Getting Cold Feet
 

I'd decided to get a Yorkie. I've done my homework. I've researched the breed. I've ooh'ed and ah'ed at the photographs....and now I'm deflated.

Are Yorkies really that difficult to house train? I trained my Boston Terrier in two weeks! I just can't have a dog that pees in my house for his whole 15 year life span. I also can't come to potty pads. I have asthma and the smell of dog potty just closes my breathing down. Please someone tell me I've just been seeing the bad and that there are a lot more good out there! I'm heart broken.

Well your best bet is just to keep the dog you have if he is potty trained , yorkies are very hard headed ,, you have to stay firm and they will learn not all are difficult to train, But they are a challenge

I am no expert and I'm sure there will be better advice then what I tell you... I think it all comes down to the how willing and dedicated you are to training the pup and I also think the size of your puppy may affect the potty training due to bladder size.. I think the smaller yorkies might have more trouble than some of the standard size...:)

I think they are difficult to train. I have one thats 3 and still has accidents

Mika also makes my daughter break out, she is allergic to her dander,so if you have asthma you might want to think about it.

I have two girls and they are fully potty trained, they haven't an accident in the house in a long time (I can't even remember when the last time it was). We have a doggy door that the girls use and a small area where they go to potty and it has solved all of our problems. We got them both at 8 weeks and I would say by the time they were 6 months old they were fully house trained. We stayed very patience and really worked with them and they got it.

Yorkies are hard to train but they are well worth it, b/c once they get it and you follow through they will stick with it. Please make sure you are willing to stick it through and deal with a couple of months of hard work b/c it is so worth it in the end.

The only time we have problems is on really rainy days (we use pee pads) or when someone is sick or occassionally when we are gone to work during the day. It is possible!!

Mine is 17 weeks and is housebroken to pads and outside.(I've had him 2 months) If you use the washable pee pads there really is no smell. (and I smell EVERYTHING!) I can use them for 2 days (I pick up the poo) but so far there is no pee smell at all. If you use a crate at night, and xpen while you can't be there and are very consistent I don't think they are much harder than other dogs, but they won't housebreak in 2 days like my lab did and you can't expect them to, due to their size. I also have all hardwood floors so maybe if you have carpets you could switch to flooring? I hate to see you give up, there is NO other dog like a yorkie and I was a Lab Mom for 15 years and now I will NEVER have any other dog but a Yorkie. Maybe my Baby was just easy though :confused:

I have 2 yorkies a male and female. We installed a doggie door and built a small, covered fenced in area for them and that really helped on the house training. They were fully house trained by 8 months old. They are now 2 years old and have only had very few accidents since then.

I have a male and did not know they were hard to train when I got him.
I had absolutely no trouble in training him at all. I got him at 4 1/2 mo
and he was trained 1mo later. He has never had an accident in the
3 1/2 yrs since then. I can not live with the pads either nor would I
live with a dog that would not become housebroken.
They can be trained. All you need is patience and a schedule.
I know two other girls in my neighborhood who had no problem either.
You can do it. I might get slammed for this but I am going to say it anyhow,
"If your not committed to housebreaking them if will not happen"
"If you are, it will happen"
I truly think some just fall back on the fact that they have heard
Yorkies are hard to train and don't try as hard as they should to make
it happen or just use the pee pads instead of walking them.
If they are healthy they can be trained.

They are definately one of the harder breeds to train. I've had many breeds od dog over the years and yorkies are the hardest. My first yorkie was very well trained and it didn't take too long but every one I've has since her has been much harder.

To be on the safe side all around, you should get another Boston. Two Bostons playing together is the best sight in the world anyway. They are a muscular and stong dog, and may not be suited for a Yorkie. I had a Boston girl and yes, she was a breeze to house train and never had "accidents" in the home. I have three Yorkies now and was totally devoted to house training the first two for a year and now I trust them completely. The youngest one is 7 months and still in training and I would not trust her to have run of the house just yet. Maybe when she's a year old or more. ;)

Thank you all so much. I have some considering to do.

My Boston Terrier is 14 and has gone deaf. I'm hoping to enlarge the family before Buster leaves us to help fill the void for the children when the time comes. I can't imagine an empty house.

Now I have to make a personal decision as to if I'm really ready to make that kind of commitment to an animal that requires such a strict regime. It wouldn't be fair to go into this without the puppies best interest in mind. They are beautiful wonderful dogs. Spur of the moment uneducated unthought out decisions are the reasons rescue facilities and humane societies exsist today.

Thank you all.

I don't think that Yorkies are any harder than any other breed. It depends on the owner and their commitment and persistance(sp) to training. Tessa is 6mths and is trained to ring a bell to go outside. If we don't hear the bell or it is at night, she will go on the pee pad. I don't find any smell at all from a pee pad even after there is a couple of pee spots on it. I pick up the poo and flush it right away though. Do you still have your Boston? Do you think he\she would be okay with a Yorkie?

Yes, Yorkies can be potty trained BUT they do take a little longer. I had my Lab fully trained within a couple of weeks. It took 2 months with Bella (my Yorkie) until she was completely potty trained to go outside. I think she would have been trained faster if I hadn't eased up on her too soon. Within the first week she was going to the door and after another week or so I eased up with the crate and started leaving her out for longer periods of time and then she relapsed a little, but it was my fault not hers. I got right back into the routine with the crate and never had another problem. By the time she was 5 months old I stopped using the crate completely and she's done great with no accidents and she's just over a year now. I really believe in crate training. Check the training forum on this site, there's a lot of good information and there's a great article in one of the posts on this. Dog's need to be shown what to do, they have no natural instinct telling them to only potty outside. They learn by repetition, consistency and lots of praise all of which they'll get with crate training. I hope you decide to get your Yorkie, they're worth the extra time it may take:)

Mine is 3.5 and still isn't 100% potty trained. Have you thought about adopting an adult yorkie that is already trained?