At the end of my rope
 

I have one of the most hyper, back talking puppies around. Herk will be 9 months old Aug 1, and it seems his behavior gets worse instead of better. I bought him a new harness yesterday, put it on him and 30 minutes later he had chewed it into. No little task. Its like he is arguing with you all the time (back talks). Constantly barking at everything. When you tell him to stop he turns around and acts like an unruly child. You can not catch him to put him in time out. I raised 4 kids and have 7 grand kids and he is putting me under.LOL Potty training has gone to pot. He stays in our bedroom at night in his bed. There are 2 pads in there. This morning he had tt'd 3 times on my floor during the night. Got to where he will go wherever he wants to. Beats me. I'm so disgusted. Toes and feet he will not leave alone. If you tell him to stop he will bark at you and stand there and argue with you. :eek: I really don't know how to get this little monster under control. Whre did I go wrong? :thumbdown This little monkey is a little dictator. :p I love him with out a doubt just had to blow off some steam.

WOW!!! You've got your hands FULL!!!! I mean they are all hyper, but yours sounds super hyper and out of control. I would take away his freedom privileges. Is he crated? If not, I hope you aren't against it becuase I think you are going to need it. Don't crate him as a punishment. Teach him the crate is his space, his safe place. Give him a treat (or a small piece of one) when you put him in there. It seems like putting him in a room designated for him would be too much. If he chews on his harness, tell him NO NO and give him something he can chew on in his crate. Keep him on his harness and leash when out of the crate (with you holding the leash) and teach him to come to you when you call him. Work on this for a while until he gets it and don't give him free reign of the house. I hope no one gets mad at me, but when he back talks you have a spray bottle with water in it and spray it toward his face and tell him NO NO. Work on these two things diligently (coming when you call him and not sassing back) and with very few words. As with a child, don't get out of control or they are in control. When you crate him and he is barking out of sheer anger, cover it with a towel or sheet, it will calm him. I bet if you stick to this for 2 miserable weeks straight, you will be AMAZED with your new puppy! (I say NEW because you will probably think he is a different dog). After that 2 weeks, see if you can let him lose in the house and he comes to you. Have him walk a stright line for awhile until it comes natural to him. With dogs, it is repitition, repitition, repitition. Good Luck!

I couldn't have said it better myself. Great advice!

Good luck! It IS possible! Do not underestimate how smart yorkies really are. Don't let him fool you, he has the ability to know better. :)

I wish I had some easy answers for you. As for potty training, consistency and containment are the key. Don't give your pup free roam of the house. Unless you are keeping an eye on him or playing with him, he should be restricted to a pen or small area with toys and a blanket to lay on until he can be trusted. There are lots of members here who use the pee pads. Do a search and you'll find lots of helpful threads. If he's pottying at night you may have to keep him in a pen while sleeping. How about restricting water an hour before bed? Unless he's been really active or outside a lot, of course. It seems to me that a 9 month old should be able to hold it all night. You might want to discuss that with your vet.
As far as the other issues, does your pup get lots of play time? Do you take him outside at least once to day for running and active play? Yorkies, although small are very high energy dogs. They need exercise. Seems like Bo starts to act up if he doesn't get active play each day. As far as obedience goes, maybe you should try working with him on simple commands like come, sit, stay, etc. using food as a reward. Maybe a puppy class. Yorkies are very strong-willed but they are also very smart and they are well worth the trouble. I know this is kinda random. Hope it helps. There are so many members here who are so smart! Remember, you're not alone. And by the way, welcome to YorkieTalk!!

if his harness is nylon or cotton you can soak it in bitter apple spray to keep him from chewing on it and if that doesnt work you can always soak it in jalepeno juice

I know this sounds kinda strange but it worked for me. When Chloe found out she could bark, I got in her face and whispered no, no, no barking. When she did not bark for just a few seconds, I gave her a Cheerio and lots of praise. Often I would pull her up to my lap and whisper. I learned this from a lady at the dog walk park who had a beagle. Be careful not to get on the floor with your pet, stay above him, in fact, I would not let him take the lead, ever, like staying above your head on the back of a chair or sofa or coming in a door first, remember, you are the boss. I totally agree with confinement. A 9 month old yorkie is way too smart not to be housebroken and obedient at that age, other than the infrequent accident, sickness or other extenuating circumstances. When I got Lacey. she was so tiny, I just knew she could not hold her tee tee all night. Not so, she turned out to be easier to train than Chloe, who is twice her size. I also believe in time out when mine are not behaving I put them in their kennel and close the door. Other than at night, I never keep their doors closed so they know time out is different. When I think back about how I trained Chloe, there was a time I was at my wits end and emailed her breeder. She gave me good advice, which might not apply to you but it did to me. She said to be her mom, not her grandma. In other words, discipline her like I would my child and she was right, I spoiled her rotten at first and being the smart dogs they are, she took advantage. Hang in there.

Wow
 

does he run you or what? Don't mean to be insulting, but that dog is in charge of you and it is time for you to take back control. For barking, I used a rolled up newspaper and would hit it against the wall or my hand and say NO BARK NO BARK. If he stopped he would get a treat (now he only barks when he needs to go outside to potty). As far as chewing his harness, coat harness in clear antiperspirant (believe me, one bite and he will not chew it again). Same thing for your toes and fingers. Couple of times of this and he will stop biting. You need to let him know that you are the ALPHA DOG IN THIS PACK. Start by placing him on his back several times a day with you on the floor and hold him there for several minutes. Always enter and leave a place before the dog. If he misbehaves, crate him or give him a time out. Make sure that he gets enough exercise, even if he exhausts you at first, it will work out as he gets older, he will need less. Get a halti harness if necessary which allows you to control him a lot better. Good luck and remember you are the boss.

Like everyone else has said, Yorkies are extremely smart. I suspect you laughed at him the first few times he sassed you. Just like a small child, if you laugh, it means he did something good and he will repeat it again and again. At this point it will probably take a long time to reteach him to stop. I can't really give any advise for stopping it, just maybe the reason he does it.

I sure know what you are going through. you sound like i did with Ahia. At first I thought we had made a mistake in getting a puppy. "what are we doing with a puppy at our age?!?" I could not keep up.
She is just over a year old now and very different. Calmed down a whole lot. still very active but more loving. still got problems but I am not regreting getting her now. She looks at me with those big eyes and I melt.
These two do rule our house. I have made many many mistakes. they have us trained and not the other way around. Our lives revolves around them. Mine in particular. LOL. My every thought is to make them comfy and safe. This house has gone to the dogs.
I guess what I am trying to say is to follow the good advice that the others have given you and it will soon get better. hang in there.

Thanks for all the advise
 

:) I know his has gotten control of us. He rules the house. My fault :thumbdown Boy did I make a lot of mistakes. It has gotten to the point in the afternoon I am exhausted. He is so loving it's had to get him under control. Can I say spoiled brat. LOL I put him in his crate last night because of the barking and back talking. He would not hush, so I covered it with a towel. He normally sleeps in our bedroom. Not last night. He was fine. When I got up, I got him out of his cage, took him to his pad and tried to get him to TT. Got tired went and feed him. Walked around the island and low and behold he is peeing in the floor and looking up at me. Put him back in carrier. When my husband got up he said let him out. I told him that he had been out and was being punished again. This is going to be hard. The thing that gets me is he knows when he is going wrong. He does get exercise, even has a x pen outside. When he hears us talking about going, he starts jumping. He almost always goes with us in his carseat. If I get though this I will be doing good. I want to thank everyone for your help. I don't know what I would do without this site. I don't post alot but I do read almost everything. :yorkietal

Hi Herk's mom!

I'm from North Alabama. GOod to see you here! You've been given wonderful advice. Best of luck!

If he is really unruly can you take him to Doggy Bootcamp. My friend had a boston terrier that kept getting worse and worse, she sent him to bootcamp for two weeks and she attended a few classes on how to keep what they had taught him and he came home, trained and it has been almost a year now and he has not regressed at all.

I noticed from your post that you didn't put him on a leash. I know it would be such a pain to do it all the time, but there again he had free reign and did what he wanted. Take him to his designated spot to do his business and if he doesn't do it after a period of time, put him back in his crate and try again 1/2 hour later. Once he does go in the right spot, praise him and give him a small reward. I'd be breaking the treats up so he doesn't get too many in a day, because you will need to reward "baby steps". Keep us posted, we'd all love to hear what works for you in the end.

There seem to be a lot of people from AL. I'm live just south of B'ham.

I think everyone gave great advice and there is not much more to add to it without repeating the same thing. But have you thought about some activities for Herk? You descibed him as hyper and I found the best way is to control it is do something with your dog like walking or taking a dog class.

I keep my yorkies busy by doing obedience, agility, and flyball. It's a lot of fun and I learn a lot on how to control my dogs. I don't know if it might be something you might be interested in but I thought I throw it out anyway.

Good luck with Herk.