Two years, still "diapered." *sigh*
 

Any suggestions on how to de-diaper/housebreak a two-year old Yorkie male who is just fine with being soggy and stinky?

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There are so many of us YTers, I always feel I should "re-introduce" my pups and explain the situation:
Keegan (2 yrs.) came to us at 7.5 weeks and missed socialization with his mom, who died not long afterward as a result of more irresponsible breeding. His breeder was a friend of a friend (live and learn) and was in a hurry to get the litter placed to focus on large breeds. Keegan has remained a fearful dog despite professional training at two different places.
We provide potty pads and indoor "turf" because our 15 mo. old female Yorkie has stress (and just-woke-up) incontinence. It's improving but not resolved. Despite neuter surgery, Keegan marks every place she pees--potty pad or carpet, astro-turf or sofa. We keep belly bands with cut-to-size "Depends" on him almost all the time. Whether kenneled or walking around, he will wet his "diaper" with no concern whatsoever.
Asking to go out never took off with our pups. Bells on the back door serve only to alert the pups when barking maniacally and bouncing around like popping corn would be fun to announce someone's arrival.
Our other male, Finn (a neutered, housebroken rescue) is learning social skills from Piper. It's amazing to see her teaching him how to play. Less impressive is her teaching him to potty in the house. This does not go over well with Keegan who already is so aggressive and neurotic that we have to keep the boys separated at all times to avoid injury to Finn--who is slightly larger but inexperienced with other dogs.
Keegan's stubbornness, incessant demands (he whines even when he's getting what he wants) and aggression led us--after a private trainer failed to do anything but make him ill--to try Prozac. It's a last resort and too soon to tell if it will help with his issues...but I know it won't convince him to stop wetting himself.
Any experienced YTers know how to convince a male Yorkie that he should go outside and spare his pee-stained tummy? Thanks for reading all this! :thumbs up

Try How to Housebreak Your Dog in 7 Days by Shirlee Kalstone. I found this book very helpful when training Galen

Changing the subject - We found Proin (used sort of off label) helpful for Ziva's stress , overflow and upon falling asleep incontinence.It took a while but really gave me a tool to use along with serious training.

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I would first of all use a lot of love with your dogs problems. These Yorkies can be stubborn at times yet they are smart. You are wise in reaching out to people who can help. Nothing wrong with belly bands if that fixes the problem and saves some furniture. You are a wonderful Yorkie lover for loving these dogs in spite of their problems. Blessings to you.

Thank you all so much. I will definitely try these things. And, Sandy Simpson, you are so right--I do looove my Yorkies. Idiosyncrasies and challenges will never outweigh that and we look forward to many years with these amazing little guys.
@ritapatt, how long did you wait to see if the incontinence would improve? Piper has gotten better, so I've been thinking she may outgrow it.
One reason I love Yorkietalk is that everyone here seems to feel the same way about their pups. It's impossible--even when they're being stubborn or weird--to not be head-over-heels for them and willing to work with whatever they may need. :)
I'm going to try the Kalstone book and may also try the bells on the door again. Perhaps they've noticed that they're gone and will be happy to have them back? Happy enough to use them? lol

a friend of mine sent her 2 house running/ruining pups (1 was a poodle the other a wiener dog) to boot camp she checked it out thoroughly...I of course was against it not aggressively but it just scared me, she paid a lot of money and let me just admit for those extremely hard to train I may advocate for this...her pups were destroying her house, it stunk and after awhile it was impossible to keep up with....YES I blame her but things got out of control very fast for her and quite frankly I'm glad she did it....those pups are amazing now, 5 months later and they are still amazing....

Ziva did outgrow her issues but without the Proin to help her hold it we might have had a harder time breaking bad habits. I know the Proin helped because I would take her off and we would have wetting incidents. We also got Abby when Ziva was two and she went back thru puppy training.

I find that still at seven months I can't give Bailey freedom of the house. I have to keep him confined to the room I'm in with gate's,or he will poop in rooms where he can't be seen, but won't do it in front of me. It's frustrating. I'm so over stepping over gate's,hoping this behaviour ends soon. Good luck!