Housebreaking

[momladynh]

Maggie and I are new to Yorkie Talk. She is 5 1/2 months old and the hardest dog I have ever tried to housebreak. I take her out and walk around for quite awhile and as soon as we come in, she does her business in the house. I have 2 other dogs, so she does have role models. Any help?

[JDS]

First off, welcome to YT!
I am still going through the potty training phase with my Lulu (she's 19 weeks old). I'm trying to reward her with treats each time she potties outside. Lulu will potty outside no problem...she just will not ask to go outside when she needs to go. So I have to watch her like a hawk & not allow her to be away from me at all.

[RachelandSadie]

Originally Posted by momladynh

Maggie and I are new to Yorkie Talk. She is 5 1/2 months old and the hardest dog I have ever tried to housebreak. I take her out and walk around for quite awhile and as soon as we come in, she does her business in the house. I have 2 other dogs, so she does have role models. Any help?

yorkies are notoriously the hardest breed to potty train. it takes a lot of patience and a lot of hard work. you have to be very consistent. what works for us is that we covered our entire living area in large blankets. we gated her off so she could only be in that room. whenever we were watching her fully focused then she was allowed down in the living room. if for any reason at all we couldn't be fully watching all attention on her we'd put her in a crate. the trick is catching them in the act. everytime you catch them start to squat give one sharp NO or clap hands to sorta startle them a bit. they usually stop. then you take them to the door of the outside area you use, have a small service bell by that door. touch her paw to the bell and say outside. then take her out there and let her finish. stay out until she does. when she goes praise and give treats. this teaches not only to go outside but also how to tell you when she needs to go.

when you are not home and can't watch her for more than an hour or so place her in a larger crate or something like an excercise pen ours was a 4x4 size. i still use this when i'm gone because i like that it's plenty of room and it's safer for them to be contained than to be loose running and jumping off furniture all day. you can also just block them off in a kitchen or bathroom with tiled floors as they become more and more reliable. start small and open up one room at a time until they are reliable.

my two are both fully trained and yet we still have accidents all the time. they will come inside and poop in the basement. they don't pee as much but they both still have poop accidents occasionally. it's a yorkie thing. they just don't ever seem to really really get it, and on top of that they have smaller bladders so if we forget to get them outside they will go in the house.

another good thing is to get them on a routine. feed on a routine and you will have elimination on a routine as well. we feed twice a day. basically it works like this. get up in the morning PEE then eat, then poop....pee again late morning. pee again before mike goes to work, go into x pen for the day, mommy gets home at 6:30, pee eat poop. pee again before bed and that's that. they are very regular and predictable!

hope this all helps

[tmorrow26]

I feel your pain My two pups think my house is their own personal toilet! I am about to crack!

[RileyDC]

I bought a couple of the purina second nature litter boxes......but instead of usng the litter, I put weewee pads in them. Riley picked it up within the first few days of bringing him home about a month and a half ago. I take him outside to a park in the morning, at lunch and after I get home from work and he goes outside... in between though he goes in the litter box.

[abbeyd2008]

Try using bells.. hang it on your doorknob that you use to take the dog out of. and every single time you take her/him out hit their paw on the bell and say "potty outside" and they will get the hang of it.. I have bells on every door in my house.. She even uses it at night when she hast to potty while we are in bed.. and yes i hear it i'm a mother lol

[kimgrogan]

I adopted a 10 month old yorkie. He is neutered. I have 2 other dogs that are trained and I trained them with the crate. This guy freaks in a crate! He was in a crate on a plane for 24 hrs with his food and water taped to the top! He was clawing at the roof of the crate when I got there! I could not believe the airlines did not give him food or wated and he could smell it on top of the crate. So, the crate is out of the question,

I went to the book that is advertised on this web site , I would buy the book, but it enrolls you in a club that you have to opt out of, and it is over $30.00 a month , I dislike that! I need help or the dog goes!

[Poochieheaven]

Originally Posted by kimgrogan

I adopted a 10 month old yorkie. He is neutered. I have 2 other dogs that are trained and I trained them with the crate. This guy freaks in a crate! He was in a crate on a plane for 24 hrs with his food and water taped to the top! He was clawing at the roof of the crate when I got there! I could not believe the airlines did not give him food or wated and he could smell it on top of the crate. So, the crate is out of the question,

I went to the book that is advertised on this web site , I would buy the book, but it enrolls you in a club that you have to opt out of, and it is over $30.00 a month , I dislike that! I need help or the dog goes!

Have you tried an x-pen?

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by RileyDC

I bought a couple of the purina second nature litter boxes......but instead of using the litter, I put wee wee pads in them. Riley picked it up within the first few days of bringing him home about a month and a half ago. I take him outside to a park in the morning, at lunch and after I get home from work and he goes outside... in between though he goes in the litter box.

I use the same setup for Sydney. We can get some pretty nasty weather here and she (and I) appreciate it when the wind howls and the sky opens up, that she can do her business inside. She also knows she can go outside, too. A crate really helps. If you stick with a strict potty, food, and play schedule, it helps.

[sleeves211]

I am also having trouble with the potty training issue. He seems like a smart dog, but not when it comes to this! My Shih Tzu was sooooo much easier to train. In two months we could leave him on his own while we went to work. No problems. I can't accept invites to spend time at my sister's house at the shore because of my little pee wee!

[winston2010]

we got him at 8 wks. I put him in a crate set to allow him to stand, turn around, and lay down. It is in my laundry room. I also have a baby gate at the door of the room. sometimes he was allowed out of the crate and I would take him to the pee pee pads right away and say pee pee here, good pee pee. He started using the pads. He will also go outside, when he does I say good boy, ok to potty outside. I am home all day and he has really been really good. Now he is allowed to go into the kitchen & family room if we are there, if not he stays in the kitchen area with gates up to other rooms. He is now 4 1/2 months & for the most part he is pretty trained but you have to stay on top of them all the time. I agree, we had an old english and she wasn't this much trouble but he is woth it. good luck

[kimgrogan]

yes, IO tried a play pen, that did not work then I got an exc

[kimgrogan]

yes I got an x pen and he freaks, he freaks if I am out of his sight , I just got him used to my husband. I do not know what happened to this little guy , but I am at my whits end ,
He cried untill I let him in my bed then he pee peed in the bed, He has steps to get down and does it all the time,
He does not respond to treats, I can not find one he likes, I bought everything thry have at petco, even th stuff you keep in the fridge.
I am so tired of cleaning pee and po , all the rugs are rolled up . I take him out every 2 hours all day and at night I take him out 1 to 2 times, he weighes 4 pounds, when I got him he was 3 1/2 and I think he was starved so he could be sold for more money , he eats anything I put in front of him and I am sure he will gain at least another pound, he will still be small, he has a tiny head and a coby body
I walk him every morning for at least 30 min, we are going to clicker training at Petco, but we are th worst and smallest in the class. I hate to be a quitter, I do not know what else to do. Help!!!

[DesertChildAZ]

I have a problem with my 3 year old, Johnny Cash. He can hold it all night (or so I think...we occassionally find a spot here or there while moving furniture) and when we wake in the morning and head to the back door to let him out, he will stop on the way and pee on the trash can in the kitchen. He knows he's going out to pee, but stops to pee on the garbage pail. We tried changing garbage pails and that didn't work. Any ideas?

~ Kelly

[ladyjane]

5 1/2 months is still young imo ...

Here is a link with some great tips on housebreaking:

Free House Training for Puppies and Adult Dogs - No More Accidents Starting Today!