What's the best way to pad train?
 

I'm really confused about this. My 10-month-old Minnie is still not Pad trained. She will surprise us and go pee on the pad once in a while, but MOST of the time she does it someplace else, either right next to the pad or somewhere she's not supposed to. Sometimes we walk around looking for spots so we won't step on them! :eek: I have tried taking her to her pad when I feel she's gonna pee and I have reprimanded her when she does it in the wrong places. I have even rewarded her with treats and affection when she does it on the pad, but she still doesn't know she has to go bathroom there exclusively. She NEVER even poops on the pad, it's always in random places. What can I do? She is getting older... and I'm getting frustrated of cleaning up after her messes. Please help me!! :confused:

Make sure that you use a pet remover enzyme, when you are cleaning after her, i also professional cleaned my carpet and it really help. :goodluck:

hey i'm having the same problem with bizkit.he knows he is to use the pads but always goes on a rug if he thinks he can get away with it,its driving me crazy. i'm looking forward to some good stratagies here to help with this problem.

I am by no means an expert at puppies, but here's what has helped with my new addition.

- Give her limited space. When I got Remy, he immediately went into the playpen and stayed there for 2 weeks. Of course, I took him out often to play, but I always played with him right after he went potty on the pad. A baby playpen gave him very limited, yet still large enough area for his size. He had his bed and toys on one side, and the pee pad on another. Initially, he did not always use the pad - he went in his bed, near the pad, under the pad, etc. But, after a week of constant correction/praise, he caught on and used the pad 80% of the time. By the end of second week, he used it 100% of the time, which is when I felt that he can be trusted in a larger area.

I don't think a baby playpen will work for your 10 month old - it is too small. My next step was putting him in the kitchen, which is what I think would be more appropriate for your girl. I started him out with one side of the kitchen completely covered in pee pads (I used about 6). For the first 2 days in the new place he went on the pads 50% of the time, but, now (he's been there 6 days so far) he uses them 95% of the time, and is down to 2 pee pads. I plan on having him in the kitchen for another week, to make sure he has the pee pad thing down. I then plan on gradually increasing his space, but expect that as soon as I do, there will be accidents until he gets used to the larger territory. You may have to cover the entire kitchen area with pee pads to set her up for success, and then remove them one by one until she is down to one pad (or two, whichever you prefer).

- Get her on a feeding schedule. This has helped me tremendously because I know for a fact that he is going to pee and most of the time poop shorty after I feed him. I do not free feed him. He gets 3 full meals a day with little stacks in between, as needed. He is thriving, and has never had a hypoglycemic episode. For reference, he is 16 weeks and weighs 2lb, 3oz. By feeding him scheduled meals, I can guarantee that he will be set up for success at least 3 times each day. I watch him like a hawk after he finishes eating, and as soon as I see him circle around and sniffing, I do one of two things: if he is doing that on his pee pads, then I am ready to make a HUGE deal of it and praise him right after he is done. I also say the words "go potty" while he is actually doing his business - that way, he learns the cue, as well as realizes that what he is doing is right. Say it in a soft voice, calm voice (you don't want to disturb her or get her all excited before she's done) over and over until he's done.

If he's NOT circling around the pee pad area, I place him on the pee pads. If he stays there and does his business - lots and lots of praise. If he runs off of them (that happens too), I am ready to scoop him up as soon as he squats down. I tell him NO! in a firm voice as I scoop him up. I then place him on the pee pads and say "Go potty". Sometimes he finishes on othe pee pads, sometimes he doesn't and holds it in till next time. The point is to offer immediate praise/correction when you see them do their business.

I think the "Go potty" (or whatever you prefer) command is very important to teach them. I went to my inlaws with him the other day and wanted him to potty before we come into the house. I stood outside with him and told him to go potty 4 times, after which he did. He also went on cue (after about 5 "go potty"s before we went to puppy class. He's catching on.

I will add more things as I think of them, but these are the most important, imho. I am sure there will be more advice from much more experienced yorkie owners.

Annuta-Great response. I will try this method with my new pups!!! :p

Thank you so much for your great advice!! I will definitely cover her bathroom area with more pads.

Minnie does roam free around the house, so I decided today (after reading quite a few posts and these replies) to block off the areas where she regularly makes her mistakes (i.e the dining room). That way, all roads to the wrong places will be cut off and eventually/hopefully she'll make it to the right place and go on the pads. Good idea? We'll see... I really hope this works.

Should I be scared that she's getting too old to be trained?

I forgot to mention that she goes to the right area and potties either on the pad or a few inches away about 40% of the time right now.

Annuta You gave some great advice! I will also be trying this with my new puppy.

I put up a baby gate in the kitchen (no carpet), and Venus stays there, unless I am able to keep both eyes on her.

Venus is 8 months old now. But if I'm not watching her in carpeted areas, she'll poop in corners. She starts her circuling on the pad, but after all those circles, she's way off it when she starts to poop! Then she walks off before "it" drops.

I also use litter boxes with potty pads in them. That has helped some.

I definitely feel you got a lot of good advice here. And seems limiting Venus's space to non carpet areas, with a pee pad has really helped her a lot.

Seems carpet is where she had problems. Carpet and rugs. I still haven't put all my rugs back down.

Pee Pads...
 

Hello everyone. This is the first time I have used this site so hopefully I'm proceeding correctly! Theo, my 30 week old puppy also is having some issues with potty training! I have some difficulty keeping him contained in one area because I have two other older dogs who have free roaming privileges and he likes to play with them. I have now put a fence type pen in one area of my kitchen which holds one of his beds, several toys and then a pee pad at one end. I used regular puppy pads at first, then a friend gave me some that she had left over from training her children in their beds. Theo chewed them up (like he had those before them) however I later realized these were filled with some sort of gel which apparently he ingested. He became ill and it took me some time to figure out why. The vet thought he just had an irritation from eating some fruit I had given him. Anyway, he is O.K. now with hopefully no permanent damage done. So, just a warning for everyone whose pups chew up their pads, 'cause I'm not sure if the other type also have some sort of substance that could hurt them too. Theo uses the pads I placed outside in his yard to pee on almost exclusively without any problems - it was just the ones I used inside. Hopefully Theo w/b trained soon! He's doing a good job of training me!!!

hi mary miller, welcome to yorkie talk,, glad you found this site, its
very informative..

From what Annuta had to say, I did the same. I confined them to the kitchen & lanai that was tiled. I put pee pads all over in one area. I didn't use a play pen though. As they graduated to the rest of the house I put pee pads in each room while they were little. Their bladders are small, when the gotta go, they go. As they got used to the pee pads all over, they would use them & not the floor. Once they were only using the pads & no longer having accidents, I slowly removed the pads & confined it to one area on the lanai. I bought a childs tent & put their pee pads in there. Misha & Piper have been trained since last summer. Now I'm starting over with Max.

Are you always going to pee pad train your pup? I'm just curious because I know when I tried to get mine to learn indoor and outdoor potty behavior they got confused and it slowed down the whole process so I just do outside potties now.

I know I will always pee pad train. Here in Florida even though we get our yard treated, have fire ants. I've steped into mounds before seeing them. It's the worst bite ever. Can't imagine the little ones getting attacked.

OWCH! I was only 5 when I lived in Florida but I have a vivid memory of those little fire ants attacking me.