How Come No One Told Me?

[mercyme]

First off, I sympathize with your situation. Second, you have come to the right forum for information. Third, I'll put my 2 cents in regarding your problem (even though I'm a relative newcomer to this forum).

I'm presuming you got your Yorkie as a puppy ? That would probably make him 6-7 months old ?

From everything I've read, the cage/crate is supposed to be a place where your dog FEELS SAFE, and GOES IN WILLINGLY. Of course, this requires time, patience and training to achieve (much like everything else involving a Yorkie). Otherwise, he's gonna cry, whine, chew, etc. because he wants to get out to be with you, where you are !!! These dogs are terriers, which means they can be feisty, independent, willful, and yes, stubborn, but once they are trained, they are a joy, very affectionate and loyal; they will bond to you very strongly once they trust you. The downside is that it does take more time and patience than a lot of other breeds. Potty training can also be notoriously difficult.

One of my neighbors had bought a Yorkie puppy, and while she and her family loved the dog, quickly she became "overwhelmed" by him, as a matter of fact, it sounds as though you and she had many of the same (and I would guess common) problems. My neighbor has two small children under five, both she and her husband work, etc. Finally, she gave her dog to her sister, and everyone has been happy since (my neighbor still has her cat).

I'm not here to judge, but perhaps the Yorkie is just not the dog for you. In my opinion, unless you have the time and patience to devote to them, it is unfair to both you and the pet to continue in a situation where obviously neither of you is happy.

I must disagree with you regarding a blanket "breeders destroying the breed" statement, otherwise, why would there be so many happy Yorkie owners ?

Every dog has a different personality, but I think most of the time, problems stem from inadequate training.

Please understand that I wish you the best of luck. If you want to keep your Yorkie, get a good, Yorkie-specific training book, and follow through with a training program. If not, please find a good home for him with someone who does have the time to devote to him.

[BLowry]

Originally Posted by shamrocks

Have you taken him to any puppy classes? Caoimhe is 10 months old now and she will cry when we have to put her in the crate to leave. She hates to be alone so I would turn on the Tv for her I know it is a little silly but it seems to help. I know that you most be going out of your mind right now but give him some more time he is still a puppy. Keep on reading and talking to different people you might find a solution to the problem . I just want to encourage you to stay strong I am sure that things will work out in the end.

NOT silly at all....I leave animal planet on for the girls everyday when they are alone. Makes them feel somebody is in the house.

[BLowry]

Originally Posted by Sunnie

I don't agree that all of the crate training techniques say to crate them most of the time. What they say is to crate them when you cannot give them attention. That being said, if they are crated all the time because you cannot give them attention, then they need to be placed with someone who can give them attention. It is so unfair to keep them crated all the time.

[Krystee]

Originally Posted by BLowry

NOT silly at all....I leave animal planet on for the girls everyday when they are alone. Makes them feel somebody is in the house.

LOL. I leave it on Animal Planet for my babies too.

[miabellaamoure]

Originally Posted by Yorkie118

Hello everyone. It's me again, with more issues. I've had my yorkie for about 4 or 5 months now. And I would love to say that these have been some of the best months for me, but sadly I can't say that at all. I have had so many issues I'm starting to think that I made a mistake in buying him. I've loved the breed for about two years. I would beg my husband all the time about getting one. Finally he gave in and I went on the search. I found one.... bought him....and the story begins. I thought I did my research. I thought I asked all the right questions. Somewhere something went wrong...really wrong. My first problem was him crying everytime he was alone, trying to eat his way out of his cage. Okay I understand that he has to get used to his new home. I get that. But this wasn't normal. It wasn't getting any better. Nothing I tried worked. I contacted the breeder and she said that he had NEVER been caged. GREAT. I wish I had known that before. It's just not possible for me NOT to put him in a cage. For his own safety. He is in the cage when ever I couldn't keep a constant eye on him. Like when I am cooking, going to check the mail, things like that. He is so little I am trying to keep him safe. He would work himself up so bad when we would leave the house he would lose all of his energy. That hasn't gotten better all these months later. I told the vet and the breeder that I thought he suffered with serious separation anxiety. They both said "Oh just give him time, he needs to get used to your routine". How much time does he need. I went to Petco and got him a new cage, a wire one thinking that maybe he wouldn't feel so closed in. Before I brought that he started using the bathroom in the cage. All the time. I was having to bathe hime a couple of times a day, everyday. Even though I was taking him out all the time. When I got the new cage he went from using the restroom in the cage to drinking his pee. There goes the second problem. I sectioned off the cage thinking that would help. It didn't. It got worst. Somehow he got past that. It told almost 2 months. Now he still cries like crazy when we leave him and he has started to show some signs of aggression. When I am ironing I put him in the cage so he doesn't get caught in the cord or anything. When we look at him he starts growling at us or barking. As soon as we come home we can hear him before we get in the house. And he's not even in the front of the house, he's all the way in the back in my room. If I leave and my husband is home he calls me telling me to hurry home because he is going crazy. (Both my husband and the dog!) He has said that if it doesn't hurry up and get better I have to get rid of him. What am I suppose to do. We can't take him with us everywhere. We can't even take him out of town with us. No one will let him into a hotel. So we have been trapped at home this summer. Not able to go anywhere. All the books I read about yorkies before I brought him only stated the good stuff. No one told me that this dog was going to take over my whole life. At night he sleeps in my bathroom. If I have to use the restroom at night, I can't even go in there I have to go to another bathroom on the other side of the house, because if I wake him up he starts up. He is so stubborn. He just kind of does what he wants. I spoke to a lady who said she has had the same problems the whole time she has had her 4 year old yorkie. Other people have expressed the same things. I'm starting to think that people have destroyed the breed. We baby them so much they don't know how to be dogs. They start to develop human characteristics and they don't know how to function as pets. I love animals, but I can not have an animal control my house. I don't even let my children do that. They have rules. I think that some breeders as so in love with the money that they can make off of these dogs that they don't care about the breed or about the life that they are going to have to live once they are brought. They are not breeding for temperament. I am so lost. I don't know what to do. I have two other dogs that are perfect. But this one has me at a lost for words. It has been hard to connect with him. What do I do?

How come YOU post "three seperate threads" basically about the same subject...how you researched, bought your puppy & now can't figure out why he doesn't like to be caged...without ever replying to ANY of the threads...is my first question to you?

[T Doll]

Originally Posted by Sunnie

I don't agree that all of the crate training techniques say to crate them most of the time. What they say is to crate them when you cannot give them attention. That being said, if they are crated all the time because you cannot give them attention, then they need to be placed with someone who can give them attention. It is so unfair to keep them crated all the time.

Sorry, I should've said "most" of the training methods, rather than "all". You can disagree with me, but that's just MY observation from the readings I've found about crate training. They do say to crate them when you can't give them attention, but that's also in addition to crating them regularly so that they learn to hold their pee/poo. I do remember a lot of them saying to only take them out to feed them and for potty breaks (in addition to short breaks and play time). Otherwise, they stay in the crate (even if you aren't occupied and can give them attention).

I also read a post on YT about potty training/crate training and I remember someone saying that they crate their dog for 4 hours, twice a day. So that means they are crated for 8 hours throughout the day. I guess this is normal since nobody fired back at her and accused her of excessively crating her dog. There were also other people who posted their entire daily crating schedule (don't have time to find the exact post/thread right now, but I might later) and they seemed to have their dogs crated for the majority of the day (with the neccessary and suggested breaks).

[Krystee]

Originally Posted by T Doll

Sorry, I should've said "most" of the training methods, rather than "all". You can disagree with me, but that's just MY observation from the readings I've found about crate training. They do say to crate them when you can't give them attention, but that's also in addition to crating them regularly so that they learn to hold their pee/poo. I do remember a lot of them saying to only take them out to feed them and for potty breaks (in addition to short breaks and play time). Otherwise, they stay in the crate (even if you aren't occupied and can give them attention).

I also read a post on YT about potty training/crate training and I remember someone saying that they crate their dog for 4 hours, twice a day. So that means they are crated for 8 hours throughout the day. I guess this is normal since nobody fired back at her and accused her of excessively crating her dog. There were also other people who posted their entire daily crating schedule (don't have time to find the exact post/thread right now, but I might later) and they seemed to have their dogs crated for the majority of the day (with the neccessary and suggested breaks).

Out of curiousity, how long do the training methods say to do this? Surely not for 4 or 5 months.

[charly]

l was the one that originally did not want Rockie. My daughter brought him who had no experience with a house pup. We had a chow but she was an outside dog. Rockie is a dog that needs lots of attenton and he whines alot. l now love Rockie to the point where people tell me he is a dog and not human. Of course his behavior is me, all me and l take full responsibility. l take very good care of him. l crated Rockie for a very short time. We decided a x pen would be a better way for his comfort while we are away or any time he needs his space and we need ours. Training will help a tremendous amount with behavior problems and consistancy is a major factor.
Rockie chewed up walls in the bathroom and kitchen untill we finaly did get the x pen which took care of that issue.

[AddieLove]

Originally Posted by T Doll

Although I completely agree with your post (as well as yorkie_mama22's post), the crate part seems to be confusing me a little. When you crate train/house break them, aren't they supposed to spend most of their time in their crate? I've read/heard that you only take them out to eat/drink, go potty, and let them out for short periods of time for play/breaks. I've also heard that you should crate your dog whenever you can't keep a close eye on him (like when you're cooking/showering/etc.)

I guess what I'm trying to get at here, is why does it seem like the OP's dog spends too much time a crate, when all of the crate training/house breaking methods teach you to keep your dog crated most of the time?

BTW, I orginally planned to crate train Mocha for potty training purposes, but I gave up on it because I didn't like putting him in his crate for such long periods of time (not to mention, he was also a shrieker!). So this question doesn't really apply to me, but it did spark my curiosity

My pup was crate trained, but I did not leave her in there most of the time. I would have to put her in the crate when I went to work, but I made sure to visit her during the work day to take her out and let her hang out. And as soon as I got home, I would take her out, and she wouldn't go back in for the rest of the day.
Now that she's older, she has a large, wire cage she can hang out in if I have to go out.
When I took a shower, I would just close the bathroom door and let her roam around the bathroom. It was very easy for me to pull back the curtain and check on her every once in a while.

OP, it seems very weird to me that your pup is drinking urine. I have never heard of that, but maybe someone else can address that. Is she not getting enough to drink during the day? Pups need a lot of water (actually, yorkies in general seem to need a lot of water), so if you're caging her often then is she getting enough to drink?

Also, how much of a terror is she really when she's walking around? My Addie chews on everything and anything she can get, but even with me running around the house doing chores, I'm still able to keep an eye on her. Yorkies are very high-energy, attention-seeking pups. I'm surprised nothing you read noted that. Please keep us updated on your situation.

[T Doll]

Originally Posted by Krystee

Out of curiousity, how long do the training methods say to do this? Surely not for 4 or 5 months.

Most of them don't specify a timeline of how long to continue doing this. I think it's generally until your pup starts to get the hang of it and can be trusted more. Yes, 4-5 months seems to be a long time to be doing this, but don't we all know that it can take even longer than that to housebreak/potty train a Yorkie?

I'm not saying that I agree with those methods, heck, I don't even use them myself. I was simply stating the facts of what I've learned and observed about that particular topic.

[jackson25]

First off, What is the reason as to why you put him in his crate EVERYTIME you can't have your eyes on him?

Second, I am not sure why you would say that "they are babied so much they don't know how to be dogs" Not sure how much "research" you did before you got him, but most yorkies require your undivided attention! You should have found that much out just by poking around on YT!

Third, Have you tried a X-pen for him? He might like that better and you can keep him in the same room with you while you cook, clean, iron!

I have six of my own and to say that it is easy would be a lie! I have no children, so they are my children! They require alot of time and attention! I own two businesses and also sponsor three racecars that take up alot of my time on the weekends in the summers. All of my yorkies are well behaved and have a schedule that I follow with them, this works great. So to say that you have one that is messing up your summer is somewhat hard to take. It takes time to train them for your lifestyle, but if your lifestyle doesn't allow you the time to be a yorkie owner, maybe you should take the advice of the other yt'rs and see if the breeder would allow you to return him.

I am sorry that you are having a time with him, but he his not very happy either!

[Laurn7f]

In my eyes you are being too protective and in the wrong way. You don't cage a baby when you can't hold them when you are doing dishes etc...you put them in a babyseat...

get a playpen, be responsible and keep an eye on the pup when you are busy with other things. We all have lives outside of our babies and still manage to pay attention to them enough for them not to get wrapped around an iron cord? that just seems weird you would even worry about that. I don't mean to be abrupt or defensive, but you just don't seem to know how to train or handle a puppy.

Poor puppy

[Laurn7f]

oh, and I am completely offended that you are accusing some of us of ruining the breed. Look at the members here...i guarantee 85% of us baby or dogs....all that means is giving them love and attention. I feel bad for your other dogs.

People get dogs to provide them with love and care and vise versa...why would you get a dog that you just keep isolated all the time? Your other dogs probably just sit in a corner and don't interact with you at all which I can see being your definition of "perfectly behaved".

My dog is very spoiled and one of the best behaved dogs I have ever known. There is a balance between love and discipline....and discipline is NOT locking up your dog.

Go sit in a closet for a day and see if you don't pee yourself and get angry about it.

[QuickSilver]

Originally Posted by T Doll

Most of them don't specify a timeline of how long to continue doing this. I think it's generally until your pup starts to get the hang of it and can be trusted more. Yes, 4-5 months seems to be a long time to be doing this, but don't we all know that it can take even longer than that to housebreak/potty train a Yorkie?

I'm not saying that I agree with those methods, heck, I don't even use them myself. I was simply stating the facts of what I've learned and observed about that particular topic.

Full time crating is only done for a few weeks. At that point, you should be able to trust them in one room, then two rooms, etc. I don't believe dogs should regularly be left alone for the length of a work day, but if that is necessary, they should at least be in an xpen long term.

[Lucky09]

I`m sorry to heard something like this,Try to go with him to petsmart and buy him new toys.