Considering a new puppy, have concerns! Help
 

Hello everyone! I have been reading the board, this seems like a great place!!

I have some questions. My husband and I have been wanting a yorkie for some time but we have some concerns. We both work full time jobs and are concerned regarding potty training the puppy. We would want to do the pee pads. Seems like that would be the best option with us both working all day and not being able to take the puppy out. Do any of you work full time with your puppies? How difficult was it to train them?

We are also concerned with us working all day about the puppy getting upset or depressed (if puppies get depressed) about being alone all day. How do you all deal with that ?

Any other info or tips you could give a potential new puppy mommy would be great!!
Thanks !!

Hi and Welcome!!! I always had one Yorkie and worked full time. As long as the puppy is not super tiny and real young they can be left alone for a while. It is best if at first someone can come in and check on the puppy at least once a day. I did the pee pad training with my last 2 yorkies, but I am now home full time. One did real well, trained fast, the other was 13 months when I got her and did not take to the pads too well so she is going outside now. I just got my 4th dog, a 6 month old yorkie puppy and she is doing pretty good on the pad training. Some yorkies are harder than others to train but they eventually get it. I have found now that I have more than 1 dog they do well together and I don't feel as bad when I have to go out. Good luck you will find a lot of helpful info here!

Thanks for the advice. One of our big concerns is that neither of our jobs allow us to leave during the day, so it would be about 9 hours that no one would be here. What would we do during that time? I know theres no way a puppy can hold it that long. We were considering a large crate with a bed on one end and pad on the other so it could go in one end and lay in the other. Would that be ok to do?

Welcome to yt:) good luck in your search:)

My suggestion wouldn't be a crate, but, an xpen, those you can make big enough for the pee pads, water and food, bed, and still plenty of room for it to run and play while you're away..

I agree that an expen set up would be best, if you are worried about them being alone for so long you could always get 2 :)

haha I suggested two to my husband as well, but he says we need to see how one works out first haha. So it sounds like the pen would be my best bet for while we are not here. Now when we are at home what do we do? Leave another pad upstairs with us for him to go on? Will that confuse him?
Thanks for all the advice! I just want to go into this prepared!

Also what about a playpen, does anyone use those for their puppies?

We did a playpen for Spike but ended up with an x-pen. He outgrew the playpen pretty fast and it was a pain to clean potty accidents. I loved our x-pen! Good luck and welcome to YT!:)

Have you considered a "pet sitter"? Many around here will come in mid day to walk and play with your pup. We don't always need this, but when we do, we pay $10/day. She takes my guys out and spends about 30-45 minutes with them. Even if you didn't want to do this long term, it could help the little one in the beginning.

I thought about that too, but I am not comfortable with a stranger coming in my home when I'm not here, so I don't think that would work for us. Thank you for the tip though!
You have all had great advice, I really appreciate any help!!

With Cali who I got at 9 weeks I got a dog playpen and it worked out great. I had her pee pad at one end and her bedding at the other. Then when she was out I just left the end of the dog playpen open and she learned to go in and pee on her pad. SHe loved her playpen and when I would get ready to go out she would run in there and go to sleep. So it worked out well for us, but I was only gone for a few hours at the most once in awhile.
Now with Dixie who is 6 months, I put her in a soft crate when no one is here and am training her to go on the pee pads I have out for Cali in my bedroom. She sleeps on my bed but I get up during the night and out her on the pads.

another possibility would be to consider rescue. There are older, house-trained yorkies out there who need homes.

Although it's difficult to watch, please take a few minutes to read through the thread link below watch these videos before starting your search for a puppy. Just try your best to ensure you are not buying a puppy from a puppy mill as this supports this awful industry.

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=108659

Wow I only got through half of one of those videos. That is horrible. How could anyone do that to puppies!! Makes me angry! I have a few friend that have got puppies from a breeder here in the area, she is a great lady and has a few puppies available. We would be getting one from her! Wow that still makes me sad

Do any of you use the pee pads for your babies? We would rather do that then take him outside. For those of you who use them how do you like them? Will the puppy relate the pads with carpet because of the texture?
Thanks again!

My husband works full time and I used to work full time. We use the pee pads for our Yorkie and its works good, it all depends on the dog though. When I was working full time I used to leave the radio on low volume and leave her toys out for her to play. You could try that.

I use pads for my babies and they have taken to them very well. I did have to pick up all of my area rugs though, they were using those as potty pads too. Yorkies take a lot of patience for potty training, Im glad that you are seriously thinking about it now before you get your baby. It breaks my heart to see babies been placed because their new owners cant take the potty issues anymore.

Also while youre gone at work if youre able to put a gate up in the kitchen it would be better, that way he/she could have room to play. Good luck on your search for your new baby and welcome to YT!!

Yea the radio or tv is a really good idea, thanks. Atleast he will have some of noise! Thanks again!

Ok from all of your advice I've kinda come up with two ideas for the puppy during the day while we are working:

A. Put up baby gates to the two entrances/exit of my kitchen. Let him stay in there during the day. Gives him a big area, keep toys, food, water and pee pads.
Pros - its a wood floor so easy to clean up any mistakes. Theres nothing he would be able to get to that would hurt him or he could hurt.
Cons - This would be a pretty large area and I would worry about him knowing or remembering to go on the pads

B. Put up the ExPen in the basement (one will not fit in the kitchen) and keep him in there during the day.
Pros - Still gives him good room and food, water, toys and an area to go potty
Cons - This is away from the area we would want him to go potty while we are home. I worry he would get confused.

What do you guys think would work best? Or do you have aother ideas? Thanks so much everyone, you're really making this much easier for a newbie lol!

I am so glad you are getting a Yorkie. We have 3 and honestly I remember that pooty training was a pain with the first one we got but she was so cute that we really didn't mind. I must say that my 2nd and 3rd one were much easier because they followed their siblings. I keep mine in a laundry room that is inside the house, it is large. I do not close the door, so I bought a gate at the pet store, this way they get to see what is going on in the house. They each have their crates in there, but I do not close the crate door. They do go in there to sleep.The crate comes in handy when small children come to the house and I don't want them mishandling my babies. Mine are home alone about 4 to 6 hours a day and they do fine:p I recently got a camera installed in that room it is called a DVR and I can keep an eye on them from work or any place with internet access. Good luck to you;)

Personally, I just can't imagine leaving a little Yorkie puppy alone for 9 hours. Yorkies are so loving and they get so stressed when they are alone that long. It will not be easy potty training because you will be gone so long each day. If you do get a Yorkie then I would recommend using an exercise pen or gate off the kitchen or something like that. Most puppies like to shred the potty pads so you might want to use the washable pads.

When I first got my pup I put him in a large bathroom, used a puppy gate so he wouldn't feel locked in (didn't want to shut the door where he couldn't see out), and put pads down. I never left him alone more than 6 hours. He quickly learned to climb over the puppy gate even after we covered it with a smooth plastic lining. He also NEVER used the piddle pad. (He is outside trained and uses the bells to let us know when he has to go but I would prefer the pads...so cold outside right now). Finally decided the bathroom was too big as he would tee-tee all over in different spots (and he started hiking on all the doors). We now have a medium size wire crate with piddle pad on the bottom, dog litter box with real grass in it, and a bed on one end. It's kept in the large family room so he is right where all the action is when we get home. It has worked out so much better. (He also shredded the disposable pads when first trying to train so we bought cloth piddle pads).

Having a puppy is a real commitment and I agree with the prior poster that leaving a pup alone 9 hours a day may not be the best thing....hypoglycemia from not eating while you are gone could be fatal.

Well I had mentioned in the other post that I will have food and water down all day while we are gone for him no matter which option I go with. I had read about the possibility of hypoglycemia with this breed so no matter what he will definately have food and water all day. I don't want to sound mean or unappreciative of the advice but I don't feel we should have to not have a puppy that we both want in our lives, because we work. Not everyone has the option to not work, we can't afford for both of us not to work. Is there anyone else here who works full time? Or is it really a bad idea for us to get a puppy both being full time workers?

For a small puppy, I wouldn't just gate him/her in the kitchen, I would still get an xpen..
1) they can chew on wires(refrigerator, etc)
2) cabinets and molding and also wall paper..
Believe me, I have had dogs all 51 years of my life and have seen the damage little pups can do (even had my kitchen floor torn up)..and had one chew a lamp wire that was plugged in..this is why they all go in xpens now..

I know alot who have yorkies and work full time. However, when I get a puppy I would take maybe a couple of weeks off, take vacation or something to let the puppy get accustomed to it's new living arrangement. I agree on the Xpen. I also would recommend getting a puppy around 4 to 5 months old since the puppy will be home alone for that length of time. I "strongly" recommend taking time off when you first get the puppy. I wouldn't place a puppy of mine into a home unless that was agreed upon first knowing it was going to be alone for that length of time.
Donna Bird
Brooklynn's Yorkshire Terriers

My husband and I both work full time and have two yorkies. Our first one, Chip, is almost a year old and has been with us since he was 8 weeks. At the time I had a job with varying shifts, but full time, and so did my husband. Typically someone was almost always home with him, so it worked out. We used a crate with him also. When we were in bed, he was in his crate. If he whined a little in the middle of the night, we'd take him out and put him on the pee pad. Chip has always been a good escape artist and would try to run behind the toilet, so mommy got smart and put the toilet brush right behind it so he couldn't squeeze threw. We also would sit right in front of him so he wouldn't be able to leave until he pottied. When we got up to get ready for work, the first thing we'd do is make him potty on his pee pad. When we came home from work, we made him potty. Finally after about 9 months of doing this and lots of treats later, he got it and is now 100% using his pee pad. Our other one is about 8-9 months, but he's a rescue. We've had him since Oct 30 and are still trying to figure out a potty training method for him because his situation is unique.

Now my husband and I work set schedules full time, but our schedules vary from each other. I work Mon,Tues, Wed, Fri, Sat from 8-4:30 and my husband works Fri-Tues night 11 p-7a so usually someone is home with them during all hours.

Good luck with your decision and welcome to YT. Feel free to ask any and all questions and be sure to post pics of the new baby when you decide!

good luck

Well Thanks I feel better now! My husband works shifts as well, so theres alot of times that he will be here portions of the day, so it wont always be 8-9 hours that he is alone. My husband works crazy shifts so I think we will be ok. Glad to hear theres others out there that have to work full time and still have time for their babies!
Thanks again

I'm having a similar issue with my new 11wk old pup. He's been being tended for now when we're not available, but we're about to embark on leaving him alone for 3-6 hours.

I don't plan on doing this until I figure out where to get a good ex-pen.

Just tonight he was in his crate sleeping in the bedroom and we were in the living room having dinner, he was yelping & whining a ton :(.