First Time Dog Owner Frustrated and Angry....

[sportschick]

To Balderdashian. Yup, I know. I went through it all. I too, thought I was prepared. Nope. I didn't get a big enough gate to gate off the kitchen, so I had to supplement the one I had with a big box. I also couldn't tell if she had to potty because all they DO is freakin sniff. EVERYTHING. I mean everything. I take her out and she finds the nastiest places to sniff.

You CANNOT give her the run of your house. Please, please don't do that. You will SO regret it.

I tried to get her to potty outside this a.m. because it is beautiful here, but that didn't work. I tried putting the pee pad down. Didn't work. She just cried. So I took her back inside and let her go on the pee pads. Some people actually have luck with them going inside and outside. I don't know if that is going to work for me (or you).

I also know what you mean about the freakin crate training. Ya right, so you are supposed to take them out for a few minutes, if they don't go, put them in the crate, then just keep doing that. Who has the time to do that if you work?? Besides that, I am sorry, but I just don't believe in keeping a dog cooped up in a crate for hours at night and then hours during the day. These are LITTLE DOGS with LITTLE bladders and they can get urinary tract infections if they hold it too long. Plus, they WILL potty in the crate if they have to go too bad. Then you have another whole mess on your hands.

Ahh, the schedule. The stupid schedule. AGAIN, how can you keep a schedule when you work and have to take care of your own life? I ended up beating myself up because I couldn't keep the stupid schedule.

But you know what? Last night, something happend that put all this into perspective for me. She was on my lap chewing on a rawhide bone and a piece got caught in her throat. She started gasping for air and choking. I freaked out. She was looking at me like, please help me. I opened her mouth and stuck my fingers down her throat and she puked up a chunk of rawhide. My dog almost died. I was shaking and crying after it happened. But she was o.k. I will NEVER give her rawhide again.

I am posting this because after that happened, I realized that her pooping and peeing on the floor is not a good thing, and me not being able to keep a stupid schedule is not a good thing, but you know what? It is all NOTHING compared to the fact that she could have died on my lap. So now, I am a lot calmer about stuff and am going to do what works for me and her. If she isn't going to go outside, then she isn't going to go outside. I will work on getting her to go on the pee pads all the time. If I can't walk her 3 x a day at the EXACT SAME TIME, then I can't walk her and I am not going to stress out over it or beat myself up. I am going to do the best I can and be thankful that I still have her.

I hope this helps you guys that are going through new Yorkie he1!. And please think ten times before you feed your doggie rawhide. There are better alternatives out there like beef bully that doesn't get chewed up the same way.

[Yorkiemom1]

............."Earlier that week we both read the breeder's notes and the 100 page book she sent us cover to cover (Yorkshire Terriers: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual by Sharon L. Vanderlip). I realize now what a horrible book it is for a first time owner. "~~~~
I always recommend 2 books for my new owners..."Yorkies for Dummies" and "Yorkshire Terriers: A Smart Owners Guide".......I love both of these books but the first one is my favorite....and you refer to it time and again! Both theser books are available on Amazon.com

[Megz0405]

With my previous yorkie, I had a terrible time house training in fact I never succeeded. However I have a new yorkie that brought home on Friday & I bought the Puppy Apatment & so far she only had 1 mistake in her bed!! She has been going in the the little area to potty every time. Im keeping my fingers crossed that the success contintues to work but It definitely doesn't hurt for you to try!!! Hope this helps!!

[sportschick]

Hi, what is the puppy apartment and where did you get it??

Thanks!

[Megz0405]

Hi, I got it off a website called modernpuppies.com - & it got delivered quickly too!! Watch the small video clip thats on their page & see if its something that you think will work for you. All I know is that I didn't want to take any chances b/c of the last situation with my other Yorkie. Hopefully it will work for you!!

[yorkietalkjilly]

I worked when I got my Jilly and I bought a larger crate than she needed and created a puppy apartment within that crate so that she had a separate end of the crate to toilet in and a clean end to eat, sleep, play in. She quickly adapted to the area for pottying and eventually, as she gained control of her bladder/bowel, began to hold it until I got hom, preferring to hold it so she could potty outside. She still had access to her potty portion of the puppy apartment crate but she herself decided not to potty there any more and make her toilet outside, like canines have been doing for centuries. It is just more natural for them if they get a chance to toilet outside.

[Nancy1999]

The reason your breeder said to leave food out all the time is Yorkies are prone to hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar and it can be prevented by having food available 24/7. If you pup gets hypoglycemia you can treat it by giving Karo syrup or Nutri-cal, but food should be given within 20 minutes. Hypoglycemia can be very serious and can even cause death, and the main problem with it is a dog will lose its appetite and won’t eat, so that’s why you give a little Karo syrup, you have to raise blood sugar enough to stimulate the appetite. Your breeder knows Yorkies, these other sites are giving all breed information. Also, you breeder understands that your dog will be regular in time, you main job right now in to keep it safe and healthy, housebreaking is secondary. Joey was free fed, until the age of 7 months and water was also available at all time, this did not interfere with housebreaking. In fact, water actually helps the bladder gradually stretch so they can hold their urine a little longer. Withholding water doesn’t help do this.

[KazzyK810]

Puppy parenting advice is just like child parenting advice....there's lots of opinions and views out there about what's "best"...but you need to figure out what's best for you and your pup, and your life-style.

There is usually a reason behind people choosing the things they do. My end goal was that I wanted a completely potty pad trained yorkie.

For me, I schedule feed because I want poop times predictable, as I take ZoE with me as many places as I can.

I potty pad train because my work hours vary day to day, and as I said, I like to take her places with me and potty pads are portable and convenient. I've thrown one down in the bathroom at a friends house, my parents kitchen, my kids dorm room and even my car trunk and she knows to go on it. It makes traveling with her easy.

I didn't crate train because I prefer to use an xpen (playpen) set up with bed at one end and potty pads at the other end, to train. My goal wasn't to have her 'hold it' for hours on end, but to train her 'where' to go potty, whether I'm home or not.

So, it might help if you figure out what your end goals are so that you are training toward them.

[sportschick]

Oh wow, I wish I had discovered this puppy apartment earlier. I use an ex-pen with potty pads and put her bed in it. Except she pees on the pads, then walks in it, then goes in the bed or moves the bed around and it gets in the pee and poop. She WAS doing really good going on the pads, but yesterday she decided to pee all over the kitchen floor. I changed the expen around a little to try and get her to stop walking all over the pee pads and I think she got confused.

Anyway, I am going to think about getting that puppy apt. and maybe using that. I just don't want to confuse her even more!!

[mugwee1]

Be patient, She will get you trained. My Luci was a easy puppy to train, But i think that was because of her breeder.
Hang in there, give it time.

[sportschick]

Oh my GOD, we are having a horrible week. She has totally regressed in the potty training. She peed and pooped on the floor yesterday. Peed on the floor in FRONT of the pen this a.m. I am really struggling with this stupid exercise pen. The problem is that this is supposed to be her "home", like a crate, just a little bigger. BUT, it really isn't a happy place for her because that is where she is put when she pees and poops on the floor. Her pee pads are in there. Also, that is where she goes when I leave for work. So, she does NOT associate this pen with a happy place. Plus she constantly jumps up on it to the point that I am afraid she is going to break her hind legs. SO, I have to squirt her with a water bottle to stop her. Another not happy thing. BUT, I am training her to sit on her bed which she is doing really well. SO, she gets a treat. But the bed is IN the pen. So she is now totally confused because she gets squirted when she jumps on the pen, but then lays on the bed like she is supposed to. I can't punish her by squirting her in the pen and also give her a treat immediately after. She doesn't know what the eff is going on. She is totally confused because the pen is used for her punishment as well as supposed to be her "happy" place.

She also constantly whines and cries and barks when she is in the pen and I am home. When I leave, she goes nuts. She is MUCH better when she is running around the kitchen when I am home, but then she pees on the floor. But I swear, she is not going into the pen where the pee pads are because she KNOWS that the door gets closed.

I really don't know what to do. I am thinking that I will get another large gate, gate of the other part of the kitchen, put her crate, bed, toys and water and a ton of pee pads and see how she does. I feel like I would rather work on getting her to go on the pee pads where she is supposed to go and just eliminate the pen.

I have been trying to get her to go outside, but she just won't. She will hold everything until we get in the house and THEN go. She was doing perfect for almost 3 weeks going right into the pen on the pee pads, and now she is right back to where she was, pooping and peeing on the floor outside of the pen if I don't basically block her from leaving it.

I am SO confused and she is confused and I feel really bad again like I SUC!K at this being a dog mother. I just love her so much, but I am getting discouraged for the MILLIONTH TIME.

I have only had her for a little over a month and I know all this takes time, but I can't just keep her locked up in this stupid pen all day when I am not home and then even when I AM home. I don't have a lot of time with her anyway. But, I have to train her to be a well behaved dog. And I read everything and it all seems just totally different every time I read something new.

Anyway, thanks all for reading this missive.

[Zoejane]

I feel your pain. I got my baby a little over a week ago. I had lots of time before I got her so I read everything I could get my hands on, I was going to do this the right way. I too live in an 8th floor condo and didn't want her peeing in the house so I determined that I would put her potty pad on the patio. However she could get under my railing so no problem I would always take her out on her leash. I also determined that when she was in the house she would either be in my lap, in her crate or I would watch her like a hawk and take her put every hour. I got her on Friday night and by Sunday night I was in tears! Nothing was going according to plan. She wouldn't stay on the pad when I put her on it, she didn't pee on it, she barely would drink so didn't pee very much and the 2 times she did start to pee on the floor I would catch her at it ick her up immediately, say no, and take her to her pad. Well she wouldn't finish peeing. She also would pee in her crate even though it was really tiny as recommended. So Monday morning I went to the store, bought an xpen that sits on my balcony and it totally changed the situation. She is now going on her pee pads on the balcony and things are fine. I can never get her to eat lunch, only breakfast and dinner, despite my well laid out plans. So my point to your question about why are there so many varying opinions and no bible is because each little baby is its own individual. One size doesn't fit all you have to adapt and change, just because it works for my baby doesn't mean it will work for your baby. If it doesn't work one way you have to try a different way. Good luck to you and don't give up, just be ready to be flexible and go with the flow. Since I have done that we fall deeper in love with each other every single day.

[Teresa Ford]

OK as a trainer myself I know the same thing does not work for every dog and every person. BUT, it really is best if you choose a training method that feels comfortable to you. Some one else suggested Dog Perfect by Sarah Hodgson and I think this is an excellent and easy to understand book. Another book I really like is, 1000 Best Dog Training Secrets by Robyn Achey and Bill Gorton. Harder to find is this book, Dog Dilemmas by Gary R. Sampson DVM. But it that really helps with common problems. All three of these books will work together. Hope this helps

[sportschick]

Thanks guys. I think that we new Yorkie owners need to just chill out and figure out what works best for US and OUR dogs and not beat ourselves up when we don't fit into the box of every freakin Yorkie book out there.

I love my dog and I feel better tonight that I can figure it all out.

[kjc]

Originally Posted by sportschick

Thanks guys. I think that we new Yorkie owners need to just chill out and figure out what works best for US and OUR dogs and not beat ourselves up when we don't fit into the box of every freakin Yorkie book out there.

I love my dog and I feel better tonight that I can figure it all out.

Yeah, you're getting it. Reread what I posted in one of your other threads... mainly that you do not punish for potty accidents. This is what is confusing your little girl, and is causing her to backslide. You need to ignore the accidents, and super-praise when she does it right. Period. She'll catch on quicker and won't mess up as much. And it will eliminate her confusion as to whether her crate/pen is a good or bad place. She won't pee outside for you because she is afraid to pee while you are watching her. She can't tell if it is a good place or a bad place to pee, she's afraid you will punish her.

Many of your posts read: "I work, I don't have time." Well, you have to make the time, as does everyone else who has a Yorkie puppie. You do get days off? Spend a few, just a few, not forever, with her. When she has problems, it means that you need to put more time into training her, which is telling her when she does something right. Yorkies learn quicker that way. As soon as I stopped punishing my Yorkie, I immediately saw subtle changes toward the good in his behavior, which made me happier being with him, and him happier being with me. I realize this thinking goes against everything we have learned as humans, but just try it with her.

Also, if a specific method is not giving you the results you desire, change the method. All Yorkies are not alike, and some have been through different experiences than others, but I am positive that one method you find on YT will work. Remember too that she is not a 'bad' dog, only that you don't like her behavior at this point in time. Yorkies can sense if you're having feelings other than Love for them.

Good job with the choking incident... but I will warn you here and now: Bully sticks can be just as dangerous.

Good Luck with your girl....