Tibbe was getting a bit unresponsive to his "Come" recall a couple of weeks back and I placed a container of his kibble with a bit of his lovely beef jerky treats included on a table beside the door. I started giving him one or two every time he came running when I called him in - along with a return to very generous praise, smiles and petting - and now he comes running at top speed when called, inside or out. I will use this method for another month and return to it whenever Tibbe's recall seems to not be working so well. I've used this device through the years whenever a dog seems to be somewhat slow to respond to the recall and it gets their interest right back up to 100% every time. I've noticed over my liftime with dogs that many dogs get "used to" the recall and can drift into an episode where they don't come right away and then note their owner's unhappiness with them. I mean the harder it is to get the dog to come in, the less pleased you may be with them when they finally go come. The effect continues to build until at times they are even hesitant to come. Nothing like returning to the old treat method to get them vitally interested again and make it fun and rewarding again.

We never used potty pads with both our Yorkies. They were crate trained and the surviving one has not gone inside in years now.

As for discipline, both of them got it. We never sprayed them with water. Never raised a hand to them. Never hit them or touched them. We used our voices to discipline them. Never used treats, or clickers. Just repetition, patience, and positive reinforcement.

Worked like a charm. The surviving dog is incredibly bright and well adjusted as was her deceased sister. :animal36

Presently with our 3 month old Jasper I am using the water/squirt bottle which seems to be working at the moment when I catch him doing something he isn't suppose to be doing. I say in a stern voice, "Bad Dog!" and spray him on his side. I never spray him in the face. I also sometimes clap my hands and say "Leave it!" That helps to.

If you want to give washable pee pads a try, here's another option - this ebay store has nice ones that are much less expensive than T.Bumpkins - here's the link: eBay My World - rye444.

T.Bumpkins has beautiful stuff, but if you don't care about pretty fabrics, the ones at the ebay store are good - they're tan with dark brown puppy paw prints. They're supposed to be good for up to 300 washes.

Good luck with whatever you decide to try.

When I got my first Yorkie puppy, she was bouncing off the walls and could care less about me. lol. So I put on my Mommie dog pants and growled at her. That got her attention... then we worked on her learning English as her 2nd language, as 'dog' is her native tongue. I only growled at her a few times, whenever I wanted her to stop what she was doing, immediately. It worked like a charm.:D