Potty pad training question...
 

Hey everyone,

I have never owned a Yorkie before, so there is a few things I am trying to learn before we bring our new puppy home. "Davey" will be coming to live with us in about 4 weeks. So, I have been doing lots of research on how to potty train him using the potty pads.

I have two question I was hoping you guys could help me with.

#1- How many potty pad areas should we have in our house. We have a good size house with 2 stories. I was thinking I should have one potty pad downstairs and one upstairs. Would it be confusing for him to have 2 different potty areas?

#2- How often do you change the potty pad? Everytime they go potty?

Because we start out with the puppy (btw, I love the name!!) in one area, we start with one. Then we start gradually giving more freedom with supervision - and with that freedom, just as you start with trying to teach them in the beginning, we "walk" them back to their potty pad every 30 minutes or so. It helps because they already know what "potty" is before they every get more than a room away. We have a tri-level house and one potty pad in the finished basement. Coby, the puppy (5 months old) is still limited to the kitchen when unattended and a potty paper in there. He's getting more freedom with frequent walks back to his pad. Eventually, he'll have one in the basement too. Yeah!!

When puppies, I don't change it every time, because it helps them know that's what it's for. Later, depending on the puddle size, I change it every time or every couple/few times. Coby's are so tiny now, that I can wait a little longer.

Good Luck and way to be prepared!!

I have Eros' potty pad in a little litter box (without the litter box he would sometimes confuse rugs for his potty pads) in the laundry room. I leave the laundry room door open so that it forms a very large room with the kitchen and I put doggy gates in the kitchen to close it off because we have an open floor plan. He is doing VERY well with potty training and rarely has accidents at just 3 months of age. At night he sleeps in his exercise pen and will cry when he has to potty. So I take him out to his litter box in the laundry room and tell him to go potty then take him back to bed in his pen. Originally I had two pads out...one in the laundry room and one in the bathroom close the room his play pen is in. At some point he just stopped wanting to use the 2nd pad and would wait behind the closed bathroom door to let me know he wanted to go potty in the laundry room only :)

I generally let him pee on his pad twice depending on the size of the puddle and the smell. If he poops I change it right away. Actually, if he thinks his pad is too soiled he will bark at me to change it...and if I don't do it he will grab his pad by the corner and pull it out of his litter box :lol tears

Sounds like you're well on your way. Coby is like that too if he feels his pad isn't clean enough. There have been a few times when we've been changing it and gotten distracted and forgot to put a new one down. He looks at us like we're loony. One time, he couldn't hold it and had to go right there. He still looked at us like we were loony.

Coby is 5 months old and does really well. But my philosophy in housebreaking is to try to have only successes. So he's getting his freedom very gradually.

When we're ready to give him the run of the house, I'm going to actually gate a "potty area" off for them downstairs. Because Yorkies seem to have trouble just going over and squatting, they have to pace, turn, pace, circle, and sometimes don't end up facing the right way and get their butt over the edge or are still moving when they're going! If I gate it, they will have to always end up in the right spot.

I still just love the name "Davey" !!

lol my little boy paces in circles too...thankfully, now he paces in circles in his litter box. We only had one almost accident with that when he paced and decided he wanted to poop with his butt on the low end/the entrance to the litter box, but I turned him a little before he could go so it worked out in the end lol

What kind of dog is your other little guy? He's a cutie too!

Thank you guy for the great advice!! Do you think I should buy one of those training pad holders or some kind of litter box?

We just use them on the floor, but I've been intriguted by the holders and the litter box idea. I'd like to hear more on those too!

It's really up to you. It's hard to say if you "need" one without even knowing what your puppy will be like yet. I feel the litter box really helps with Eros, my Maltese, and he doesn't try to pull the pad out unless he thinks it's too dirty and needs to be changed. I think the box helps him because he jumps in it from the side usually lol so he notices the difference between his potty place and a rug or carpet in the house that he doesn't have to jump into. When I had the 2nd pad in the bathroom it was on the floor and he would try to go on the edge at times or would confuse our rugs for his pee pee pads because to him they were both flat soft surfaces. So the litter box also helps Eros keep his mess on the pad rather than going on the edge of the pad and missing it.

Hi, these guys are right. You can't give them free range of the house right away. Start off slow. I used to change the pads too often and Holly would always sniff around trying to smell where she'd done it before. Well I had already taken that out. I bought a training aid spray that is supposed to smell like pee (their momma's pee supposedly) and that really helped me. You spray it on the pad and have them smell it. Also associate one word for relieving himself and stick with it. Holly can now pee on command if I need her to do it before we go somewhere. These are tricky little guys too. Right when you think they are completely trained, they start doing it all over the place. I think they need to constantly be reminded of where to go. Also don't forget to treat them and/or really celebrate when he goes on his pad. I would practically throw a party at the beginning every time she'd go. There's excellent advice on here. If you do a search I'm sure you'll find just what you need to know. Good Luck and I can't wait to hear how it goes.

My yorkie Skippy tells us when he needs to go outside, he's 3 years old now. What should I do with the new puppy (little girl) when we get her? She will be so little and it will be cold outside-I'm inclined to try to pee pad train her and then in the warmer weather, to move it closer to the door. My husband says, skippy goes outside, just train her to go out. I suppose I'm thinking too much? Anyone have a suggestion? I also wonder if skippy would tear the pad up.:confused: :confused:

I really like the idea of the litter box....I'm thinking maybe you could trim a spot in the side for them to get into it easier??? I think I am going to try that with our new little one when we get her. I am sure it will save our floor too.

The one I got at Petsmart for Eros has a very low front for him to get in but a lot of times when he's playing and realizes he really has to go he rushes to it and just hops in from the side. Sometimes he gets out from the side too when he's done...I think he just likes to feel like he's a great jumper...agility dog or something lol :p

So that was a box designed for dogs?

Here's the doggy litter box I use for Eros http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...litter+box&N=2. I use the slightly taller one that is shown empty and just put a pee pee pad in it. The one with the shorter walls probably wouldn't work well for my boy as he likes to pace around and then poop close to the wall, so the higher one keeps him from accidentally pooping outside of his litter box even though he is in it. Good luck! :)

Thanks! That looks really intriguing and would help with the "Yorkie Pace" that ends up with butts not over the paper. Anybody else have success with one? I may try that!

I used a litter pan with a washable pad in it for my last puppy I got and it worked great! She is my best trained dog! Haven't got the older ones to catch on to it, though. They prefer a washable pad on the floor. So, I think if you start them out young you will have the greatest sucess.

I really like the idea of having a litter box for the pad. I had never thought about him missing the pad.:eek: I plan on going to petsmart this weekend to pick up a few more items. I am going to add this litter box to my list.:thumbup:

Excellent! Good luck with potty training your baby :)

i use the ARM & HAMMER brand pee pads (i get them from target) They are SO much better than any of the other ones i have tried and they are not nearly as expensive either. They also trap the smell of the pee so it doesnt stink up your house, which is a very good thing!! We didn't start training Avery on this brand but we used another one that looked exactly like it(i was soo soo thrilled when i found these-i highly suggest you get some!!) -Also, you have to be very consistent when teaching them where to go.. and reward/praise them after they do!! It only took Avery about a month to be fully trained. just be consistent (i give cheerios as a treat-she loves them!! ..they are small and that way i can give them all the time and its not a big deal) <3

OH i saw you said you were going to petsmart- i wish someone would have told me this beforehand, GO TO TARGET (i see you live in CA so i know you have one) :) You can get the pee pads for sure there and whatever else you can pick up(training-wise,etc.) I dont get food there or anything like that though. And whatever else you need, you can get elsewhere-but petco/petsmart are way more expensive when it comes to alot of that stuff.. just a suggestion. :) congrats on your new babaaayy. where abouts in CA are you?

Thank you for the tip the arm & hammer pee pad, I will look for some. :thumbup: I will stop at Target on my way to the pet store. I am a huge fan of Target. We have one close by and it seems like I am always there picking something up.

I am very lucky that I am a SAHM, so I will be home most of the time. So, I think I will be able to be consistant with potty training.

We live in the Bay Area.

I love Target too!!

To the earlier question.... we used quite a few at first...and took Taylor to the pad if we noticed he might have to go ....OR....if he started to go. It didn't take long for him to get the idea. We then started reducing the number of potty pads in the house. He is the most potty trained dog we've ever had. We have found that the frames that hold the potty pads in place are really nice for lanai's or porches so the pads don't blow away.

Inside now he just has one inside and one outside on the lanai. The frames are very inexpensive... I think we bought them at PetSmart.

Thanks Gayle T. I just saw the "frames" recently. I'm thinking of trying either the boxes or the frames.