New owner...need help please!
 

Hi there. My family just got a female Yorkie about a week ago. I have a few questions that I need help with.

I have read up on here a little about their hair. My pup seems to have somewhat coarse hair...but not too coarse. Is their any way to tell what kind of hair she'll have as she grows older? I assumed that they were all soft and silky. I have friends who got a Yorkie and theirs is VERY fluffy as a pup. Mine is not fluffy. Are certain foods/shampoos going to help?

Second thing is potty training!!!!!! I am crate training. Here is a brief on what I am doing.

-she sleeps all night so first thing in the morning I bring her out and she poops and pees. I then give her "free" house time for about an hour and a half. I offer her food and water and take her out once more before I crate her. She normally doesn't pee a second time.

-after she wakes up and I let her out of the crate...I take her straight for a pee. If she pees then she comes in and has "free" time again. If not then I watch her like a hawk and take her out before crateing her again.

Basically I am doing that all day long. I take her food and water away about 2 hours before her bedtime.

She still manages to have accidents in the house! Am I doing something wrong? Also, should I be crating her more?

Thanks for your time!

Welcome to YT .

How old is she ?

Welcome to YT!! I don't have any advice on the coat - I'm no expert on that, but we have plenty of experts that will be by.

But it sounds like you're doing an awesome job on potty training! :thumbup: That sounds very similar to how I've housetrained mine. I'm assuming that she's a puppy, so do be patient. My philosophy is to make it nearly impossible for them to make a mistake - sounds like you're doing a pretty good job of that. The other thing that I do is give GREAT treats for pottying. Better than sit/stay treats during housetraining, since that's the premium "trick" I want them to learn. ;)

Welcome to YT! :) What is your little girl's name? When do the accidents happen?

I don't feel qualified to give you advice about this. Gizmo is 100% pee trained, but maybe (on a good day) 30% poop trained, and he's a little over a year old.

I am sure you'll find some great info here though. :)

Hi there! She is 9 weeks old.

I am really trying to make it impossible. Will it eventually work? Or do Yorkies always just go when and where they please? I am thinking of getting a bell and hanging it by the door. What do you all think of that idea? What command should I use if I have a bell?

HI! We can't agree on a name, lol. I have three older kids and they all like different names. We may end up with Brylie.

The accidents seem to happen more in the evening when the kids are around. I spent the past two days at home dedicated to charting what and when she does what. Yesterday I had an accident free day and today I had two accidents but only when she was not under my direct supervision....but with the kids. The kids are great and take her out often and when I say...but the pup just seems to stop and pee really fast!

How did you train yours??

:welcome4: Welcome to YT! My Scooter has silky hair, my Maya has cotton hair that tangles very easily (a pain in the ars!), and my little baby Nikki (4 months old) looks like she has silky hair.......it's very fine....maybe even finer than Scooter's hair.......but maybe it's just 'cause she's a puppy. Be diligent and patient in the crate/potty training.......yorkies are, in my opinion, one of the most difficult breeds to potty train. Congratulations on your new baby!

Many say that Yorkies are difficult to housetrain. Coby is one year old and is 99.9% trustworthy in the rooms in which he has free reign.... two big rooms and two stairways. He gets supervised visits to the other rooms until he is trustworthy in the whole house. As he was gaining freedom, any time he started to have accidents, we'd just take a few steps back and reduce the areas again. He hasn't had any accidents in months (where's the wood to knock on?).

Are you training for only outside? There are several YT'ers that have outside only trained yorkies. And I believe that we have a couple that use the bell too. Hopefully, they'll be along.

Mine are pad and outdoor trained. When they potty inside, they immediately come and tell me that they've pottied so they can get their treats. Makes it nice to clean up right away. Reggie's (Shih Tzu) been doing this for 11 years. He also asks whether I want him to go outside or downstairs. We are very well trained together! :) Coby is getting there.

Hi Marc. Welcome to YT. 9 weeks is young. I'm not sure if your breeder mentioned it or not but you should have Nutrical on hand. I would give you a ribbon size of it a couple of times a day. This will prevent her blood sugar from going down too low. Especially at night if you take her food and water away. How much does she weigh?

In so far as potty training - Yorkies are tough. Don't get discouraged. Some (Very few though) will train by 6 to 8 months of age while other take a good year to fully train and some yet take even longer. I have five and I have never had any expectations of being potty trained until atleast after a year and atleast for me, it's been pretty much on target. My toughest was Noel and she's now 4 yrs. old and I can finally say she's fully trained but she has some issues as she was a puppymill dog that was abused. For the most you will see your training pay off after a year old.

In so far as feeding what are you feeding your pup? I like Chickensoup for a puppylovers soul. It's a 5 star food wich is very good. They rate the food in stars with 1 being the worst rating and 6 being the best. I free feed the dry kibble and then at night I feed the canned chicken soup or I boil chicken, carrots and brown rice. You may have to do the wet food a three times a day as she's young.

Also, I'm not sure if your breeder mentioned what to use as far as walking etc. You want to use a harness rather then a collar as Yorkies are suseptable to collapsed tracheas. And you don't want to give her her shots all at once. My vet reccomend spreading them out. Another words if you give one shot then wait two weeks and go back for the other. Yorkies as many small breed dogs have a higher rate of reactions to shots.

Another suggestion I'd make is to get a big wicker basket and fill it with her toys and maybe a bully stick. If you find she's chewing tell her no no and take her to her basket and offer her one of her toys. Believe me it does make a big difference and I know mine love the basket idea as they always know where their toys are as I keep the basket in one place and near where they spend most of their time.

I'm not sure what else. I wish you the best with your new baby.

Elaine

Here's an old thread on bell training too.
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sho...+bell+training

Yes, I am training for outside only. I give her praise and treats everytime she goes for a pee or poop outside. I know she is smart cause I have spent two days of 10 minutes here and there teaching her to sit and she sits and takes her treat nicely for just a little training. That is why I wonder if the bell thing would work good for her.

Shoot...sorry, I don't know how to qoute just a scentence or two! I am new at this.

I am feeding her EaglePack from the Pet Store here. The other options I have from the Pet Store where I live is Royale Canin and Acana.

Yes, we have spent TONS of money on toys for her. We do scold for biting and then instantly offer a toy.

I am going to look into that Nutrical! Thanks for the advice!

Yes, we use a harness...that much I learnt before hand, lol.

I am sure she'd pick it up - they are so smart. :D In case you missed this link, there were several people using a couple different types of bells here.
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sho...+bell+training

That is great! I am going to read up on that tomorrow. I just put her down for the night so I am off to bed. (She has slept through the night all but one night this week!)

I have SO much more questions....I hope you all don't mind. Thanks all so much!