Please help w/crate training!!!!!!

[Daisy23]

Hi! I'm new to the forums. How is everybody? I have a question I'm having a small problem with Daisy, she's going on 4 months. She stays in the crate during the day and my dad goes twice a day and let's her out - she doesnt go potty in the crate. When i get home i take her out, feed her and play with her, normally she'll let me know she's gotta go out but recently she gives no signs and just stops in her tracks and potties right in front of me. I feel bad and dont want to crate her when i'm home because i dont think that she be the answer, what do you think? She's ruined by $500 comforter set because she'll just stop in her track and potties on it or at night ( i was letting her sleep w/us) she'll just go to the end of the bed and potty without crying or anything. Do you have any suggestions?? when she goes outside and does "good girl" i bring her in and give her a treat and praise her - she knows what it is and why she's getting it but how can i break her from going? i dont trust her in the house except when she comes right inside from doing good girls outside. i feel as if i always need to be on top of her and dont want to be like that.

[pspin1975]

Well, first you have to remember that she is only 4 months old and she will continue to have accidents often. She's just still too little to expect not to have accidents. Also, it takes yorkies (in particular) a while to figure out they have to give you a signal for you to take them out to potty.
Keep in mind that if you are playing with her you have to take her out to potty after about 10-15 minutes of playing with them. They tend to pee-pee in in the morning, after meals, after naps, after play times and before bed time and give and take a few times in-between there. When she goes potty in front of you, pick her up and tell her "no, we pee-pee outside (or on the wee-wee, depending on how you are training her). Be firm, but don't scream or yell. And just remember to have patience. My Louie is 9 months old and he constantly has accidents. She'll get the hang of it eventually. Keep praising her when she goes potty outside and of course, keep the treats coming. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Daisy23]

Will she ever know to go outside all the time? This is my first yorkie, i've always had dobermans. My neighbor has two yorkies, only kind of dog they ever owned, and they constantly go inside, even though they are trained to go outside. Is this just in their nature? When in the crate ofcourse she wont go in it, i always take her out morning, after breakfast, she oes out twice a day (11:00 and around 3:00) then when i get home at 5:00, after she eats, she goes out and we play for a little bit and then goes out. I heard that she should be crated even when i'm home so she knows that way, but i feel bad. Is that what I should try to do? Thanks for all your help

[Funky Chicken]

you'll have to crate her at night. you may want to get up and let her out once during the night. i know it must be difficult because you work during the day. i'm at home all day so i don't have to face this dilemma.

so it's either more tinkle on your good house stuff or patience in crate training.

good luck w/this!

[pspin1975]

I wouldn't crate her while you are home. The only time I crated Louie when i was home was after I played with him for a while and he went potty and I knew that he needed to rest (can't play with them for more than 30 min. or their blood sugar level can go down and they could go into hypoglocemia shock) and when I had to do something and couldn't keep a constant watch on him...but if I did, I'd crate him for an hour max! I didn't like to crate him while I was home because they spend basically the whole day in a crate not being able to stretch their muscles or do much of anything-I just felt horrible.
Yorkies are VERY difficult to potty train-you'll read that in just about every yorkie book. It takes time and effort and most of all patience. Like I said, Louie still has his accidents and he's 9 months! I have a neighbor that has a yorkie and she's 2 and every once in a while she has accidents in the house. It happens, it just comes with the breed. They are a lot of work, but so worth it- Louie is still work...he would even pee in his crate and was fine sleeping in it!! Little piglet, but we just keep taking one day at a time, he has some good days and some bad...it'll get better, just remember to be patient with your little girl.

[Daisy23]

When she's crated at night.. she cries to go out every 2-3 hours and goes potty EVERY time. It's just rough. I'm glad it's not just my lil girl being stubborn. I was told it's takes awhile, but i've had her for two months and thought i would make better progress by now. Thanks for your help

[Funky Chicken]

Originally Posted by Daisy23

When she's crated at night.. she cries to go out every 2-3 hours and goes potty EVERY time. It's just rough. I'm glad it's not just my lil girl being stubborn. I was told it's takes awhile, but i've had her for two months and thought i would make better progress by now. Thanks for your help

yep. it's going to take quite a long time. as she gets older she'll cry less at night to take her out to potty. before i sell a pup i always tell people about Yorkies and the potty plight. it's a toughie.

[Ladylavender]

I work all day and keep Millie in the crate all day too. She does real well. but at night I was concerned about leaving her in the crate, because she had been in it all day and I would not let her sleep with me. So this is what I did. I got an x-pen. I placed an area rug in the x-pen, her crate, her bed, her water and food bowl and her toys. When I was home and could not watch her closely, I would put her in her x-pen. I would leave the crate door open, but I would not put her in it. When I was away from home, either at work, or on the weekends, shopping or going out to eat, I would put her in her crate.

I think because her food and water were in the x-pen, she did not pee or poo in this area, but I was very good about taking her out at the proper times for potty breaks. (also there was very little floor space to potty on. But whatever the reasons, she viewed her x-pen, the same as her crate and would not potty in these areas. After a while, (only on weekends when we would be home in 1 - 3 hours) we would put her in the x-pen and let her decide if she wanted to go into the crate or stay out on the bed in the x-pen.

so at night, she stayed in the x-pen and when she cried, I would get up and let her outside to potty. If I put her to bed around 9:30 - 10pm she might cry at 1:30 again at 4:30 or 5, but no matter what time it was, no matter how I annoyed I or my husband was, we would get up and let her out. We were imprinting in her little mind that there is no excuse to go anywhere but outside.

We also, in the begining when we were home and had her out, contained her in one room and one room only. this was the room that her crate/x-pen was in. So this room became an extension of her "den". Her 1st den was the crate and x-pen. I slowly introduced her to each of the other rooms, little by little. And I, somewhere along the line, remove her bowl and water from the x-pen and had her start drinking and eating in the kitchen.

She did have some accidents along the way, but when we caught her we told her NO-NO really stern and mean and put her outside and told her good girl when she finished up out there. If she had an accident and we did not catch her, we would clean it up without saying anything to her at all.

At some point, we taught her how to ring the bell when she wanted to go outside. This worked pretty well. And now she has a doggie door.

Millie is 6 months old today. I am not going to say she is 100% trained, because it has not been quite a month yet since her last accident, but she is pretty gosh darn near 100%. I know she knows she has to go out to go potty, because if we don't time it right and she has to poo, she will go out the doggie door herself. I have caught her by the door and waiting for me to ask her if she has to go potty, and she will go when I let her out.

But we are still religous about taking her out in timed intervals and making sure to ask her if she has to go when it has been awhile. I am hoping that eventually we will not even have to do that.

[Funky Chicken]

outstanding!

[pspin1975]

I am stern with my baby, but never mean. It's just like with children, stern to get your point across-but why mean...we all make mistakes, right??

[HisNameIsHarley]

Well it's good that she doesn't go in her crate that's for sure! But as far as just going where she is that isn't uncommon. You're basically just going to have to become accustomed to her actions. Only one out five of our dogs actually goes to the door & whines & cries when she has to go out. All the others.. you just gotta be on your toes and know when they gotta go. She is still young and may not know the ropes yet. A pair of hot pants ( http://www.barkindogclothes.com/bark...shortsets.html) could be a nice trick to getting her to stop going in the house. These are typically used to keep girls from staining furniture while they're in heat but can be used for naughty pee'ers too! They get all wet and learn to HATE peeing indoors! As far as her peeing on the end of your bed she probably does it bc she has no means of getting off your bed anyway (too high up) and it's usually a good idea to crate them at night. I crate mine @ night and keep him in a play pen during the day when I'm not around. (I used to keep a pee pad in the play pen for emergency use if he couldn't wait until I got home but now he's totally outdoor potty now) I hope this helps

[HisNameIsHarley]

Originally Posted by Ladylavender

I work all day and keep Millie in the crate all day too. She does real well. but at night I was concerned about leaving her in the crate, because she had been in it all day and I would not let her sleep with me. So this is what I did. I got an x-pen. I placed an area rug in the x-pen, her crate, her bed, her water and food bowl and her toys. When I was home and could not watch her closely, I would put her in her x-pen. I would leave the crate door open, but I would not put her in it. When I was away from home, either at work, or on the weekends, shopping or going out to eat, I would put her in her crate.

I think because her food and water were in the x-pen, she did not pee or poo in this area, but I was very good about taking her out at the proper times for potty breaks. (also there was very little floor space to potty on. But whatever the reasons, she viewed her x-pen, the same as her crate and would not potty in these areas. After a while, (only on weekends when we would be home in 1 - 3 hours) we would put her in the x-pen and let her decide if she wanted to go into the crate or stay out on the bed in the x-pen.

so at night, she stayed in the x-pen and when she cried, I would get up and let her outside to potty. If I put her to bed around 9:30 - 10pm she might cry at 1:30 again at 4:30 or 5, but no matter what time it was, no matter how I annoyed I or my husband was, we would get up and let her out. We were imprinting in her little mind that there is no excuse to go anywhere but outside.

We also, in the begining when we were home and had her out, contained her in one room and one room only. this was the room that her crate/x-pen was in. So this room became an extension of her "den". Her 1st den was the crate and x-pen. I slowly introduced her to each of the other rooms, little by little. And I, somewhere along the line, remove her bowl and water from the x-pen and had her start drinking and eating in the kitchen.

She did have some accidents along the way, but when we caught her we told her NO-NO really stern and mean and put her outside and told her good girl when she finished up out there. If she had an accident and we did not catch her, we would clean it up without saying anything to her at all.

At some point, we taught her how to ring the bell when she wanted to go outside. This worked pretty well. And now she has a doggie door.

Millie is 6 months old today. I am not going to say she is 100% trained, because it has not been quite a month yet since her last accident, but she is pretty gosh darn near 100%. I know she knows she has to go out to go potty, because if we don't time it right and she has to poo, she will go out the doggie door herself. I have caught her by the door and waiting for me to ask her if she has to go potty, and she will go when I let her out.

But we are still religous about taking her out in timed intervals and making sure to ask her if she has to go when it has been awhile. I am hoping that eventually we will not even have to do that.

Wow, I'm so impressed! You're one lucky girl Millie!

[Erin]

Originally Posted by Daisy23

When she's crated at night.. she cries to go out every 2-3 hours and goes potty EVERY time. It's just rough. I'm glad it's not just my lil girl being stubborn. I was told it's takes awhile, but i've had her for two months and thought i would make better progress by now. Thanks for your help

I couldn't believe how much he needed to go out, especially at night. It's normal. And the peeing in front of us did stop once he figured out if he went to the door we would take him out. He did got better around 6 months and began to sleep through the night. At first we went out 2-3 times a night, then only once, and now he has to go out by 6:30am but at least he sleeps until morning. You have to crate her if she is peeing on the bed! We learned that the hard way. Loki will now either sit at the end of the bed or lick me (or stand on me!) if he needs to go out at night. If he is sick, I crate him because he will bang on his cage or cry when he needs to go out, which I actually hear and wake up!

We went through all of this with Loki and it DOES get better. He is 11 months and he now always goes to the door. If he has an accident it's because he's sick or he pees in front of the door if no one lets him out. I need to get him a bell in case I am upstairs and can't see him go to the door!

Have you tried a bell or tried having her maybe sit before you open the door? That way she can learn what a good signal is. Loki scratches at the door and I'm OK with that. Also, I still say Loki didn't know he had to pee until it was too late up until he was at least 6 months old. I would pick him up while peeing (it's messy) and say "Potty OUTSIDE" and take him right outside (Keep a leash in your pocket!!)

You can also tether her to you with a leash and that way she can't get far out of sight. I sometimes noticed Loki would lose interest in his toy, which meant he needed to go. Or when he wakes up from a nap he goes right to the door.

Good luck!!!!!