Feeling Hopeless
 

I need help! I have two 5 month old yorkies. They are brothers and best friends. Their names are Parker and Duke. For the past month, Duke has been so progressive in his potty training :good job: I dare to say that he has got it down. I don't even have to keep an eye on him anymore, he always uses his potty cage (They are indoor trained). However, over the past month, Parker has gotten progressively worse in his potty training
So much that as of this past week, he won't use it at all. He has begun peeing on my bed alot, not just at night but during our play time in the afternoons too. He also has a problem with going to the bathroom in his crate during the day while I am at work, which he has done since the day I brought him home. Duke NEVER goes potty in his crate, not EVER. Parker is pooping and peeing all over my bedroom. He used to use his potty cage 80% of the time, but now he refuses to use it. In fact, everytime he had an accident I would pick him up and put him in his potty cage. Now he pees or poops wherever he wants and then walks into his potty cage on his own and lays down. This is another problem. Whenever I try to manually put him in the cage and tell him to go potty, he lays down. This is getting gross because sometimes he does this right after his brother has peed or pooped in there and he lays right in it! I feel like I have tried everything. I have tried praising, gently scolding and praising, potty spray, and timing his potty trips. I even tried a trick someone told me about wrapping a wash cloth around his waist, I was told that he will hate peeing on himself, and will learn to hold it until I take him to his potty cage. Well, he seems to love it. He pees on the washcloth almost immediately after i wrap it on him, and now he smells like pee all the time. I have been reading these forums for a week and there is nothing I have read that I haven't tried. Does anyone have any ideas for me? I feel so helpless right now. I just want to be a good mom, and teach him the right ways. It is not okay for him to pee all over my apartment. Please help!!!

Honey hang in there hopefully it will get better. I probably would try containing him in a small area. Only let him out when its play time them put him up. I would put his food and puppy pad in this area. If this does not sound like something you want to do then try putting his harness on and putting a rope on it to give him a little roaming room but attach it to your belt loop so he always has to be with you and you can correct him at the time of the incident. Also is his crate a lot bigger than him. He should only be able to stand up and turn around in it. I hope this helps and don't think your the only one. My Bella was a bad girl this morning but we move on and try try again.

Thanks!
 

Thank you, Carolina Girl. It is funny that you mentioned that because I was online today looking at play pens. I figured maybe he is rebelling about being in his crate all day. The play pen is 5' across in the round position. Do you think I should put Duke in there with Parker during the day while I am gone, or should I stick to the crate with him since he is doing so well with it? By the way, they have their own crates. Let me know what you think. Thanks for the advise, I can use all the ideas I can get :)

jfunkey, we bought a play area from Babie's R Us to keep Maddie in during the day. Its a six-sided plastic fence (about $60). We take the door off of her crate and put it in the pen with her when we leave in the morning so she has her bed to crash in. The whole pen is lined with paper so accidents aren't a problem. She's only 3 months so we're a bit behind you but I thin the play pen will help.

Tom

Playpen
 

Thanks, Maddiesdad. I am definitely going to try the playpen. My only concern is that he will be confused about going in his potty cage when he is not in the playpen. I am worried that because he can go potty "anywhere" he wants in the playpen that he will not be able to distinguish where to go when I am home and he is out of the playpen. I guess I will just keep my fingers crossed.

Hang in there, it will be better. I had 2 puppies(littermates) at one time too. Teddy was potty trained at 12 weeks old. His sister took 1 year before it happened.

My playpen has a gate on it. If he is having playtime just keep the pad in the playpen and the gate open. That way it will be only his potty pad. When he gets it then you can move it to the other one.

The playpen can be left open. Maddie goes in and out of it at will. She's not quite at the point where she goes in there to relieve herself so we try to walk her regularly to avoid "unplanned" potty episodes. She still goes on the floor every once and a while.

Tom