How to discipline your Yorkie pup...
 

Hi,
I've got a 13.5 week old pup who is doing really well for the most part. As will all pups, they need correction at times. What are some of the best methods? I've heard some talk about using a water/squirt bottle, etc. Is this effective? I'm just trying to look for another alternative to the stern "No!" that I've been trying to use.

She's gotten into the habit of pulling her potty pads around her "room" and chewing on them. I've caught her in the act a few times and tried to scold her, but she continues to do it. She has tons of toys in her room, but for some reason is attracted to playing with those pads, which is really gross, especially when they are dirty!

I want to make sure she knows that I'm the boss, but I don't want her to ever be scared of me either.

I am no help here! My first thought was 'good luck with that.' Tee hee! I do not mean that ugly in any way, but in a humorous way. We have the HARDEST time getting onto Katie Scarlett! She is just so dang cute, it is all we can do not to smile or giggle at her wacky antics. But I do know that some of their antics (such as the potty pad chewing) can be very frustrating. We tried the squirt bottle, she thought I was playing. I tried shaking the can of coins...worked for about a week. I tried shaking a jar of marbles...worked a few times. I try stern 'no' or 'eh eh' and sometimes it will work. We are working on 'leave it' command now. It's a work in progress. Our trainer at class taught us this. Also when I tell her to leave it or get onto her, I (try) to make stern contact with her with my eyes. I stare at her and she stares right back. I do not look away until she does. I read somewhere that when they look away, in doggy speak, they are submitting to you. So that seems to help a little with us. But for us, I guess I am a softie and I overlook a lot of Katie Scarlett's uh-oh's. We are not strict disciplinarians with her. She pretty much does her own thing most of the time, but she knows what she can and can't do. She will test you, but again, I do the eye thing or 'time out' and she immediately quietens down. Being just me and my hubby, no skin kids, this works for us. And I know many do not agree with time out, but it works for us. Katie Scarlett knows exactly what the words 'time out' mean. I can ask her, do you want time out, when she is doing something she shouldn't, and she immediately quietens down and is good. For us, time out is where I place her in her crate for a minute or two, no longer than 3 minutes. I don't put any toys or anything in there with her. And she figured out quick what time out was. Now I rarely have to put her in time out. She knows when Mommy means business.

Good luck! :)

I would suggest a pad holder.

Play the game of "leave it" with her. Whenever she has the pad in her mouth, tell her to "leave it" and offer her a high-value treat or squeaky toy(whichever is her passion - food or toys). When she does drop the pad to take the better deal, praise her and instantly replace with pad she had in her mouth with the treat or the toy and quietly remove the pad as you repeat "Good girl leave it!" over and over and praise her with physical rubbing/patting. It will require a container of treats or pile of squeaky toys on the table, ready for the "game" so keep your table stocked with whichever she prefers to trade her pad for - the food or the toys. So every time you see her with the pad, tell her to "Leave it" in a VERY upbeat and lilting tone of voice, grab your item of "trade" - food or toy - and go toward her smiling and laughing a little. Let her see the "trade" and when she drops the pad for the other, praise and offer the treat/toy instantly, removing the just-dropped pad and praising vocally as you do. Eventually, she will learn that she had rather have the trade, will readily drop the pad and take her choice eagerly. After a time, you can just say "leave it", as she approaches the pad and she will run to you instead for her treat/toy. Finally, as she approaches the pad, say "leave it", and just praise her w/out the trade item - lots and lots of praise. Eventually, she will learn that "leave it" means don't approach the pad or whatever the item is that you don't want her to take in her mouth. The trade items and all of the praising are just tools to get her to look at this training as a fun game alone the way but this game is also teaching her to listen to you as it has great rewards. Eventually, she will learn to listen to and respond favorably to commands that you give her because is has become a habit - it will be what she does. But make a fun game out of any form of training with a young dog or dog you are just training so they will engage more readily but all the while you are training them to learn to do what you say as a matter of course without thought on their part. Have fun and watch her respond!

^^I agree with positive reinforcement and redirection methods. With Max, this proved to yield much better results much faster. Scolding or being tough only brought out the wild side and caused him to completely lose focus on me and what I was trying to communicate to him.

An "uh uh uh" or "that's not good for you" and then redirecting the pup can be more effective than a stern "no."

Often ignoring the pup and walking away is a good way to get the pup's attention. Yorkies like to follow their humans and find out what they are doing.

Be sure to have a daily routine of basic activities that you do at about the same time. Work on basic obedience and trick training: sit, stay, down, and so on. This kind of work helps with overall behavior modification.

Shes just a baby!! Im dealing with a new one at the moment too!! He cant seem to ever find the potty pad!! lol.... I too, would suggest a potty pad holder (available at petsmart, petco, etc)..or washable potty pads (what we use now)...there are members here that sell them...one is 107barney.... You might check into that!!!

Want to add that I believe spray bottles have their uses, but not for general behavior molding. Your pup will probably not know why she is being sprayed.

The potty pad holders can create a new challenge. They can shred the center and have puppy pad snow everywhere so that isn't always a solution.

It's awesome that your on stop of this right off the bat! Just like with kids, I firmly believe that dogs need to be taught proper behaviour in order to successfully socialize in society. No one appreciates a brat, of the skin or fur variety :p

:thumbup: This is what has worked best for me. A firm NO followed by turning away and ignoring for a minute. Yorkies want to please so badly and seem to know when they've disappointed you, so use it to your advantage in training. And then praise, praise, praise the positive!

A 3 month old pup can pick up the "leave it" and redirection to the treat/toy just like an older dog. They catch on very quickly and learn early that your interrupting them at whatever they are doing with a word often leads to a very nice reward. It is a very good lesson that can be learned very very early in life by any pup or even very old or lifetime unruly dog. I've trained many a dog from young puppyhood up or even a dog with a long history of misbehaving with this method. Of course, to train any dog this way, you must be continually positive, always on the alert and make it fun. And training a dog is not for the easily discouraged because the pup or dog goes right back to doing the old behavior over and over at first until the light bulb goes off in their heads. But once that light goes on - Wow! What a lovely breakthrough and what a sense of achievement for the team you are becoming. Thereafer, the training actually does become easier as your little partner accepts your words and direction more and more quickly as a part of his learned automatic response to your commands. It is a fun, loving and very rewarding way of dealing with your little four-legged companion's explorations and exploits as you grow together in your relationship.

Washable training pads
 

Looking for washable trainng pads, where can u buy them?

Help! My doggie is six months old and won't come to me......ever......he only comes to me when I don't call him or don't notice him....like he comes and sits in my lap if I am reading or working on the computer but he won't come to me at all if I call him...at night he cuddles up with me and loves me....but still won't come to me....I've never scared him and I don't hurt him ever....what am I doing wrong? His name is Beauregard Rhett Butler and I call him Beau...

YT member 107barney creates beautiful washable training pads. Here is her site:
Washable and reusable dog and puppy pee pads, belly bands, and diapers by T. Bumpkins & Co.

I would start a new thread in the training section. Does your pup appear to know his name? I would work on general training, if you aren't already. Use his name a lot: when you say sit, and he does, praise him with "Good boy Beau." Do a few commands and then back up a few feet, show him a treat and say "Come." Use a hand gesture. Keep repeating this and moving farther away.

Make sure when you ask him to "come" that it isn't just for undesirable things, or things he isn't jumping to do. Make sure you associate it with desirable things too, like a little loving, play time, a walk.

Do you have one of the plastic frames to put the pee pad in? Gracie took off with the pad the first day I had her. I went out and purchased the frame at Walmart and have never had a problem with that again.

Most puppies have a thing about paper, tissues in particular. I still have to put tissues only in the tall garbage because she will grab them out of the small basket if I put them in there.

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