On the fence......
 

Hello everyone!

I am thinking strongly about getting a Yorkshire Terrier, but; honestly, I am on the fence. I already know that the breed can be wonderful, contingent, upon genetics, training etc. I had seen some vlogs of Yorkie owners and some people have issues and some do not. I seen and read that the breed can be hard to train everything, especially, when it comes to; housetraining. Are they really that stubborn? I do understand that they are terriers. Is it really that hard to train a Yorkie, if you are consistent with getting the dog outside when they first wake up, after meals, etc? i understand with any breed, it will take work on both ends. I welcome your responses because I really will like to get one, but; the breed is not for me, I will be happy to choose a dog more suitable.

Thank you very kindly!:aimeeyork

They are awesome little pups; but, if accidents in the house are a deal breaker, I would suggest you think about another breed. They are not impossible to housetrain, but they can be difficult. Some people swear they have perfectly trained yorkies, bless them as I have never had one that was "perfect". Some better than others, but then, I am also not totally upset when they do mess in the house.
Consistency and positive reinforcement are definitely key but they "can" still be difficult.
I could go on for days about the good things .. they are, as I said above, awesome little pups! :) But...you wanted to know about the housetraining and I think if it is that important you need to rethink.

Oh and btw.....I am not into cross breeding, but the smartest and easiest to train pup I ever had was a yorkiepoo. I am saying that because of your user ID :)

Welcome to YT.

Yorkies are a very smart breed, if they are food motivated they will learn quickly. Pad training or house breaking if not consistent will be a challenge, consistency is the key factor in house breaking. You cannot walk your puppy until they have had their last vaccine which is usually at 5 to 6 months old.You will have to pad train first. I have had 5 yorkies puppies, all were 100% pad trained at 5 months old, when they had their last vaccine I started to house break them, at 7 months old they were 100% house broken with no accidents in the house. They were confined to a small area that had their bed, food, water pee pads and toys.
Yes, I have read many posts where ppl had issues in pad training and house breaking. You must confine them to one area when they are wee lil babies, Iris pens and X pens are perfect for this. Put in their bed, food, water, pee pads and toys.



http://www.amazon.com/IRIS-4-Panel-P.../dp/B00D5P846Y
http://www.amazon.com/s?k=x-pen+for+...UKjgEmbhQ1JF9A


You must put the time in, be consistent and you will have a intelligent, quirky, funny lil clown of a baby, but, you have to put the time in, and be consistent in training. If you feel you will not be able to be consistent, this is not the breed for you.

Thank you everyone! I really appreciate your responses!

:thumbup:

What ever you need or want to ask about the breed, just ask. Yorkies are a fantastic and very smart breed.

I believe that Yorkies are the smartest of all terriers. I saw on a vlog, a cutie giving his owner a high-five and the kid is only 5 months. The pup knows basic commands, including, gong to his bed. Really impressive little munchkin! I understand that sometimes accidents occur. I have heard stories of horror with housebreaking, with dogs urinating and defecating everywhere and I blame the owners for that. It takes work and the owner has to be on top of things. I housebroke my dogs in a matter of weeks. An accident did occur and it as my fault.

Thanks and they are so cute!!! Being a ratter is a plus too!

Depends. :D I had one run in my house with a rat and put it on my bed. :eek::eek::eek:
I have a doggy door in my storm door so they only have access to it when we are outside in the yard. Since I have multiples and some want to go out and some don't , this makes it easier. At one time I left the door open but I kept running up huge electric bills because I was air conditioning my patio.
:p Anyway......she got it and was running with it and I was trying to get it from her and she ran through the doggy door and jumped on my bed with this dead baby rat. :eek:
I have had them kill snakes, toads and lizards .. quite the adventure living with terriers. I call them four legged, hairy toddlers

HAHA!!! Hey, Mom, I brought you a gift! I guess with catching mice, it depends on the pup. ;) Killing the snakes and the other critters is a plus!! They are pretty spunky and that is a plus!

I believe the dog was a snap to train. Poodles are incredibly intelligent! I do not like crossbred dogs and they are fancy mutts. As far as my userid, I made it up on the flash.

They have a very high prey drive, one of the things I love about the bred, the stalking lol, so cute and funny, not too funny when they catch what they stalk lol.

Like I have said, with any dog you must be consistent, have a schedule when to feed, when to walk, and stick with that schedule even if they make on the pad, take them out anyway on their scheduled time. Dogs have built in time clocks, they learn when walk time is and will wait for that walk. Puppies have small bladders and cannot hold their urine for long periods. And I agree, failure to properly house break is on the owner, not the dog. If you have already had dogs and trained them, you should have no problem training a yorkie. Always give happy praise and give high value treats, something they really love to eat. Yorkies love to please their humans.

Thank you very kindly. You are right about consistency and the dogs are smart enough to learn when it is time to go outside.

I have found them to be not that hard to train. All of mine have picked up on tricks basics within just a few minutes. My now oldest Joey is about to have his video submitted to become a Champion Trick Dog. Right now Joey is and Expert trick dog. All of mine also have passed the Canine Good Citizen test. If you find out the way they like to learn they are very receptive. Potty training isn’t hard if you are consistent. With most dogs potty training fails are most commonly the owners fault not the dog. You have to keep in mind though that they might be in the toy group but they are all terriers. My youngest has caught and killed 2 mice and a rabbit and he is very big on hunting things even bugs. I would definitely say to read as much as you can before deciding. You have to think about costs of things also. Yorkies require grooming no matter how you keep their hair. They are known to have a couple different health issues that you want to be educated about to do what you can to prevent them. I generally have the misfit yorkies that no one wanted and they all are bigger at 16, 15 and 14 pounds.

Until one of them brings in a dead animal dripping blood around the house. :eek: Lol

Lovetodream 88, Wow, your Yorkies are impressive and large! ;)

HAHA! If my dog gives me that, I will give him some delectable, especially, if he or she caught something in the house.

I am going to reiterate what I said. People can tell you they are easy to train and how it is all dependent on you and your dedication. I am going to tell you this: WAY too many people have had problems with housetraining yorkies for it to always be the pups. I have had some that were easier than others. They are well known to be a bit difficult. There is NO such thing as a 100% trained pup ... there is always an accident here or there. ALL I want you to know is that if you are really that bothered and it will be a deal killer if the one you get is difficult, then think again.
As for taking them outside as puppies, I have taken puppies outside in my yard but I never let their feet touch the ground anywhere else and for sure never at the vet on the floor until fully vaccinated. To housetrain you always want to take them to the same spot.
I think it's great you are making sure you are getting the right breed.

I read horror stories about yorkies being difficult to potty train and I still do see a lot of owners online struggling with their pups accidents all over house even as adults. However, my Mike was pad trained at home and has been great with it since 4-5 months old. I've put a lot of work and consistency into it. The only accident he had in the last year was peeing on a new rug we recently got, but it never repeated. He also peed in the elevator after we moved houses once, cause someone left a newspaper on the floor and Mike thought a newspaper makes a nice potty pad lol. Some boys also mark, but luckily we didn't have this issue.

That being said, Mike has a crazy prey drive and some behavioral issues, which we are working on. I have family friends with the sweetest calmest lap dog yorkies, while my Mike is a full on terrier and has quite a character :D If I would get him a lil yorkie bro or a sister, I would be more concerned with their prey drive, the possible separation anxiety, barking, very high energy, requiring a lot mental stimulation, as well as grooming and dental care.

Thank you. I work very hard to kind of dis prove the stereotype. If Joey gets his champion trick dog title he will be only the 3rd yorkie to do that so it’s super exciting. I will share the video once I get all the clips put together. Joey and Penny I got lucky with and they got bigger. With Ollie a breeder couldn’t get rid of him because he was bigger and had already out grew his parents by 5 months so he was the only one I knew was going to be bigger.

You are right about dedication. Because I am home all the time I have had a lot of time where as it might be harder to do if you work a job or are not home much. Penny is the one who is my most stubborn and has to be watched extremely well when it’s raining because she will refuse to go out and go in the house and she can be like a ninja. The puppies we have had growing up and with mine I have always taken them out in my fenced in yard before all their shots were finished but didn’t take them other places. I wanted to start on training them to go in the yard as soon as I could. In my opinion it’s fine in your own yard just I think it’s other areas like if you live in an apartment building or something with a common area used by others.

Jackson is almost 12 and hasn't had an accident in the house since he was like under the age of 1 lol. I seriously cannot even remember him slipping up once, and I would never scold him for it, but he is 100% potty trained and I do not think it's impossible at all. But we were very consistent in the first few months of his life and he trained really easily. He is the smartest dog I know and I'm not just saying that because I am biased lol. Even my family always comments how damn smart he is. He is very high maintenance and require a lot of attention and exercise but I love a dog that keeps me on my toes! So if you are looking for spunky, slightly stubborn, a lot of fun, very smart, usually stays active until older age (this will obv depend on each dog, but terriers tend to be longer lived in general). Jackson will be 12 next month and just hiked with me 4 miles around Harpers Ferry WV. If he doesn't get exercise or mental stimulation, he WILL be annoying :p

I trained Jackson when I was not working and on my college break. Maybe this is why his training stuck and we never had issues because I had a solid month off to be with him and train him, and it was just he and I. Which I understand is an unusual situation for most people. We had a routine where I'd take him outside, reward him when he went. If he didn't go potty while outside, I'd put him back in the crate. Try again in 5-10 mins. Don't let the dog run around freely or not under your very watchful eye at ALL at first. That's when accidents happen (and it happened a few times in the beginning with me where I'd look at my phone for a minute and then see him go over and squat LOL) but some accidents are to be expected for sure.

But is he 100% potty trained, not even an accident when he is sick, he will go bark at the door when it's urgent. And like I said above, I would never ever scold him for it, or care if he couldn't hold it while he's not feeling well, but he still refuses to go inside. So it is totally possible to have a 100% trained Yorkie. And yes he's a bigger one too (18lbs) but my friends 4lb and 6lb Yorkies are 100% house trained as well. She told me the only time they have accident is if they've had upset tummy or something, but I think that's common with a lot of dogs, not specific to Yorkies.

I honestly think it's more common in smaller breeds to have housebreaking troubles simply because they can hide it so much easier and most people give too much freedom too quick. A large breed peeing or pooping in the living room is hard to miss. A little Yorkie's pee spot will dry up quickly and half the time you won't even know it was there lol. In the beginning I can't stress enough to literally not let them out of your sight. If they are not in the crate, they are attached to you via leash or holding them. They only get down to play after they have done their business outside (and you witnessed it). And even then, after a 30 minute play session as a really young pup, they most likely will have to go again after all that action/movement.

I would say expect them to take a bit longer to train than a larger breed but they are not at all impossible with dedication :) Jackson often sleeps in on the weekends with me until 10am or later, he has not been in a crate since he was 5 months old and has free roam of the house. If he has to go, he lets me know. :) I try to make sure he gets out every 6 hours at minimum during the day. Overnight he is good for 8-10 hours.

You made me miss how Callie would sleep until noon! Ollie decided to get up at 5am this morning :eek: then all 3 decided it was a great time to all run around like crazy. The best way to start a Monday lol.

LOL, you can see by that smile on his face he is just loving that hike lol.

Hi Brister,

Thank you for your response! Dedication is needed for any breed of dog. I housetrained my dogs and yes, they are brilliant, so; it did not take long to potty-train them. They did have a few accidents but; it was totally my fault. One time I messed up because I did not get them out after a few hours when they were pups. I corrected my mistakes and they are 100 % housetrained. They are bigger breeds and that makes a difference as well.

When I had my pack of 3, all were 100% house broken at 7 months old. They were on a eat and walk schedule. I worked full time, morning walk was 7:30am, I was home from work at 4:15, that was their 2nd walk. Not one of them ever had an accident in the house, but they also were bigger yorkies, 2 at 13 Lbs, the baby was 9Lbs.

Thank you matese! Yes, having the pups on a schedule is sooooo important! have some smart dogs and they had to be placed on a schedule. Intelligence doesn't mean a hill of beans if you are dedicated to getting them out on time for potty breaks. I used crate training and it worked wonders. I do understand that the tiny buggers have tiny bladders, so he owner will have to really make sure that the dog is getting out frequently. I bet your Yorkies are beautiful! If I get one, I prefer a larger pup. ;);)

LOL, omg happy Monday! haha. Nope, I don't do 5AM's hahaha. My dogs learn super quick lmao. As pups obviously I take them out as needed but if it's early we go back to sleep :p

I was trying to say that intelligence does not mean a thing, if the dedication is not there.