new poster and new owner questions :)
 

Hi all! I adopted 2 adult Yorkies this past Friday. A boy who is 6 and a girl who is 2 1/2. I was going to adopt a new puppy, one who I thought would be at the larger end of the scale since I have small children...but I fell in love! They are both tiny, 2 and 3lbs respectively. Here is my question: I babysit 2 1/2 days a week. I was hoping to exclusively potty train outside, but have decided that flexibility is key since they will need to be confined while I have other children here and since I live in Colorado. Today is the first day that they are confined - gated in my laundry room with a bed, food/water and potty pads. They are doing great going on the pad! They can, however, see me and the children (did I mention that my girl (who my 4 yr old daughter renamed Lucy) is absolutely crazy about my girls (ages 4 and 21 months)? Lol, she wants us of course! Would it be better to gate them off, say in my bathroom upstairs? Do you think this will cause problems with housebreaking (either to pad or outside, I don't care as long as they aren't peeing all over my house)? I want to set them up for success! Any advice, ideas or btdt would be much appreciated! :)

maybe it would be better , since the dogs are so tiny, if you could get an x-pen and put the potty pads and bed and toys in there. If is not too stressful for the dogs maybe you could put the pen in the corner of the living room so the dogs would not be lonely and it would also help them feel more comfortable around the other children.. Actually confining them in the ex-pen with the potty pads will rienforce the pad training. Good luck

I agree you can put them in the xpen in the room your in and they will be comfortable. Those xpens come4 in handy too cause you can pack them up and take them with you

I wouldn't put them in an x-pen in the room where the children will be unless the children will be supervised continuously. If the OP left the room for just a couple of minutes then that is inviting a tragedy. Children cannot resist picking up these little one's.

of course not, but if the dogs are going to be around children in the home all the time the dogs need to get used to them.
i would never leave two tiny dogs with a bunch of children no matter what age..

Bonus: I get to let them out of the gated room for at least 2 hours every day during nap time :D And of course I would never leave any dog, much less such tiny ones, alone w/ children even for a minute. So far today has worked out perfectly, I'm very pleased with their progress of using only the pads and also going outside for potty breaks when they are out of the room. Of course it is raining/snowing today!!!!

Is there a way to use a 'x-pen' on carpeted areas? I don't see how that would work. My entry ways, kitchen, laundry and bathrooms are the only rooms with either hardwood or tile. Both living areas are carpeted, as well as all of the bedrooms.

*Bump* welcome to Yorkie Talk

I had to attach pica of my new loves! Lucy is the 1st and last, Brait is the middle (named by our 4 yr old) :)

:welcome4: Lucy and Brait are both cuties.

Welcome to YT! They are so cute:D We have a 4 year old skin son and Georgie who is almost 7. It has required time and patience as Georgie was our baby until Isaiah came along. It's a good lesson to teach the kids about being kind and gentle to our furbabies:D

I think you have a lot of good answers on here from other people. I think the xpen will also help them to feel safe too. I can speak from experience when I a big (big to our small furbabies) lumbering kid comes over it can be a little scary for them.

Congrats and welcome! If things worked out today with having them gated in the laundry room, I say leave them there. You can still keep an eye on them and they are out of harms way and not messing on your carpeting. Is it a problem that they see you? I mean, are they crying and carrying on trying to get out of the laundry room? If so, then you may want to consider other options, but it sounds like this may be your best option. You have given them everything they need, bed, food, water and pee pads and they know you are close by.

yes , you can still use the xpen even on carpet.
If they use the potty pads consistently you should not have to worry but that is your choice.
You do whatever works for you....
I am glad they doing well.
They are so cute..

I would not put them in a room with small children in an X pen. I would not shut them upstairs either. You want them to have some interaction with the sights and sounds of the house hold. It is a difficult situation. I don't see how you could possibly train them to potty outside under these circumstances.

They need proper socialization and training but they also need to be protected from little children that just love to love and squeeze and carry little dogs around. The kids need to be taught that the dogs are not toys but the dogs need their own day care sort of situation so that they can learn to be well behaved members of the family. You have your work cut out for you!

Thanks, I think they are quite adorable!!

Yay, great half day so far! Lucy stopped the sad puppy whining and is sleeping comfortably in her bed. They went potty outside excellently last night after the kiddos left several times and then again this morning. I am one happy lady :D As far as them being socialized, they do wonderfully so far w/ my little girls (even my youngest knows if she wants the puppies she has to sit on the floor and they will come to her). The daycare children are 3 months, 2 yrs and 3 yrs. The 2 and 3 yr old I take in the gated room a couple of times a day while I fold clothes, etc and let them interact while supervised w/ Lucy and Brait. Do you think this is a good way to acclimate them to children? We come from a very large family (my husband is one of 7 siblings) and I want them to be used to people of all ages.