Age Old Question Are Yorkies Harder To Potty Train - Page 4 - YorkieTalk.com Forums

mire · 04-10-2006, 10:02 AM

My Rylie is soon to be one years old. He never has accidents anymore. When I got him, he was 10 weeks old. From the start, he was crate trained. He was confined to the crate the first month or so and then i put up a baby safety gate so he had full run of the bathroom. I set a wee wee pad prominently in one corner and his food on the other end of the bathroom, as they DO NOT LIKE their food next to their "potty". Throughtout the first few weeks of wee wwe pad training, I would put a few drops of stinky stuff right in the middle of the pad (you can buy this at pet stores for about $10). I would put Ryllie on the pad and have him sniff it. After a few days, he just knew. He would go to the pad. And when he did, I would whoop it up: clap and sing and say "Rylie! You go potty! Good boy, good boy!": he got so excited to see me so happy, that he ALWAYS went to the bathroom in front of me just so he could see me perform my "happy potty" routine! You have to give your Yorkie something to work for, and Rylie was learning to work for my happiness. Of course, he got plenty of hugs & kisses for his good work too! I guess you can slo give treats, but I didn't want to worry about not having any on me to give him ( I can always show Rylie how happy I am!).

mire · 04-10-2006, 10:09 AM

I always associated the words "GO POTTY" with the wee wee pad. I would point to the pad, even pick up and place him on the pad while I repeated this. It didn't take him long to associate the wee wee pad with the phrase "GO POTTY". Consistency is key, say it every time you bring him near the pad. Never yell or scare him while near the pad or he'll associate bad thing with the pad. When your dog starts having accidents NEAR the pad, I think you should consider him halfway there in training: they'll make boo boos before they fully GET IT! I also noticed that Rylie had a tendency to have to go potty approximately 20 minutes after eating, so we were right by the pad in 20 minutes.
After Rylie was neutered, I also noticed a dramatic increase in focus with him. He listened more, he was less distracted. I created short phrases such as "NO Barking" or "NO Bite" and Rylie started listening! He even learned the names of his toys and could fetch them. I attribute this alertness to the neutering. Rylie is a male Yorkie and he's much better at listening now than before the surgery.

susansmom · 04-12-2006, 10:21 AM

Susan won't make a puddle on the floor; she much prefers to go outside for that and will drive us absolutely bananas to get her outside. But a little doo-doo pile on the floor doesn't bother her much. She knows better, but if it's not convenient for her to go outside, she's not troubled by using the floor. Afterwards, she just puts herself in her crate. She feels that about 90 seconds is the proper punishment. Then she's out and about again unless I notice her and close the crate door.

04-10-2006, 10:02 AM	#46
mire Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Weehawken NJ Posts: 53	Potty Training Can be Easy--if you are consistent My Rylie is soon to be one years old. He never has accidents anymore. When I got him, he was 10 weeks old. From the start, he was crate trained. He was confined to the crate the first month or so and then i put up a baby safety gate so he had full run of the bathroom. I set a wee wee pad prominently in one corner and his food on the other end of the bathroom, as they DO NOT LIKE their food next to their "potty". Throughtout the first few weeks of wee wwe pad training, I would put a few drops of stinky stuff right in the middle of the pad (you can buy this at pet stores for about $10). I would put Ryllie on the pad and have him sniff it. After a few days, he just knew. He would go to the pad. And when he did, I would whoop it up: clap and sing and say "Rylie! You go potty! Good boy, good boy!": he got so excited to see me so happy, that he ALWAYS went to the bathroom in front of me just so he could see me perform my "happy potty" routine! You have to give your Yorkie something to work for, and Rylie was learning to work for my happiness. Of course, he got plenty of hugs & kisses for his good work too! I guess you can slo give treats, but I didn't want to worry about not having any on me to give him ( I can always show Rylie how happy I am!).

04-10-2006, 10:09 AM	#47
mire Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Weehawken NJ Posts: 53	A few more things... I always associated the words "GO POTTY" with the wee wee pad. I would point to the pad, even pick up and place him on the pad while I repeated this. It didn't take him long to associate the wee wee pad with the phrase "GO POTTY". Consistency is key, say it every time you bring him near the pad. Never yell or scare him while near the pad or he'll associate bad thing with the pad. When your dog starts having accidents NEAR the pad, I think you should consider him halfway there in training: they'll make boo boos before they fully GET IT! I also noticed that Rylie had a tendency to have to go potty approximately 20 minutes after eating, so we were right by the pad in 20 minutes. After Rylie was neutered, I also noticed a dramatic increase in focus with him. He listened more, he was less distracted. I created short phrases such as "NO Barking" or "NO Bite" and Rylie started listening! He even learned the names of his toys and could fetch them. I attribute this alertness to the neutering. Rylie is a male Yorkie and he's much better at listening now than before the surgery.

04-12-2006, 10:21 AM	#48
susansmom YT Addict Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Harrison, AR Posts: 347	Susan won't make a puddle on the floor; she much prefers to go outside for that and will drive us absolutely bananas to get her outside. But a little doo-doo pile on the floor doesn't bother her much. She knows better, but if it's not convenient for her to go outside, she's not troubled by using the floor. Afterwards, she just puts herself in her crate. She feels that about 90 seconds is the proper punishment. Then she's out and about again unless I notice her and close the crate door.