When Does it Stop?
 

Charlie is around 5 months now. He, 85% of the time does his business on the puppy pads, and sometimes we catch him in two other spots. He is gated in the kitchen all day when we're gone, and crated at night in our room. He can roam freely when we're home and awake.

When does it stop? How do you know when a good time is to let them have "free roam" of the house when we're not there, or to let him enter and exit his crate as he likes at night time?

:confused:

Teddy have not had an accident since he was 12 weeks old but I wouldn't let him roam free until he was 1 or 1-1/2 years old.

Honestly, I would keep him confined a little bit longer. He is only 5 months old and seem to do really well. But he is young. If you change the routine he might regress. But that's my opinion. It's really is up to you to decide.

willy & crate training
 

We kept Willy crated overnite & during the day in the begining. After about 6 mo we started letting him out overnite, but kept him crated during the day, I would stop at home over lunch & give him a break & my husband would let him out when he got home from work around 4pm. The reason we started leaving him out was he has too much penned up energy & he needed the activity. After about 6 more months we got rid of the crate completely. He hated the crate & was very glad to see it go. He was a very easy puppy to train, we had very few accidents.
Desiree

I was curious how long, appx., it should take to potty train a puppy. Mine is 4.5 months old.. i just got him 4 days ago.. and started potty training,( the right way), two days ago.. i was super confused when i first got him... i dont want to keep cleaning up his business forever all over my apt :confused:

Let's see...Biddy's birthday is 11/23/03...so I'm working on 1 year 6 months 10 days 14 hours and 41 minutes!! And she's still not potty trained!!!! URGH!

Dena, potty training is going to be totally up to you on how long it takes. Remember that your baby is only about 2 1/2 in human life. Their bladder muscles are not totally strong yet. Each time they can hold it just a little bit, that is exercise for those muscles. Your baby needs to be taken out every 3 to 4 hours. She may need to go once during the night too. If the baby doesn't get to potty when needed, then the bad habits of soiling the floor starts, and is very hard to stop. I'm lucky that I'm retired. Maggie is 14 weeks old and 99% housebroken. She goes to the door when she needs to go. That remaining 1% is when sometimes I have to ask her if she needs to go PP. First few weeks was NO SLEEP. Didn't know who was more miserable, me or her. Now, it's a breeze. Good Luck.

Snoodles was trained at 9 months! It ws a hassle, I can tell you! I would take her out, wait, bring her back in and she would do her business right in front of me! Brat! Finally, I was exhausted, picked her up and put her face to my face growled like a dog and threw her out. She hasn't messed in the house since.
Pat

When to give free rein
 

I had a real chuckle with this posting because when I nagged my hubby to get a yorkie, I wasn't about to ask him to help me with training, so I was up 24/7 for weeks. I was so tired, I was sure I had made a big mistake. Fortunately I am retired so I could devote a lot of time to training but it still was 7-9 months before Chloe was able to get the "housebroken" title and I could leave her alone, in the den for a few hours. At first I would go to Sunday School and come home before church to let her out. Then, how dumb, I wanted another one, so I could start all over. Lacey is so small, her bladder is very tiny, so that brought another set of issues. Then, it got better. I still try to make time away pretty short, about 3 hours, only because of the girls getting into mischief, like chewy electric cords, tearing up my carpet, etc. But Lacey pretty much followed Chloe out, so she was easier to potty train. I still make use of their kennels when it is night night time.

jwash! I am retired also. I never was so tired in all of my life! I have two birds and then this Yorkie to let out every hour or so and clean up etc, etc. I thought I had made a mistake too. Out in the middle of the night in my night gown yelling, "Go Potty". Gosh, it was awful! But, of course, like everyone who has one, we fall head over heels in love with them, and then all is forgiven! Ha! of course, she was finally trained, thank God!
Pat

mybirdys2003
 

What type of birds do you have??

I have a male that little over a year and still not potty trained.. :(

noooooooooooooo
 

noooooo, dont tell me over a yr old and still not potty trained.. :sad:
i hope he gets trained sooooooooooooon.
im so paranoid, i feel like everything smells like peeeee.

I brought Sami home at 7 weeks, Sami is now 5 1/2 months now and the majority of the time he poo's & pee's on his pad, he also will poo in a corner of our bedroom and on the mat in front of the shower :eek: I am retired and a stay at home yorkie mom, and I take both my babies out every half to an hour with me I am a smoker and I only smoke outside.. So he should have gotten it by now!! I keep the kitchen & livingroom gated off from the rest of the house so he only has access to the hallway, laundry room, bath, and our bedroom, our other bedroom door is always closed. when I do remove the gate Sami will poop on the kitchen floor while I am at the stove cooking!! :mad: and when I plop his little nose down to it and tell him no bad boy, he just doesn't get it!! :confused: He really doesn't, So I think everyone's pup will have their own unique learning skills no matter how hard you train them, I also think using the pee pads has caused confusion with Sami because he actually is trained to always poo's in the house no matter if he just came from out side! I feel I have been encouraging him that the pee pad is where he will poop! outside he will pee, but I cannot get him to poo outside :( I have even brought his pad outside and he just looks at it picks it up runs inside the doggy door(trys to) pull it through, I guess to put it back?? so I am hopeing he will just grow out of it because stressing over it isn't worth it! So I would keep your gate up because I dont think there is a period of time when you can give them full access of your home until you can say 100% :D

My vet said that Mocha should have been trained by now.. She's 5 months!! I think it depends on the dog and how much the owners do at really training and sticking to a schedule

I really believe you are on the right track. Don't give him a pad at all. Keep him confined in an area that is easily cleaned, so the odors don't absorb. When you take a smoke break, that's his chance to do a pee or poo break. If he doesnt' take advantage of it, put him back in the confined area, until the next break. Won't take long, before he puts two and two together.

I got a big laugh out of your post. You would have thought there was a camera in all of our yards at night. I too am retired. Have always wanted a Yorkie, but not until I retired. Not only was I tired, but I got re-tired every night. Outside, late, dark, cold, wet, raining, half dressed, and all with the love of my life. Of course I didn't say that at first. I don't know who cried more---her or me. I too thought I had made a mistake. Now I know why God doesn't give the older women babies. Heck, it's hell. She now owns my heart and home. She's a pistol, but I wouldn't trade her for anything. I never knew my retirement days could be so jam packed with so many activities. My den looks like a day care center. Hope y'all are having as much fun. If not, it won't be much longer and you will.

Yorkiegirl2! I have a Green Cheek Conure--a beautiful bird about the size of a sparrow. He has green feathers, a maroon tail, bright blue flight feathers and brown and white on head and chest. He is a one person bird---shakes hands, waves, and plays dead, and does summersaults! I also have a Blue Headed Conure--about the size of a robin. He is a kick! He is Green with a maroon under tail, blue head. He talks in a sweet voice. In the morning he keeps saying, "come on, come on" Then he will say, What R you doing? come on, come on. I say to him, Chicken Chicken and he answers, Quack, Quack. He also says Ow! What, Huh? Hello! Fish Bowl! Thank you, and is learning "You Talkin to me"? He's a real clown! He's the same bird in the movie Paulie.

Stitches! Yes, I felt like a fool in the yard yelling Go Potty about every hour in the middle of the night! I swore to God she would never learn! She was 9 months old when she finally learned---after growling at her and throwing her out the door. Should have done it earlier, but was scared I would traumatize her! Ha! She isn't afraid of much of anything! She is a sweetheart now, except for riding in the car. What a nightmare! Whines the whole time.. Also cutting her nails is a big ordeal! You would think I was skinning her alive!
Pat

Are girls smarter and faster learner than the boys? hehe
 

My Pochi will be 2 yrs old tomorrow. YAY!! and is puppy pad trained BUT he has a thing for plastic bags(like from the grocery store or any type trash bags) he will see it and if left to roam alone there is no doubt he will mark on it! I don't know why he chooses to do that on them! It's quite frusterating! Everyonce in awhile he will sneak in a piddle on the bathroom shower mat (especially after I wash it! :( How convenient huh?) hehe
I know he knows it's wrong because whenever he goes and "marks" on something he makes a mad dash to our bedroom and sits on his bed and shakes with his head lowered down. :confused:
Now Choppi (we got him when he was 4 mo old and now he's 10 mo old), he does great one day no messes everything on the pad and the next day he acts like he doesn't know what a pad is and does his 'business' everywhere BUT the pad. :(
Daisy is great!!! From day 1 never had a problem with her. She gets it right on the pad. Except on a couple of times when she's smelled a spot where the other 2 have pee'd on in the past...so I can't really blame her.
Meeju is our mini schnauzer and we actually have her trained to go potty outside and usually never have a problem with her.
Maybe it's just co-wink-i-dink (coincidence) that the boys have a harder time with the potty thing than the girls. hmmmmm
Funny thing now that I think about it, the boys in my family (human, funny that I have to clarify yorkie or human) had a tougher time potty training as kids than the girls.