Hello and wee problem

[Ex-SRD]

Hi there

Found this forum and it looks friendly, helpful and busy

I'm from the UK and have a 4+ month year old Yorkie called Ellie - she's lovely, but one major problem - she wees where we don't want her to and have tried to stop this.

We have got her an indoor bed cage to put her in as the books say that a Yorkie will not wee on its own bed... but Ellie does. She will wee on her blankets. If we have her in the utility room with the outside door open, she will wee in the utility room and not the outside!

[Erin]

4 month old Yorkies don't know they have to go until like 2 seconds before they do. I hate to say it, but take the blankets away. Some of them will go on the blankets. Loki used to go on his blanket and then shove it under the crack in the crate so he didn't have to sit on it. The crate can only have enough room for them to lie down, stand up and turn around. Make sure it is a VERY small space.

She will not learn to go outside on her own. Take her outside and wait for her to go. Make a HUGE deal about it and give her an awesome treat when he goes in the right spot. Repeat a million times! If she makes a mistake and you don't see her, just ignore it and clean it up. If I caught Loki (usually I did) I would grab him and say POTTY OUTSIDE and carry him quickly to the grass - then praise him when he went on the grass. Expect her to try, but not be 100% successful until she is about 6 months old. That's when they tend to figure it out and are able to hold it for a little while. Good luck!!!

[toninm]

be patient...I have learned from here they dont really learn till they are about 7 months!!!

[SoCalyorkiLvr]

At four moths they need to be supervised constantly as they really cannot "hold it". They need to be taken potty a lot...every time they wake up, after they eat, after they play, and every hour otherwise.

She should be praised wildly when she goes on command or where you wnat her too!!

It is a lot of work in the beginning and there will be many many accidents but putting the time and effort in now will pay off.

Remember, most yorkies aren't potty trained until 12 months of age.

[mustangbee]

Welcome to YT!!!
She's still very young, It's going to take time to train her.
Be very patient with her, thats the key.

[jwash]

Welcome to YT. I am the mom to Chloe and Lacey. I totally agree with these folks in every way. Your puppy is too young to figure potty out and will never learn without you. Persistence and patience is the name of the game.

[Maxwell&me]

I dont have personal experience with a yorkie...However when we were training Maxwell we used whats called a pee post~ It has pheramones in it and it makes them wanna go when they smell it...we also liked the fact that it trained him to go in one perticular place.

You can purchase a pee post at that Major Pet chain everyone has in thier town...Pet*o or online at the larger pet products websites Like Foster and Smith. Im not saying that it will totally solve your problem but it sure speeded the process for us.

[troubletb]

I have never heard of a pee post, Sounds interesting. Anyways , Listen to the earlieer posts your cage must be to big!! Get a smaller one. Believe me they won't go in it if they will have to be near their own waste. Good luck!! And Welcome!!

[Juliealfies mum]

Hi I have an 18 month old called Alfie and a 8 week old called Lottie , with Alfie we used the wee wee pads and clickered him and gave him a little treat every time he used this and totally ignored it if he went anywhere else , then started to move the pads outside and he did great with this. We are now starting this wih Lottie so hope it works just as great. Good Luck

[YorkieShadow]

Hello and Welcome to YT. Just keep working with her she will catch on.

[ldenise]

welcome to yt. yes, it is a friendly, busy and helpful place. what i did to break mine was constant eye on them. very constant. and when you see them start to squat startle with a sharp "no" or "out". then immediately take them out. I rewarded with a small treat as soon after they did it. this was aside taking them out after a nap and after eating or playing. this is what worked for me. i dont know any thing about crate traing. i didn't keep mine in a crate. i would have had to have one big enough to make room for me to be in with them. LOL.
good luck and remember it takes time and patience. just stay calm they will soon get the idea.

[Ex-SRD]

Hi folks - thanks for all your replies - looks like there's some useful tips, I'll go through them with my girlfriend tomorrow and then if we have any further questions I'll ask.

thanks

[Ex-SRD]

We- have had a chat and there are some very useful tips - thanks!

Our dog crate is quite big, so yes there is room for her to wee away from her blanket. This is something to try.

Didn't realise Yorkies can't hold their bladders until they're older. We feel very reasured that this is normal for them.

Thanks very much again!

[Ex-SRD]

Thanks for the tips - we've put some of them into practice, and she isn't peeing in her cage anymore (it seems).

but.....

she still continues to pee on the floor. She will be scampering around merrily for a few mins, then will just squat and pee. She seems to know she has done wrong straight away and we put her outside then try to praise her for peeing out there.

But there seems to be no warning that she's gonna pee, she just squats and goes!

Is there anything we can do for this - or have we gotta grin and bear it for another 2-3 months, or....?

It's really beginning to get to us. We just want her to be out and be part of the family.

A friend in Australia sent their pup off to training school for a while, is there anything like this in the UK? and would this do any good?

thanks

[Erin]

They don't know ahead of time that they need to go until they are like 5-6 months. Then they have to learn to "tell you" when they need to go. Best you can do is let her out every 30 mins and teach her to go on command that way you know she is empty. It will start to get better. We invested in a good steam cleaner in the beginning and that way we didn't get upset about it since we didn't have stain probs, that sucker (ha) just cleaned it right up!

Loki is a year now and he goes to the door and stands there when he needs to go out. If I realize he hasn't gone in a while I ask "Loki, do you need to go outside??" in a really happy voice and sometimes he will go to the door and sometimes he will ignore me. But I just remind him :-) It will get better!!