the table, make him stand and slip his harness on as quickly as possible. He knows the routine by now but it took some practice and lots of patience on both our parts. (and on his bladders too I'm sure!) But personally I don't feel safe leaving anything on my darlin that he could get himself caught up in or chew on or eat. That was a good question btw!

All of this advice has been so helpful! Deb and I just went for a little walk and now she is in her new little kennel. Keep your fingers crossed that she likes it and sleeps well tonight :) I also just realized that I have been upgraded to a Yorkie Yakker from a Newbie :) I just love this site!!! It has helped me so much in the last month since I got my new baby :)

Good luck!
 

Good luck w/ her tonight! But remember when you fail.. try, try and try again! :D Practice makes perfect!

YT is AWESOME isn't it? I too would be lost w/o it too! :)

LeeAnn <3 Harley

I had that exact same problem with Roxy when she was a puppy. I think she associated confinement with going to the bathroom, like if I put her in the crate, she thought she was supposed to go there. If the gated area is working out better for you I would just use that method and try crate training LATER. Roxy wasn't crate trained until she was about a year old.

Well here is my morning update :) Deb stayed in her new kennel all night. I woke her at 6 am because I couldnt believe she had stayed dry and clean all night. She had :) I took her right to the peepad and she peed. I was so proud and excited!!!! I played with her for a little while and then tried again but she had no interest in going. I put her in her penned area to eat, and the minute I turned my back, she pooped sort of next to the pad...not on it :) After she ate, I walked her outside where she chased a bee. I put her back in her pen while I got ready for work and she peed on the floor. Should I have then put her in her kennel? I am going to keep her in her kennel today while I am gone and hope that she holds everything til we get home at 2. I feel sort of guilty keeping her in the kennel so much, but I guess that is what I need to do for a short time until she associates going with the pad. So I guess we had some success and some not quite....but still progress I think :)

That's AWESOME that she didn't make a mess in her crate! Make sure you spoil her really badly today! :p But I would recommend taking her outside to go to the bathroom in the morning. (Are you planning on training her for strictly "inside business" ?) If not I think that would be your best bet. Harley too would rather play w/ bugs and the other dogs in the morning than go potty but he got over it w/ time. :D

Ok, I'm sorry for getting off subject.. But I just realized that I've been promoted to Senior Yorkie Talker! YAY!!! :D hehe

Congratulations on your promotion :)

I am definatly going to spoil Deb today!!! I am very proud of her for going all night. I keep going back and forth on my decison about training her strictly to the pads or to outside. I cant help but think about the New England winters. And it is so rare when she actually goes outside. Maybe if I take her straight from the crate to outside she will start to get it. What do you think about during these initial weeks of strict training...should I put her in her crate when I am getting ready for work or can not be watching her completly?

Help :)
 

Ok so the first night in her new crate was a total fluke!!!! I am sooo frustrated. Not at Deb....just with the situation. Like I said, she went all night in her crate the first night....but then during the day, I would take her outside and she would be out there for over an hour and NEVER dribble a drop!!! When she was in her pen, she sometimes peed on her pad, but most of the time, she would just pee in whatever spot she was standing in. In her kennel she pooped twice....once when I had tried to take her outside for another hour with no success and once last night. The only reason she hasnt peed anywhere else in the house is because we are pretty much holding her every second so she is not able to :( When she does finally go, we let her down to play. Its not that I expect her to be accident free....but why does my baby poop in her crate and not mind lying in it? THis morning she wouldnt go outside again and she had not peed all night(just pooped). I would have thought she was about to explode. I put her in her pen to eat and she went right to the pee pad and went. Maybe I should stick with that???? But then how do I get her to go back there when she is not in the pen?????PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME SUGGESTIONS!!!

sorry jen,
i feel your pain. they say some yorkies are easy to train and some are very hard. sounds like your baby is going to take lots of patience. i didnt have the poo in crate problem but lucky was very difficult to train ( at least i thought til i heard your story ) :) ......i only know routines work. they learn to adapt to what they see you do day end and day out. maybe you should work out a tight schedule.
also once you start your routine stick to it dont change it .......b/c it doesnt seem to be working in a few days it may take weeks for her to finally get it. i gave lucky 1 month to show improvement and after about 2 weeks he kind of new the routine. so maybe the 1st week he had 6 or 7 accidents by the 2nd weeks maybe 5 and so on...they will learn..... but changing up alot confusing them and frustrates you too.
i had to learn that we both have to be trained.. he has to know where to poo and when...... and i have to be consistent all the time even when its inconvinent....i get up every morning at 615am to get ready for work so it was easy to get up a little earlier to take him out every morning to potty...well lately ive been sick and not going to work but he doesnt care he knows hes suppose to go out. so i have to get up every morning at 545am to take him out even on the weekends when i use to sleep til 10 or 11...now everyday (sat and sun's included) i have to train myself to get my behind out of bed and take him out to potty. its hard b/c sometimes im very tired but again consistency is the key to learning...
so this was all to say find a routine that works and stick to it..she will adapt gradually and you'll see that now your training her...if you make lots of changes now its her who is training you :eek: . good luck

That makes so much sense. I have probably made it worse by making changes to quickly when I see something not working! If you had seen the mess I just cleaned up...you would understand my frustration :) I swear I think she has been holding all her poo inside and not pooping when I want her too...and she just let it all go....how can something so tiny poop so much??? And then play with it??? I am going to take your advice and stick to this routine for a month....train myself :) Thanks again for the advice!!!

just a thought.....when my boy pooped alot it was the food he was eating. since i put him on a healthy premium dog food (wellness ) he doesnt take as many dumps as before. this could have just been timing but i think it was the food. also his poo doesn't smell as foul as it use to and its moist but firm not hard and dry and not wet and stinky :eek: . but before you change her food i would do a little research.
1st. what kind of food ar you using now and whats in it?
2nd. look at other food, read labels and ingrediants
3rd. talk to other yt member to see what food there using and how it affects their babies pooping
4th. they say its not good to swtch food alot, so i would really do my homework b 4 swtching. once you find a good food stick to it.
last but probably should have been 1st. talk to your vet maybe a tiny young pup poop's alot anyway. like i said mine pooped alot at first but hes 5 months now and he poops about 2 times a day. unless he has lots of snacks then he will poop more. i've also noticed carrots come out quick maybe it had fiber in it that i dont know. but snacks and carrots come out within a few mins 20-30 but when he eats his last meal at night he normally doesnt release it til the next morning. just a thought....these are just my opinions and my experiences with my own pup. im sure there are real experts on this site somewhere...hehehe

You may have hit on something. Deb had been doing so much better with the training until last Saturday. All of a sudden we were back at square one and actually worse. She had been on Eukanuba puppy chow and I switched (slowly) beginning last Saturday to the Nutra from Petco. It is supposedly supposed to make her go less often (or at least that is what the sales rep said) and supposed to be healthier for her. Maybe the switch has something to do with her not having as much control as she seemed to have had a week ago.....does this make sense to anyone????

It totally makes sense. Some furbabies have real issues w/ switching to new foods. I started mine off on Royal Canin but it had corn in it so he was itching all the time and his doodie was pretty hard and seemed to be straining him. So I slowly changed him onto Canadiae over about a week of blending the two foods together and then finally strictly onto Canadiae. He does very well w/ this food and has regular doodie times. But then again Harley is an odd furbaby bc he will eat ANY kind of dog food and never grows tired of the same kind. He's a weirdo! (since they're supposed to be so picky) :p The change in food could definately be the culprit in this issue.

Another thing to bear in mindd is that almost all experts have told me to either pad-train or out-door train, and never try to mix the two.

OK.....well I am definatly sticking to only pad training for now...that is one mistake I was making...trying to do too much at once...but if the change in food has caused the week of pooping all day long....do I switch back...or do I let her body adjust to the new one? Poor Deb is such a gunea pig to my family...we are learning all of this as we go :)

Hi there,
My Yorkie is kenneled while my husband and I are away at work. We have the same problem with him pooping in the kennel while we are away. We used a kennel divider to make the area smaller; however, he still poops. We asked a friend of ours that is a dog trainer what are we doing wrong and she said that small dogs unfortunately can only hold their "business" for as many hours as months they are old. I am not sure how true that is given that several people have been successful in getting their little ones to not go in the kennel. I am right there with you on this problem. My husband and I just try and stay consistant with the training and hope that it will eventually pay off the older our little one gets. Good Luck

WHat do you use to divide your kennel? I bought a smaller one, but a friend says it is still too big for her! I want to get this right :)!!!

Just because some dogs with their many different diets, sizes, anatomies, and variations can hold it, doesn't necessarily means that yours can. Regulate potty time on a schedule to make sure that your pup is empty when they go in. Only give them a little food in the crate. Nothing too poop = no poop.

How does your dog feel about the crate? Do they whine? These might be messages from your dog. When I tried using a gate to leave chewy in the kitchen he left sloppy brown "messages" everywhere!

She only whines for a minute when she first gets in the crate...then she is quiet and doesnt seem to mind it. My problem is...I cant get her to go outside....no matter how long I stay out there....she wont go.....so when I put her in the crate...she is never empty!! Any suggestions???

When I need Loki to go and don't have time to wait for him to sniff every stick in the yard we go for a walk. I know it sounds a little backwards, since you're in a hurry, but really within the first block he has to stop to poop. We walk around the block (maybe 1/2 mile total? about 10 mins) and he poops by our turn around point every single time. If he doesnt, then I know for sure he doesn't have to go. They just can't hold it to walk. It will be frustrating at first! Their bodies need to get big enough to function "normally" Puppies will poop 3-4 times a day sometimes! We went through this with Loki and thought it would never end but he is 10 months old today and he is awesome now. He is on a regular schedule:
At 6:30 we wake up and he goes out to pee
7:00 back out to poop
8-4 various bathroom breaks - my husband is with him i'm not sure what they do!
5:00 walk, poop
6:00 dinner

This took until he was about 6-7 months to get to. Switching foods is HARD on some dogs. Loki gets his food and 2 approved treats. ANYTHING different messes with him. You can't expect them to hold it if they don't feel good! Also, they don't know they have to go until the last minute. That comes with time too!

Also, the crate has to be tiny. We used an 18" crate with a divider panel until Loki was 5-6 months old. The he got the full 18" crate until he was 8 months when we got him a 24" crate. His old 18" is his time out crate - he barely fits in it! As long as they can lay down and turn around they have enough room. You want to make sure if they go, they have to sit/lay in it. Sounds cruel but Loki was never alone for more than an hour or two when he was that young and we were always ready to give him a bath if needed. Last month he was sick and had an accident in his big crate and he stood on his tip toes as FAR away as he possibly could and cried at the top of his lungs. He didn't want to be anywhere near it. Once their bodies are ready, it works. I promise.

Oh, and some dogs poop and then eat, and others eat and then need to go poop. Loki won't touch his food until after he's "empty". They are all different and in time you will learn what your dog prefers.

Sorry for the long post, but we went through this same thing. It DOES get better.

Sorry I should have read more carefully about the pad training. If you are having problems like this I would recommend you take her outside to go. I personally don't like the pads, and this is just my opinion, but I have heard too many stories of dogs who mistake the carpet for the pad, or pee/poop CLOSE to the pad. From when Loki decides to poop to him actually doing it he has probably waddled 10 feet from this original location. He would NEVER poop on a pad. Pee? Maybe, probably not. Then you get the dog who will pee on the pad but poop only outside, and that just confuses them. With Loki the rule is you POTTY OUTSIDE. Not in the house. Dogs who learn it's ok to pee in the house don't ALWAYS pee on the pad. They might pee on a newspaper you left on the floor, or the carpet, or a rug. If you must use pads, put them in the garage so the dog still learns that it's NOT in the house. I'm in Chicago and there was still snow on the ground in March when we got Loki and it was no big deal. I just bought him a sweatshirt for this winter. I'll take freezing my butt off standing on my porch holding his leash over him peeing on the carpet by mistake any day. My point is that they should see the crate as their "home" and don't want to get their home dirty. Then slowly they will start to expand that thinking to the whole house. If you put the pad near their crate they might not ever get that concept. (So it's OK to pee on the floor HERE, but not over THERE? To them it's just the floor and they don't know why they are getting in trouble.) And you have to make a HUGE deal WHILE they are going - not after. As soon as she starts to go outside act crazy, give her a treat, jump up and down, play with her, etc. but 20 seconds later she will forget why she was good. That's why repetition is important. Good luck!!

The kennel we have for Capone actualy came with a divider so we could adjust it as he grew. We never used poopie pads when house training him because we were told that this just encourages him to go to the bathroom in the house. We were able to completely house train him by 4 months, except for the kennel of course. He knows he needs to go outside in a desginated area to do "business" and even signals to lets us know when he has to go by running from the patio door to the front door and back. He also will wait by the patio door and look at us or scratch the door to let us know he needs out. We haven't figured out why he still goes in his kennel though. We think he may be acting out and being stubborn. He hates to be where my husand and I aren't.

I took the day off of work today so that I could spend the whole day working with Deb. I took her out about every 15-20 minutes....she did finally pee outside but has not yet pooped. I put her in her kennel several times today so that I could take her directly outside when she got out. She still pooped in her kennel twice today. I am hoping that the pooping will eventually come like the peeing has SLOWLY started to. I will spend all weekend working with her. She is such a smart baby..I know she is going to get it eventually!!! Or at least I hope so!!

I read that Yorkies are one of the top 5 most difficult to housebreak. I really think your little girl will catch on as long as you work with her constantly on it, stay determined and patient. I agree, I think Yorkies are alot wiser than people believe. With us, it just seemed like one day it clicked and everthing came together for Capone. Don't hesitate to seek a professional's advise either. You may learn something new that will work for you. Enjoy your time off with your little girl. Good Luck!

I am happy to report that Deb made it all night in her crate without any pee accidents. She did poop in it, but I keep thinking that will come in time. She has now peed outside several times which has been very encouraging! I made a fool of myself telling her what a good girl she was.....my neighbors think I am nuts :) Thank you so much for everyone's wonderful words of encouragement and helpful hints. Please keep them coming :)

I know Jewel used to poop in her crate when she was a puppy & then ROLL in it when I got home! She'd get so excited, she'd roll all over that crate & I would have to chg shirts & wash a puppy! ARG!

I CAN tell you that she eventually stopped that & does fine on her own now. Your baby is still young & I think she'll figure things out. Especially if she's getting LOTS of praise when she actually does her business outside other times of the day...

JM

THANK YOU...It is so nice to hear words of encouragement!!! THERE IS HOPE :)

I use to come home as well and find Capone with a little something extra on him when he was younger. Now he buries it is his blanket. It makes for easier clean up, nothing that a small load of laundry can't fix. I am hoping that is a sign that he is realizing he really doesn't want poop in the kennel with him and will eventually hold it until we get home. We tried not having the blanket in the kennel, once, and he didn't poop. I just feel so bad not having a blanket in the kennel while we are away at work.