Why is it acceptable to let adult Yorkies potty in the house?
 

I see a lot of people on here who think it's no big deal, or think it's funny, that their adult dog still goes to the bathroom in the house (not on the pee-pad, I'm not talking about pad training).

Or people that blame the breed because they are known to be hard to housebreak.

To me, that is unacceptable if it's happening more than once a month (even that would be pushing it for me personally). Now, obviously, I'm not an aversive trainer. If Jackson had an accident in the house, I would never yell at him or shove his nose in it or anything. So when I say "not acceptable" I just mean I would work on re-training the dog. But he hasn't had an accident probably since he was 1yrs old.

But I just don't get it. I have a feeling if we had a dog like a German Shepherd that was still pooping and peeing in the house, it wouldn't be acceptable (considering their pee spots and poop piles are ALOT bigger than a Yorkies, lol).

Unless a dog had a medical problem, it seems like people just give up? Do people just get lazy and not feel like fixing the problem? Or why is it acceptable to you for your dog to potty in the house? Of course not including times when they are sick and throw up or have diarrhea, etc.

I'm just curious, for real.

I think that it should not be taken litely. I do have a 70lbmale and 3 other male dogs in my house,all of them are not only adults but middle aged or senior. As for yorkies being difficult to train,I haven't experienced any problems with my puppy. As a matter of fact it has taken less time to train her than it did the male poodles,same methods were used.
I do think that it takes longer for a toy breed,cause they can hide it easier than a large dog. We dont find it until later. You cannt punish a puppy or adult dog for pottying in your house if you didnt see it happen. What I have done is,if I find a puddle,I go check for wet on each dog,I will put that dog next to the puddle on sit/stay until I finish cleaning it up and then we go outside. The only accidents we have around here is from one of our males that is on steroids,so he drinks more. He knows if he has had an accident and will actually come tell me. We clean it up and go outside. It isn't ok that he has an accident,it has only happened twice in 6months. He is so ashamed that there is no way that I would be angry with him.
If I had a dog that was pottying in the house,it would start going outside every 30min,lots of praise for a job well done and a stern (not yelling) talking to while I cleaned their misshap up. Its not how loud you are,its the quiet tone of unacceptability that seems to work. It is also being ever vigilant and not assuming that your dog is completely trained. Even they slip into bad habits.

I don't think it's acceptable at all. I do think you got lucky with Jackson though. Small dogs do tend to be harder to potty train. That shouldn't be an excuse, but it is reality.

Ellie goes in her crate, so crate training is out.
She didn't take to pads.
She goes outside if somebody takes her every 1-2 hours (at 10 years old outside 8+ times a day, with her being ADD sniffing all the way is a bit much).
The tethering method worked somewhat, but she had no problem pooping when my head way turned. Also, as soon as she earned time off the tether, she messed up.

So I think it is easier said than done. Rylee is as easy as can be for training. Been here a month and doing very well.

My dogs' vet just got a small breed dog a few months ago. Watches her like a hawk. Extremely consistent. Still can't be trusted. She is now wondering if she will ever be fully trained. Doesn't mind pooping in her crate. Doesn't understand how to ask to go out. Bell method not working. Soooo while I completely agree with you, most of us don't think it's acceptable but a fact of life.

People can say Yorkies are no harder to train or small breeds are no harder to train or just be consistent and it will all work out. I would disagree with that. Get a small female with a princess ideation and little desire to follow rules and then you'll learn to live with it. lol

You have had how many Yorkies?

I grew up w Scotties and a Bichon. All very easy to potty train. I had a Golden, which was the easiest dog to potty train I have ever seen. I was shocked how hard my first Yorkie was to potty train. I had one w princess syndrome who had no desire to please whatsoever. I thought she was never going to catch on. Eventually she caught on (it was the treat association that did it), and I never had a problem w her for the rest of her life. She would even go to the wee pad to vomit.

My second came wee pad trained from the breeder (she was older when I got her). If not watched closely, occasionally she will think the "wipe your feet rug" by the back door is a washable wee pad (what the breeder uses), but overall she does well.

It is not acceptable in my house, but it does happen. My female come from a breeder and she was potty pad trained. If you call a 12 week yorkie trained. I was so impressed she would come out of her crate and go straight to her potty pad.
She is now 19 months old and will pee on a rug occasionally. I do get on to her if I catch her but most of the time I do not. She usually poops on the pad always.

My male dog come from a puppy store/mill. I had no idea about puppy store/mills at the time. He was my first. I did research his breeder after hearing of puppy mills and I do feel like he was a puppy mill pooch.

He was the hardest to train. I did everything I was told to do and he would hike that leg everywhere. I had trainers tell me yorkies are the hardest and I would tell them he ain't going to win. He is much better now, but he will too sometimes pee on the floor, garbage can or what-ever is near him. I think I am finding more that it is an obediance thing with him. I think sometimes he does it to get attention. I always know if it is him or her. Of course his is usually up against something and hers is just about the size of a fifty cent piece.

I do tell them this is no-no and I feel like they know what I am talking about. I do not hollar or rub noses or anything. I don't believe in that.

Both of my two have been spayed and neutered now.

Lane (puppymill rescue) will probably never be fully housebroken. She certainly has no qualms about living where she's relieved herself. :( I've just somewhat accepted it. After watching your dog try to bury (rubbing nose over and over on the carpet or tile) her urine, feces and spit up the same way she would try to bury her food when we first rescued her, it literally breaks your heart.

Living in a high-rise building on the 14th floor makes it harder to take her out every hour, so we've always used pee pads. I'm hopeful when we get a house with a yard she'll have more success, but I have a feeling she will always mark her territory indoors and out and submissively urinate when she meets larger dogs at the very least. :rolleyes: I call it marking because she loves to do the quarter sized spots. She doesn't have a medical issue, so I believe it to be marking. We are definitely on a schedule where I take her to the pad at regular intervals which seems to have helped, and we have a huge celebration dance complete with treat every time. I know she knows she has done something good, because she'll race to the kitchen trotting with her tail up and chest puffed out like she just won Westminster (that's the over 7 lb, floppy ear division, naturally) to claim her treat. All Rory has to do is hear me start into the Lane cheer for a good potty and she beats us all into the kitchen. When I catch her in the act (still squatting) of a mistake, I make an "ah, ah" noise, but she literally doesn't seem to connect what I'm scolding her for - you also have to be very careful how you correct Lane because she can be a bit timid and revert to extremely fearful from just a stern "no, Lane!", which is why I use the "ah, ah, ah" with a clap now.

In a new place, she just doesn't "get it" enough not to just squat wherever she wants to, and it seems like she is that way sometimes at home too - I don't know why. I've trained Lane the exact same way that I trained Rory (who I got as a puppy) and she definitely knows to use the pad and will seek it out wherever we are. My only issue with Rory is that sometimes she walks off the pad before the poop has finished dropping. I should probably take out stock in Nature's Miracle.

I don't think it's fair to say it's lazy or a lack of training issue. I spend a lot of time clicker training with Rory and Lane, and Lane is much slower to catch on to things than Rory is. They get lots and lots of exercise, where I let them stop and mark every foot for the first bit before we really start walking. All that being said, it's been over 2.5 years that I've had Lane - I'm not sure what is going to make her "get it" 100%.

ETA: When I take Lane to others' homes or we visit family, after I take her to potty, I put her in a pair of panties with a liner in it. I don't think it's fair to let your dog pee and poop all over someone's house and laugh it off or anything.

My female isnt trained and Ive tried with her. She does like to go on an upstairs rug in the bathroom so thats where we let her go. Ive tried pottytraining her several times and some of the problem is her stubborness and some of it is my Husband is unwilliness for her to be confined while shes learning to potty train so I try but Ive just given up

Ian is very housebroken, but he will leak sometimes when he gets excited. The solution - Belly Bands!!! We put one on him when we leave for work, and come home to nice dry carpeting. I work part-time, so he will only have it on for about three hours. As soon as I get home I take it off and let him outside to potty.
Belly bands are the best!!!!

I think it a little more confusing for a dog to be trained that it’s okay to go in the house, but it has to be on a pee pad than it is to be trained, to NEVER go in the house. We are training the dog to discriminate between the pee pad and other surfaces. It was much easier to train Joey to use the pee pad when it was on wood flooring, than when it was on carpet. It took him much longer to learn to discriminate between the carpet and the pee pad. Throw rugs couldn't be used until he was four. So in other words, training to go outside is ultimately faster and easier, but I wanted Joey pee pad trained, not an option with a large breed dog.

Norman is 7 months and is doing really well - as long as we follow the routine. He doesn't consistently ask to go out so you have to stick to the 'usual' time when you know he's had success 'going' in the past. That said, he doesn't like to go out if it means getting his feet wet. You practically have to drag him out if it's raining or even if there's dew on the grass....

I do agree, I think I was lucky with Jackson, because he did catch on pretty early on. But I've known a lot of small breeds who are fully potty trained. My dads Dachshund mix is 100%, my moms friend has a Yorkie who she says is potty trained, another one of her friends has a Chi and a 'Puggle' who are totally potty trained, my moms cockapoo (RIP) was completely potty trained, etc.

Now my dads JRT mix goes in the house all the time. But they never trained her at all and she had free roam right from the time she was a pup. I just don't think she ever learned and they admittedly are too lazy to fix it now lol. They try. But they usually just let her out in the backyard and assume she's gone when usually she hasn't unless you are watching her and making her go. But it's just kind of gross because their carpets, as much as they try to clean them, have to be professionally cleaned every 6 months at the least. She has ruined the carpets. And yup she's a stubborn little bitch, too, LOL.

So I do understand just giving up. I was just trying to get into other peoples minds because I often see on this forum that it's no biggie when the dogs are always missing the pad or not going ... and it just blows my mind. Maybe because I've never dealt w/ it.

One... but I really don't think that's an excuse. People don't like when others stereotype breeds for other things, so I don't see how this is much different, 'blaming' it on the breed.

Oh, I do NOT think you are a lazy owner or lack of training. You are obviously trying and have tried really hard and you've done so much with Lane and Rory and you an AWESOME mommy to them :thumbup:

And with Lane coming from such a situation, it makes perfect sense to me why she would be more difficult and that's totally more understandable.

I'm talking about those who get puppies, give them free roam, don't watch them well, and then wonder why they have a dog going all over their house at 1 year old. lol.

This is basically my dads dog. He's REALLY bad about watching her and taking her out. And he used to always just let her go on our screened in porch which is carpeted sooo... yeah, she basically has no clue what she's supposed to do lol.

Princess is pretty well pad trained now. She did horrible, or should I say I did horrible, for about a year. Once we both 'agreed' on the pee pads we were both much happier. I still have a problem with her pooping, she only does it next to the toilet & not on the pad a foot away. She does back step anytime she gets really sick or something else throws her off.

It's never been acceptable, but it has been OK. It was my fault & my doing that there wasn't success before, so I can't blame her. And for me it was difficult to enforce the right way when she never gave any clues at all until she was in the process.

Hopefully I've learned for next time & it will go smoother and faster.

Ellie suddenly gets really good at it when I bring treats back into the equation.:rolleyes: You can watch her like a hawk and she will do everything right. She just can't figure out how to ask to go out and doesn't care to. If you take her out when she has to go by reading her mind, then she will go.

BTW, when I picked her up from the breeder's, the pups were in a crate with newspaper which IMO set her up for a life of not understanding what a crate is for. I know there is little choice when it comes to raising pups. You have to put something down on the floor. But I don't think this helps train them any.

I should have added, when I started having trouble potty training Cricket, I called her vet to ask what I was doing wrong? - did he think she had a medical problem? He said if he had a quarter for every yorkie owner that called him over the years w potty training issues, he could probably buy a car. He was the one who suggested pee pads to me - I had never heard of a dog using them before that. The pee pads eventually did the trick, along w bribery. I always thought after speaking to him that this breed was just a little more difficult. :idontknow Like I said, I owned different breeds than this one before.

Lucy came to me at 2 1/2 years old and was outside trained. She had many accidents after she first came to us and I would clean it up with her close to me and tell her no. After several months of occasional accidents she got used to our routine and she has been doing extremely well-I can't remember the last time she had an accident and now she is almost 3 1/2.
I grew up with labs and shepards and thought they were the smartest dogs ever but since I have gotten Lucy I have realized just how smart yorkies are!! :)

My girls are potty pad trained because Tessie refused to potty outside, she didn't like me watching her or getting her feet in the grass. and Sassy learned from her. Tessie is 100% pad trained and Sassy at 11 months is doing good. My boys are still hit and miss, they will go on the pads, outside, an sometimes places they aren't suppose to. Calvin has done better about letting me know he needs to go out, he runs around, pacing in front of the door looking at me, usually Hobbes will go when Calvin does because there are treats involved. I am fortunate that my vet owned a Yorkie for 13 years and is familiar with the breed. There is no way I could raise 4 without Yorkie Talk.

Who cares? As long as the dog is well cared for and healthy, what business is it of anybody's if an owner allows his or her dog to not be housebroken?

I'm not talking about an owner who lets his dog do whatever it wants anywhere, and the poop and pee is so bad it poses a health risk not only to others in the home but also the dog. I mean the owner who is lazy or doesn't have the patience to properly train their dog but still cleans up after it so their house doesn't look like the ones on those reality shows. As long as it's not a health issue.

I don't really see it as "blaming" the breed, there are differences among breeds, and some are harder to train. I took YorkieRoses comment to mean, if you've only owned one yorkie, you may not know the breed as well as you think. Most breeders are pretty much in agreement on Yorkies being more difficult to housebreak. Every now and then someone gets a yorkie who was a breeze to train, and they thnk because at 4 months old there have been no accidents they are out of the woods. :rolleyes:

There are lots of individual difference between Yorkies, some take longer than others, even if the human is doing a good job. No doubt, Joey, took longer than my son's two Shih Tzu's and he trained them the way I trained Joey. If Joey started having accidents once a month, I would try to look at what's different? For example, Joey doesn't really like a dirty pee pad, and although we have two pee pads out for him, one in each of our offices, if we are both in an office and he has to poop, he'll go in the hall. I could put another pad in the hall, but I don't want to, the poop pretty easy to clean and it doesn't happen that much, but it really is my fault when he makes a mistake. I really think Joey wants his own room where we go to clean his pads, and don’t stay long. I don’t know why he’s such a private dog. Maybe he takes after me. :D

Tessie is private like Joey. she wants a clean pad in the laundry room where no one can see her. Sometimes I have to shut the door for her so the other dogs can't watch her. She is such a spoiled Princess.

I sometimes wonder what I did to make him that way, or if he was just born like that?

I think for a piddle pad trained dog, discrimination is the problem. We have hardwood floors and don't have a problem with Sadie. We had a lot more problems when we had carpet. Bathroom rugs are a disaster and thank goodness they are washable. When we travel, the first thing we do is pull up the bathmat. Otherwise, we end up washing it. Sadie does like her privacy to poop. I keep a piddle pad in our guest room and our dining room for that purpose. She will go into another room to poop. The other thing I've noticed is that although she squats to poop while on the piddle pad, more often than not, there is a little trail of nuggets that fall as she trots away from it.

Beemer - oh Beemer. The downside of a non-neutered male! I kept him intact because he was a show potential puppy and I agreed that if he turned out, I would try to take him in the ring. Last spring I finally declared (with the help of my breeder) that he is not going to be a show dog (he's small and his hair isn't good silk, and his color isn't clearing). He was 18 months old by then and pretty set in his marking ways. He does pee on the piddle pads - I can tell because he squats to do that. It's the marking that makes me crazy. Luckily he has a couple of favorite spots and I keep a piddle pad kind of wrapped around that particular furniture. To his credit though - he is really good about pooping on the pads. I'm getting ready to schedule his neuter and maybe I'll get lucky and the marking will get a little better.

Both of mine stay in playpens (with piddle pads) when we aren't home so that's not an issue. When we travel or he goes to someone's house, he wears a belly band. It seems to work pretty well.

I've had a lot of dogs over the years but no Yorkies. These are my first piddle pad trained dogs. I agree with Nancy that it's harder for a dog to learn that it's ok to go to the bathroom in the house - but only on a piddle pad than it is to learn that you never go in the house. Except for Beemer's marking, my dogs are pretty well trained and it's good enough for me - I don't need rugs.:rolleyes:

I had many problems as well and still do at times. Cooper is doing much better about doing his business but he has good weeks and bad. I HAVE to stand out there and tell him repeatedly to "go potty", just assuming he will doesn't work. What he has started doing a few times a week is catching me with my back turned while we're outside and peeing on the concrete patio :eek: . I have no idea why he does this. My husband says that sometimes he thinks that Cooper's way of "giving us the finger" is to urinate in strange places. He definitely has a stubborn streak. To answer the original question it is not acceptable, but it happens. :)

My exact thoughts.

Even Victoria Stillwell said Yorkies can be the most difficult to housetrain...they are so self-willed.
I have trained many..had many 100% trained...so I think I can train a Yorkie..but I have had some who were impossible to trust..my Pinkie is one...as long as she remains on tile, we are fine, never pees on tile, vinyl or wood...but when she sees carpets she pees...fortunately here in south FLorida I only have tile, but a couple rooms have area rugs...I have worked and worked with this girl who is spayed and 5, health, head hard as a tank...nothing works...so she wears parlor panties when in these areas...

What do you advise...how can I get her to stop..she will pee and then go get in her pen because she knows it is time out for her...if I see her sitting in her pen, I go looking for a wet spot...no one yells at her, spanks her..I show her I am unhappy, she apologizes and kisses me...and has this look..."DID I DO THAT?"

She uses the wee wee pads just fine...so giving her a treat when she does it means nothing..she uses them all day...but let her walk from the kitchen to the master bredroom and she must squat on an area rug...I have taken them up and replaced with new many times...makes no difference..pees on the new one...so I have decided this is her one small fault and since I have many faults and she loves me, I will accept her and love her....

BUT...seriously OP how would you handle Pinkie...?

Sound very similar to Ellie. She knows what she does is wrong and she knows where she is supposed to go. She apologizes if caught. She rolls over if caught sometimes. She knows exactly what she is doing, but doesn't want to ask and can't resist it sometimes. I'd love to know how to train her completely.

Hahahaha well, live with a couple of mine for an experience. No remorse at all. Just go in another room where no one is and pee. Then sit back with the rest of the pups and look innocent. :p

No, it is not funny....but in a strange way it is.

Amen.