Moved into a townhouse...need help with Hinckley....

[javabean]

Hello everyone! I hope you guys have some ideas for me....I just moved into a townhouse from a regular house and I work full time. So in the last few days I have had to kennel my 2 1/2 year old yorkie while I'm at work. I feel so bad to leave her this way...I have a friend that has been gracious enough to come over mid day and put her out for a little while. She is adjusting to the apartment life as I am now having to walk her to potty each time. We had rain yesterday and she refuses to go in the wet grass to potty and it took her forever to pee and that was in the gravel. :/ She never would poop bc she refused to go to the grass. Any ideas on this issue?

Any ideas on what I should do with her during the day so she isn't lonely and kenneled? I would like to trust her in the house alone all day without being in a kennel but we've only been there a couple of days... before the move we were living with family and other dogs and family members were around all day.

Please help...I don't want to keep her caged or lonely all day.

[TresCutePiggies]

Instead of crating him, you could set him up with an xpen or baby gate in a bathroom area (with his crate open in the enclosed space if he likes to hang out in there) until you trust him to have full run of the house. Another thing to consider might be a dogwalker to stop by when your friend can't help out or doggie daycare a few times per week. If you aren't opposed to pee pads, you might want to try to pad train him, especially for rainy days and during the day while you are gone.

[javabean]

Thank you! I have been thinking about who I could get in the area that I know and trust that might pop in a couple of times a day...its hard though bc everyone works. My son is only 12 and can't be left home alone yet and a dog walker is costly. I may see if she can stay in the kitchen..its a bigger space than the bathroom...and a potty pad might help. How do you get them to use them tho when they never have?

[Princes mom]

Is there a really good doggie daycare near you? Maybe she could go there once or twice a week.

[TresCutePiggies]

Oops, I'm sorry I refered to your girl as a boy. I hate when people do that to my girls, especially since they are almost always decked out in pink or dresses.

The kitchen would be another good area. Any area that you can block off easily enough and has floors that would be able to withstand accidents and the subsequent clean up.

As far as the pee pads go, I think the best thing to do would be to take the pad outside in an area where she normally goes and then praise profusesly when she uses it. The idea is that a potty on the pad is a very good thing. Hopefully, you will gradually be able to move the pad indoors. It will be more difficult since you are in a townhouse though and won't have the luxury of kind of inching it to the door to the house. I've always lived in highrises, so I started with pad training. I read an article recently about going from outside training to pad training; let me see if I can find it.

[TresCutePiggies]

Originally Posted by Princes mom

Is there a really good doggie daycare near you? Maybe she could go there once or twice a week.

I'm a big fan of doggie daycare too. Maybe something like every Friday she could go if expense is a concern. They often do discounts when you buy a pack of visits together, so it might not be quite as costly as it initially seems.

Here is that link: Dog Jaunt : Hotels, airports, airplanes: Teaching Chloe to use pee pads : Traveling with a small dog

Not a lot of information on the actual training aspect, but I hope it gives you the basic idea.

[javabean]

You guys are awesome! That's why I posted my issue here...

I think I am going to try her in the kitchen tomorrow....and maybe look into another person coming by to let her out for a few in addition to my friend...and possibly look at the idea of doggie day care...even once a week will give her some fun.

Thank you so much!! Not sure about the puppy pads...I really don't want her to get comfy with going in the house...she is completely trained not to. :/

[DJDB]

As far as I know, a good way to train on pads is to put the pads everywhere to begin with, then in a week, take away some, then so on and so on so that eventually you're just left with one. Just what I've read though.

We live in a townhouse with our little Ozzy, but we're training him to go outside. I'm lucky in that there's a garden area right outside the door, with a large rhodo where he can go underneath if it's raining. We crate him during the day, but we will give him access to the main floor once he's totally trained. Though we will probably start with one area at a time - like first the kitchen, where it's linoleum instead of hardwood.

[javabean]

My townhouse is on the end and next to it is a huge grassy area but if the grass is wet she doesn't want to go. I walked her down the street and she will pee in the gravel. ? But like yesterday she wouldn't poop and I can't make the grass dry for her.

That's a great idea to start her in one room...I will try that! Thanks!

[Yorkiedaze]

I think potty pads are a wonderful thing to put down when your not home, or your sick and can't take her out, or it's raining and neither of you want to get wet, or you travel and go into a motel and don't really want to take her out in the dark or early morning. They are truly a life saver, and would let her have run of the house with her pad down. Sometimes they just can't hold it very long and you don't want her getting used to a rug or carpet during those times.

[Princes mom]

In my humble opinion, it's best to have your baby trained to go both ways. Ian is def house-broken, and refuses to use pads. That is fine when we're at home, but last Christmas we went to CT to visit my son, and had major problems trying to get Ian to poop or potty in the snow. By hubby cleared an area for him, but he was not interested. I brought a lot of pads with us, but he refused to use those as well. (I even laid about ten pads in the snow for him to stand on.) Ian finally went outside to potty and poop, but each day we had the same challenge.