the potty training has gotten worse...
 

Straszny had been doing fairly well with potty training. He was about 90% peeing on the pads, and he was sadly about 10-20% pooping on them(yes, not so good here). In the last week or so he has been totally ignoring the pee pads, going where EVER he feels like it. He is 3 and a half mo. old...and I don't know what happened! I praised him for good behavior, but I have started again today with giving him tiny treats when he goes on the pee pad. It also seems like he is peeing small puddles a lot instead of a few larger ones...maybe this is a marking act?

(I have just had a MUCH easier time training previous pups...I knew that yorkies were known to be difficult to potty train sometimes, but GEEZ!)

Also, I have a friend going to school to be a vet, and he told me that since I am training Straszny with pee pads (until it gets warmer), he will never learn to go outside. This isn't the case...right?

:confused:

I don't think I have any advice for you seeing as how I'm going through the same thing and she's the same age as your puppy. Raisin was doing very well using the pee pads, then I changed to one less pad than before and it's just gotten worse than ever. She also seems to be peeing a lot more than before like yours.

I'm thinking I just have to start all over... keep an eagle eye on her and if she doesn't go when I tell her... put her in the crate for a lil bit, then try to get her to go again when I let her out, and then she can be out and play again till the next potty break... only thing is she seems to be peeing sooo often! Other than that I'm not too sure what to do :confused: I sure hope it works!! I wish you luck with your training!! :)

There's a lot of people that have their dogs trained to do both. My aunt has her dogs trained to use the pads if they aren't home and go outside if they are. I plan on trying this with my pup once it's warmer too.....

It'll probably be harder to get them to go outside (and get them to let you know they need to go out), but I don't think it's impossible!

Mojo is trained on pads and outside, but he would rather go outside. He does excellent going pee on the pads, with a few "marking" problems (here and there) and maybe the occassionally "excited to see us" dribble. But he has no problems with the pads and outside.

I think the big problem (it seems with most threads on this topic) is going poop the same place they pee. There are several posts on this topic. My little guy starts out with good intentions (at his pad), but he circles and moves around so much, that he misses his pad completely, but it is by the pad. Strange, I know....most times, he goes outside to poop and he has two favorite spots to go in the yard.

Regarding poop...he can be a little sneak! I have noticed several times (not often) that he goes downstairs to the laundry room and goes poop (odd since he never has been down there much unless it is with one of us). Luckily, I have wood and tile throught my house, so clean up is easy.

I wonder if there are any Yorkie owners that have little furbabies completely potty trained with no accidents? Probably not......

Good luck and keep after it!

how long ago did you stop giving treats? Layla is 3 months old now and I started to wean her off the treats, maybe one every second time, then less, but as soon as i stopped with treats every time, she would go on the floor again! When I'm at school, she's 100% all the time, every day. When I'm home she usually has 1-2 accidents a night, so maybe it's just excitement. I guess there's a lot of things that can make a puppy forget its routine.

I was wondering. Do people let the pups run free and hope for the best. I have mine confined to the kitchen where there is tile. I used paper and they are great about peeing on that. I put down a pee pee pad and they just chewed it up and pooped blue plastic for a couple of days. I can not believe how much they pee while I am at work. It is only 5 hours but man, it is all over the bathroom. that is a smaller place and safer when I am not home. Dee jumps over the barrier in the kitchen so now they are in the bathroom. I let them out right away when I get home. WE all go out and we are using the bell hanging on the door. But when they get outside they just want to play. Sampson pees and usally poos straight away but Dee doesn't and if I get them in too fast, she pees on the paper in the house. Even if they were out a long time. I guess my main question is should I let them roam the house or not. And how to get dee to pee and stuff instead of playing. Sorry, I ramble but I have so many questions. By the way, they are about 5 months. Thanks

puppy pads
 

try taking your dog out first thing in the morning outside....if you don't she may get confused when you do. always walk to the door saying outside. when you take her out in a firm voice say go potty. this worked on mine..and I tried the puppy pads and he got confused when I would praise him for doing it...

I was giving him treats at the start of the pee pad training... so that has been over a month ago since I quit. He was doing so well!!

And I don't take him outside to go potty yet...just pee pads until it gets warmer.

And if I put an extra pad out, idealy one for poop, one for pee, of course he just pees on both... :cool:

Hmm how much of an area does he have to wander around in? I've got one pad in the kitchen and one pad in the living room, which are the only places Layla has when I'm not around. She uses both pretty equally. When I just have one out, she will go on the floor in the other room because she doesn't see a pee pad around.

My Yorkie was trained on pee pads and now goes outside, no problems there, mainly because she LOVES the outdoors. But only during the warmer months. I think we will have to go back to pads for the rainy months. Spoiled :D

Pixie Pees on the pad about 80% of the time... Now the other 20% she is so close to the pad, like a foot touching it or right next to it.... I call that a win too! The fact that she heads for the area of the pad is a big step! She does not have roam of the house so I am not risking the nice new carpet and placing her in a situation where she is surely going to fail... She has limited space... In her X-Pen is: Crate, food, small play area a pee pad and her food and water dishes... She will not pee in her crate.. she will not pee near her food and water, and if she pees in her play area.... she has to play in it, which she does not like so she has only the pee pad left... I have set her up to win! She almost can't fail! Its great! I will slowly give her more space and thus increse her chance to fail in hopes that she will not... If I do this slowly enough and she continues to pee on the pad she will become very trustworthy and eventually be given run of the whole room.... Note: NOT THE WHOLE HOUSE! Only the whole room.

As for getting her ON THE PAD 100% of the time.... I am thinking that a shallow litter pan or a frame might help "contain" the mishaps... I will have to play around and see what works... Now the poop.... 90% of the time the circling starts on the pad and the butt ends up an inch off the pad.... ugh! that Poo-Poo Dance!

Training
 

Hello - I am new to this Forum. I noticed that many are having problems potty training their Yorkie. They are difficult. My first Yorkie ( who died at age 18 ) took over a year to train. I have a new year and a half Yorkie that I have litter box trained.

This, too, took some time, but I am so glad I trained him to go in the litter box. I live in the Northeast and it is wonderful not to have to go out and shovel snow or put the poor fella on the ice.

Each time I expected him to go I would say time for potty. Make him go in the litter box and tell him to make. He still has accidents, though.

I would recommend litter box training. :animal36

Elvira is 3 mos old, and 80 - 90% on the pads. I keep one in the hall and one at the edge of the kitchen/living room. Since I can see that one, I give her a treat (cheerio) everytime she goes. Little stinker "pretends" sometimes. She'll go squat and watch me and then run to me for a treat. I give it to her. She was on the pad! I have the same problem with the pooing. She's usually in the area of the pad - but not on it. We'll work on that though. She's just a baby. I'm keeping up the treats. It confuses her when she doesn't get one. I'll let her grow up and when it's "normal" to use the pad, I'll start cutting down on treats. That's how I trained the older one.

Good luck all - it's work - but was housebreaking kids... lol

As I posted in another post I am having problems with my carpets being used as a wee wee pad. I had gotten one area rug and he would go on that occasionally but still using the pad most of the time. I foolishly got another one since I have very cold floors . I used the crate alot in the beginning but he learned very fast. I would keep him in during the day while I was working and had someone take him out to pee and then he would go in until I came home. Then he had run of the living room/kitchen area and he never missed. Now the few accidents with the first rug were ok since he still knew where the pad was and used it. But I got him neutored last week and since then the wee wee pad is invisable to him.

Sorry for going thru all this and if I confused you, my question is can I put him in the crate for a couple minutes when he makes on my rug? I always just looked at the crate as his safe place

Today while I was away, I put Straszny in my bedroom, with food water toys and a pee pad. He used the pee pad to pee, but not to poop. He did this on the floor. Well, that was 50% at least... :p

Thats the same problem with my baby, he used to be pretty good at peeing on the mats until I recently took one mat out of my bedroom, then he started having accidents in random places :(

Try this...
 

This MAY seem a little extreme but it worked well with Aggie...

She had the same exact problems, peeing/marking wherever she liked, especially on the nice rungs.

I took her to her first puppy class last week. The instructor said something that made me and my family realized where the problem was: she was running to places where we couldn't see or keep an eye on her. By the time we'd catch her, it's too late.

We started to put her on the leash inside the house. The leash is either on me or around the dining chair legs (when everyone's in the kitchen area). This way, when we see her sniffing around, circling, we know to take her and show her exercise pen in the yard.

This method has been working tremendously well!! Not only has she been able to "keep" it longer, she now knows there are only certain areas she can do her businesses in. I actually don't give her treats, but a lot of verbal praises or belly rubs.

Also, we were letting her running in our yard freely before (it's not a big yard, but big enough for a little pup like her). She was distracted, chewing up leaves and barks. Now we've set up an exercise pen outside, designating her "spot", she goes there 95% of the time now.

It has made our nights that much more enjoyable. :)

:thumbup: I think jkat's advice is very good!

I would add that when a pup runs and hides to potty, it is usually because he has been reprimanded for pottying inappropriately. Instead of learning not to potty there, he has learned that it's not safe to potty in your presence. :eek:

Cherry asked about putting a pup in time-out for pottying on the rug. Most trainers say that if you catch them in the act, it's better to say no and whisk them off to finish in the appropriate spot - pee pad, outside, wherever. If he does finish there, "good puppy", treat. If you don't catch them in the act, there's nothing you can do. Pup won't understand why you're unhappy.

As for treats, continue them every time you catch pup pottying appropriately until he is 100% trained. Even then, occasionally treat - you want him to keep it up. As always, behavior that is rewarded will increase in frequency. A food treat is much more rewarding to a dog than praise. :animal36

Good luck!

That is what I did in the beginning and it was great. I could even say "go potty" and he would go even if he didnt have to and stand on the pad like "what now"...lol I never did the whole teaching by punishment thing so I wasn't sure if it was effective.

This morning when I took him out I took him by 1 pad and closed the door.. he used the pad... so then we ran to the kitchen with "good boy" the whole way then as soon as he ate the treat I turned my head and he did "2 on the rug. At least he got it half right :) makes me feel al little better

Just a month ago we got our little new addition to the family. It has been a very dificult and trying experience training her to go on wee wee pads. Taking her outside is not really an option because its extremely cold outside. I realized that its really more our attentivness and sense of timing to take her to the pad and keep a watchful eye on her at all times. Its not easy, but it has paid off. After already one month she and us have really gotten a grasp on her potty time and we take her to her wee wee corner and leave her there alone and give her some privacy. After she is done she will call us, by either barking or scratching the door that she has finished. Then we spent a good 10 mins. praising her for the great job!!! I realize its patience and more patience and then finally... a bit more patience!!! :)

of course not hun! my beloved Blake was dual trained depending on the season! please dont worry.