Hi...new to the Forum :)

[Helene46]

Hi, my name is Helene and I have just joined your forum. Just wanted to say hello and plead for a little help. I have always wanted a yorkie and about a month ago my son and daughter-in-law blessed me with an early Christmas gift . My Delilah is 4 months old and I love her to death..

Right now I am having issues on trying to "potty train". Delilah doesn't like being outside, which I can understand because it is cold out right now. I have her "somewhat" pad trained. I say "somewhat" because sometimes she will go on the pad and sometimes she won't. I make sure I put the pad in the same place every time. I crate her at night and when we are not home, but it never fails, she poops and pees in her crate every time and doesn't seem to care.

Another issue I have is that I work. I leave the house at 6:30am and sometimes don't return until 5:00 ish...I let her out with a pad in the morning and put her in the crate when I leave. Then my husband lets her out again when he gets up. He does not leave for work until 10:30, so she is in the crate from 10:30 until I get home.

I realize she is little, and young and I cannot expect her to hold it that long, but even when I am gone only a little while, like on the weekends she doesn't even attempt to hold it.

So I guess my questions would be, first in order to make her go on the pad all the time would it be smarter for me to confine her to a smaller area with a pad instead of putting it by the back door? What do I do about her messing in her crate even when she is only left in there a small amount of time?

I have always had big dogs and never had training issues. Sure when they were new puppies they would mess in their crate, but it didn't take any time for them to attempt to hold it ...I let them outside every 30 minutes or so when I was home..and eventually they learned. I have a 6 month old lab that never messes in her crate or the house.

I guess it is different with little dogs? I really love my little girl...am I expecting too much out of her at this young? age

[Mom to Hot Rod]

Hi and welcome to YT.

Is there anyway that you can have some come in from when you hubby leaves and you coming home? I think that is a wee bit too long for a little one to hold it. Starting off potty training, you should really try and take her out every hour, for sure every 2 hours. If she is in the crate from 6:30 - 5ish that's really a long time. Although your hubby takes her out when he leaves for work, she is still in the crate. Have you thought of an expen with a pad? Or maybe having her gated off in a bathroom with a pad? This may work out better since you are gone a large part of the day. This way she can have some toys to entertain herself with as well. Just a thought. Good luck. Can't wait to see pictures of your little one.

[BellaBlue82]

First, welcome to YT! Second, with your training issues: you definitely can't leave her in her crate for more than three hours at a time. If you're gone pretty much all day you need to get an exercise pen and lay down some pee pads for her. At this age their little bladders are so tiny and they couldn't hold it even if they wanted to. Try to put her on a food and water schedule. Set your alarm to take her out in the middle of the night, feed her in the morning then take her out 30 min after, have your hubby do it again right before he leaves, when you get home, and then again before you go to sleep. Follow that routine and stick to it so that the puppy can remember her schedule. Also, try putting a bell on your door and ring it every time you take her out while saying "go potty" or whichever phrase you choose (and make sure you're saying this to her while she's outside going potty as well) until she learns to go and ring it herself to let you know that she has to go potty. Good luck!

[J_is_my_initial]

Just wanted to say Hi and welcome.

[Harveys Mom]

I'm also a newbie! I joined tonight. I'm going through almost all of the same issues with little 8 week old, Harvey.

He will go outside if *I* take him but if my husband attempts, he just sits on his feet. It's winter here now and very cold so we're going to try the puppy pads first. Harvey will pee on the pad but won't poop. I understand the frustration. We gave in on the crate training after one night. He'd much rather just sleep with us, and that's okay.

Good luck. I know it's tough. I'll pray for you during the biting phase! Good luck!

[brendah]

Hello and welcome I agree with the advice of using a x pen or a small room with a pee pad. That is what I do and it has been working good for me. I put down a 2-3 pads because I have a really fussy one that will only use the pad 1 time Most of mine sleep with me at nite also so I might be strange but I have a pad on my bed..LOL (but they actually use it)

[107barney]

Hi and welcome! I agree that that is way too much time in the crate. Like you, I work so what we did was get a professional pet sitter to come in to our house. That way, Teddy was only in his crate for 3 hours at a time. He still had accidents, but at least he did not lay in them all day. I left clean bedding out for the sitters and washcloths to he would not be dirty or have urine on his skin. I had to hire someone because I had no family or friends who could be available. I also came home a few times per week at lunch but I am close and have flexibility so i was able to do it. I am still doing it actually because Teddy has not earned out of the locked crate privileges. He is immature. I hope you can find someone to come in to see her during the day. If not, do the best you can with her and just be patient

[HarleyHOO]

I guess I'm lucky in the sense that Harley picked up on the house training immediately.. THANK GOD! She was letting me know she had to go out at just 3 months. In fact, she's almost 11 months now and has only had 4 accidents since we've had her...one of which was my fault.
But, when I first got her, she was NEVER left unsupervised. She was either with me at all times or in her crate. You may already be doing this, but the crate should have only enough room in it for her to comfortably turn around and lay down. Not always, but most of the time, dogs will not go to the bathroom in the place which they lay as they're very clean animals by nature. If your crate has extra room in it, block it off.
Another tip - I think this worked wonders for Harley....When I would come home to let her out, as soon as I opened the crate, I picked her up in my arms and carried her outside to the same spot each time and when I set her down, I said "Go Potty." Her feet never hit the ground until she was out in the grass. There was a period when she would be stubborn and not go on command as it takes time for them to learn this. However, if it took more than 10 minutes, then I would pick her back up and take her back to her crate. Then I'd wait about 10 minutes and repeat. She caught on quickly that until she went potty, there would no play time. Luckily, I too work close to the house so for the first 6 weeks, I came home every single day on my lunch break to let her out. And don't forget lots of praise and excitement when she goes in the correct spot. My neighbors probably thought I was crazy as I made a HUGE happy deal when she would go pee or poop...haha
You'll get there, yorkies are VERY smart. Just keep working with her and she'll be a pro in no time

[Mysweetbabies]

Welcome to YT. You are about 45 min. from where I live. I do agree with the others. Your pup is too young to be crated that long. I understand you have to work. When we got our first one we put her in the bathroom so she would have room to play and potty. It worked out good. We now have 3

[miabellaamoure]

Hi & Welcome to YT...Please consider that your baby is just that...a baby and will be till two years old. Even then, Yorkie's have a talent for not always being 100% Potty Trainable.

Next...I would recommend purchasing an X-Pen large enough to place her crate inside with the door removed for easy access when she wants private time. Inside the X-Pen place a Piddle-Pad for bathroom business while you are gone.

Be prepared to possibly always use a Piddle Pad in your home since you do work so many hours away from home. When I got Bella, I worked 5 min's from home so, at lunch I always came home to take her out to potty. She was in a set-up as described above.

A year later, I began working from home and the use of the Piddle-Pad almost became non-existant. However...Bella of all my Yorkies, would rather do her morning #2 on the pad...even to this day and she just turned 4 yrs old. Frankly, it doesn't bother me anymore...it's little...& a quick "flush" in the morning.

Just remember...she's still a puppy for a long while to go and it will get better...just maybe not as perfect as you might expect.

Good luck to you with your new little darling and if you need help or suggestions...this is definitely the place to be!

[YorkieMom6]

Welcome to YT!! Delilah is a cutie - can't wait to see more pics

[tarczely]

Originally Posted by Mom to Hot Rod

Hi and welcome to YT.

Is there anyway that you can have some come in from when you hubby leaves and you coming home? I think that is a wee bit too long for a little one to hold it. Starting off potty training, you should really try and take her out every hour, for sure every 2 hours. If she is in the crate from 6:30 - 5ish that's really a long time. Although your hubby takes her out when he leaves for work, she is still in the crate. Have you thought of an expen with a pad? Or maybe having her gated off in a bathroom with a pad? This may work out better since you are gone a large part of the day. This way she can have some toys to entertain herself with as well. Just a thought. Good luck. Can't wait to see pictures of your little one.

that is what I was going to say, my new boy never does anything in his crate but he only is in it to sleep all nite, during the day I too work and we put his pad in the laundry room (we tried to gate it but he learned to jump over at 12 weeks) so now we close the door, in the beginning he peeded on the floor couple times even tore up the pad (he don't go outside at all) but now at 15 weeks he finally has it...so now I have pad in the laundry at the backdoor, at the front door and in my bathroom and he is using it 95% of the time ill look and there are new spots and he is using all of them. now poop he hit or misses he starts by the pad but then he walks and poops....so try this if you can good luck they are almost the same age so keep in touch.

[Helene46]

Thank you everyone for your replies and welcomes. I was talking to hubby tonight and with all of your suggestions I think I have come up with a plan

I am going to run out and get a baby gate tomorrow and I think I am going to keep her in the bathroom off of our bedroom when I am gone during the day. It is small, but not too small...plenty of room for her crate, a place for a piddle pad and some toys ....

I generally go to sleep at around 10pm and she is normally asleep in the chair next to me, or in with my son until I go to sleep. I can put her in the bathroom with a piddle pad before I go to bed then crate her. Then I get up at 4:30am, I will put her in the bathroom again with some food and water and change out her pad before I leave at 6:30...and of course leave her some water and some toys.

I can then have my hubby check her pad before he goes to work...and when I get home at 5ish I can feed her again, let her do her business then let her have the run of the house until I go to bed...of course putting her back in the bathroom every 45 min to an hour so she can pee..taking her out when she is done.

I just hated keeping her in that crate during the day it broke my heart, so I am excited about this. Luckly I have been home with her for the past two weeks because I work in a school and we have been on winter break.

Hopefully we can get her to the point to where I can leave her out of the crate at night too. I would love for her to sleep in our bed...but I also don't want any accidents on my bed

Do you think that it is unreasonable to expect her to hold it from 10pm to 4:30am in her crate? Should I really set an alarm to let her out between that time?

[Helene46]

weird I replied to your posts and got a message saying it needed to be approved by a moderator, yet this one went through ????

[Armani Alexis]

Congratulations and welcome to Yorkie Talk! Happy New Year!