Carpet Peeing Please Help!
 

Please please whomever can help us we're quite desperate! How do I train my 2 year old male Yorkie to know that the carpet is NOT a viable place to pee. He knows very well to go outside and to do it quickly, but we can't seem to train him to instead NOT pee on the carpet. Or anything fuzzy really. For example, today after months of crate training we attempted to keep him in a small bathroom for 4 hours with nothing but a pee pad and his blanket that he loves to curl himself up in. After 2 hours he peed on his blanket...He's the most adorable, intelligent, wimpy, and stubborn 2 year old male Yorkie on the planet who is both stealing my heart and is driving me insane!

My boyfriend and I have been trying to housebreak him for a little over a 8 months now with minimal progress. We first tried training him to use pee pads, which he took no interest in (and I'd truthfully prefer him not to use pee pads anyhow) and moved to outside training, which has worked! He knows to go outside! He has no clue NOT to go inside though, he sees absolutely no value added.

For about 7 of the 8 months of training we've been crate training him. Pees/poops before crate, 4-5 hours in create in the morning, let him out at lunch, pee in the front yard, go for a walk, play a little before heading back to work, and then 4 hours back in the cage until we get home, let him out again. He doesn't much like this crate, whether crated or not he'd whine whenever left alone. Fortunately hasn't been peeing in the crate, which is as small as acceptable for his size (4.5 lbs). Despite the crate training, we'll still find once every other day a pee mark somewhere or that he's snuck away to poop on the bathroom rug. And of course we can't catch him in the act.

He knows to go outside, and he's quite the little marker. For a while we took him on walks so we could try to praise him and give him treats right after he'd pee (which is a lot) so he could see how great outside training is, I mean treats galore right? During one walk he'd pee (or at least think he was peeing) around 6 or 7 times, rationing his first 2 or 3 pees to be able to mark various things along the walk, and then shooting blanks for the rest of it. This only kind of worked as he doesn't seem to much care about our praise and 95% of the time wouldn't accept treats - any treats. We've tried numerous types and sizes of actual dog treats, and we've tried stuff like cheese, goldfish, tuna, ground hamburger, scrambled eggs, you name the types of scraps dogs usually go gaga over, we've literally tried carrying all of these things on walks to provide him incentives, and he just does not care. Even with successful walks we keep finding that he'll sneak a small pee or poop somewhere in the bedroom (we rent an average sized room in a house, and for the most part he'll stay in the room or go outside, but no other wandering).

Over the past month he's figured out on his own that if we go outside, if he pee/poops quickly he can go back inside back inside quickly. It's been cold with the winter, so we assume that he's finally figured out on his own that he gets to minimize the cold by quickly going, which has been great. Still doesn't care for a treat after this, though he's fine to take a treat 15 minutes later when we get upstairs for something else like practicing "sit" or "laydown".

He's stubborn to the point that he won't do anything unless he figures out on his own why it's beneficial. For example, teaching him laydown only worked when he laid down on his own and took a treat. The 15 minutes prior to that where my boyfriend was physically (though gently and enthusiastically) laying him down and giving him a treat was completely useless.

Anyone thoughts?

Thank you thank you thank you!

I would get a urinalysis done to check for possible UTI...& carpet is the enemy, you need to clean it, down to the pad underneath. Soak it in enzymatic cleaner & soak it up w/rags to get rid of the urine. Repeat.

Him peeing on blankets, peeing accidents, peeing in crate if left alone for 4 hrs max is not normal. They can hold it for longer since he's older. If there's no underlying medical issue, it can simply be that he needs to go. Then I would make a doggie apt for him, using a x-pen w/designated potty area & attach his crate to it so he can have a retreat to rest.

Apologies, I should have been clearer. He doesn't pee in his crate, he's able to hold it while in his crate fine (he used to not be when we had too big of a crate, now that we got him right size he's fine).

But yes he keeps peeing on the carpet if not watched, it's as if he finds it fun or something. He'll come to my house versus my boyfriends and pee upstairs on the carpet, which is an area that my dogs are not permitted to go and have no old urine stains on it (minus the ones he's newly put there).

wow he is a stubborn one. Does he know its wrong? Do you show it to him and say in a loud low voice "no no"? Sometimes like with kids I think dogs need to realize when they do wrong. When Jess does that I pick her up, take her to it and say "No No" loud and firm. I have her watch me clean it and Then I quietly put her in a time out where she is alone. 5 minutes. I know many say they don't understand but trust me she knows when she makes a mistake. She now will come to me and paw at me like" hey mom I screwed up again, sorry" She seems to do it when the girls don't clean her pee pad fast enough. I bought a Bissell pet carpet cleaner on overstock.com. Thing is great. Our carpets are white so she gets confused sometimes. Shes about 90% on target.

I believe he knows what he's doing is wrong. First he only does it now when we're not looking. If I'm sitting in the family room on the main level of my house he'll sneak away to the basement to go leave a little gift somewhere far away from us, we can never catch him in the act of doing it. We've tried bringing him back the site and cleaning up in front of him, I just don't think it registers with him. But he knows it's wrong, if we find his gift and call for him while he's in the room he'll start to hunch as if someone's scolding him, even if we call him in a nice tone.

First thought is how are you cleaning the accidents, unless you are using a cleaner with an enzyme and following the directions carefully, he will continue to smell the urine and it will tell him to "go here". I like Nature" Miracle, but it takes time to work and you should cover the spot while it's drying. Secondly, has he been fixed? unneutered dogs have an overwhelming desire to mark inside and out, and this has very little to do with peeing.

Yes he has been fixed. And we use carpet cleaners specifically for pet urine. We've tried a couple of products, Woolite, Nature's Miracle, we've even tried those sprays that are supposed to deter him from wanting to pee somewhere, he doesn't much care about those. We also use a Bissle wet vac to clean the spots usually when we do them.

dog
 

My male neutered Yorkie JoJo will go outside but he also pees on rugs, towels or anything laying on the floor. I am washing towels as I type this. I am very frustrated and just think that dog likes to mark places! He almost got a pee band for Christmas but he will go outside most of the time. Just cannot trust him. I hope your Yorkie is not as stubborn as jojo

Well, darn, I'm out of ideas, I guess you could start over and retrain him. Joey was doing great till other dogs in the family started visiting and then we added a new Yorkie to the family, now I've just learned I have to always have plenty of clean pads available, they won't use a dirty pad and clean up accidents regularly. My next house will have all tile floors! Yorkies are worth it!

Hi and welcome to YT! Annie has been difficult to house train and some folks on here suggested keeping her tethered to me at all times for a couple of weeks. That helped tremendously, but she still will pee on the carpet when we are not paying attention to her. I am working with a behaviorist and she indicated that you cannot leave a dog unattended. Annie need to be in her play pen when I can't be watching her..showering...housecleaning...etc. I take her to her potty area every three to four hours. She hasn't had an accident so far....knock wood. I am happy to share more info the more I work with her behaviorist.

I am sure others will have great suggestions, too. Good luck!!