Should I do something about it?

[vainchick5]

She's 14 weeks (yesterday was her 14 week birthday)..hehe

[Ann]

Originally Posted by vainchick5

So that whole theory about not going potty where they eat and sleep. With Coco, NOT TRUE. While sleeping at night, she'll go in her bed (she has a plush, zipup bed so she doesn't get out). I wake up in the morning to take her potty on her pad. She will normally go, but occasionally she won't go #2. So when I come home from work, I have a little surprise in her crate. Should I do something about it? But she's so tiny and there's only so much she can hold in right? I have now been folding puppy pads and placing them in the back of the crate. At least if she has to go, I can encourage her to use her pad. Am I teaching or encouraging bad behavior?

I have a small crate for Copper...I think it is actually a cat crate...It has 2 doors...one on top and one on the end. I usually take the end door off during the day and put him in one of those fold up play yards with the crate inside of it....(door off so he doesn't get hurt with it swinging open, etc.). Then I put a potty pad on the other end of the play yard. When he needs to potty, he almost always uses the pad...sometimes he misses a little and it goes on the floor next to it, but his crate then stays dry...I put the door back on the crate for night time and move it in to my bedroom...Days are spent in the kitchen area. Hope this helps.

[jwash]

I'm certainly not an expert, but here is my opinion from experience with my two. I believe you have the wrong kind of crate to begin with, even though it is plush. With a puppy this small, I suggest the very smallest wire crate you can buy, I doubt you will have to buy another one, even full grown. If however you have a concern about that, you can buy bigger crates that have a divider that can "grow" with your puppy. The rule of thumb is something like, enough room to turn around and about 4 inches from the top of the head to the top of the crate and 4 inches on each side. A puppy must have food/water 24/7 as well. Mine also has a blanket and a favorite toy they sleep with. I don't recall you saying how old your puppy is, but just because a puppy can hold it all night does not mean they can do the same during the day. Since yours cannot hold it all night, and I think it is really asking a lot of this little one anyway, one option would be to position your (hopefully new crate) where you can put a puppy pad and leave the door open without her getting out and about at night. You might have an accident or two but usually the puppy will get pad trained easily and sleep in the sleeping area without a problem. The other option is to take your puppy out 24/7 at first, I hate to say it but about 1/2 hour, which is what I did, so I did not have to paper train and then housetrain. However, I am home all the time, so I could do that. A rule of thumb is add an hour to their weight and that is how long they can hold it at first. So, you can see your puppy would have a problem after about 3 hours. I also do not think it is a good idea for a puppy to be crated all day for that long. If you can, perhaps a friend or relative could help you by playing and letting her out throughout the day. Most yorkies need a lot of attention and will get into trouble if they are crated a lot. They are very smart and want to please and play. If they are held back I think it causes behavior problems in itself, ie chewing, marking, pooping, just to get attention. Your want to socialize your puppy and train so later you will have an obdient but playful dog. I can already hear the fingers typing of folks who will totally disagree with me. I'm only giving advice based on my two, so I am sure there are different opinions. I will say that mine are fully house trained, well behaved and well socialized dogs at 9 months and one year respectively. Maybe it was luck but I think the yorkie book I used had some really on target suggestions. Hope this helps.

[vainchick5]

I love everyone's advice here. It's not about agreeing with eachother but appreciating the different opinions because sometimes what works for one, doesn't work for another. So thanks to all. I'm thinking about closing off a small carpeted area in a hallway between my bathroom and my room. I could keep her crate in there, with a puppy pad outside her crate. That way if she needs to go potty she will. Maybe crate training isn't working for her. Just to clarify, she has a day time crate that is the regular one, and the plush one is just for night time sleeping. It's really soft, like a regular doggie bed. The only difference is that it zips up so she doesn't get out. More suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[eroar2]

I personally think that that is a good idea. (Although I don't know how big the hall way is ) The good thing that was good about our apt is that beside the bedroom it was either hardwood floors or tiles. We too work an 8 hour job so are gone for basically most of the day. In beginning (we got Annie when she 8 weeks) we put her crate in the bathroom one side, her food and water on another and pee pad on another side. As she got older we opened up the bathroom door and put up a baby gate and closed off a hallway and the bathroom. And then after a little while longer we moved the gate a litte further back and gave her some more room. And now at almost one year old she has almost full reign of the apt with exception to the bedroom which we still keep closed (just cause we aren't 100 percent potty trained yet) We're close but not completely there I think that you will learn through trial and error. Maybe invest in a steam cleaner

[Dena]

Hey Vainchick.. do you have any close up photos of your baby.. i want to see her.. i can't see her good enough in your icon thingy... shes gotta be super adorable!

[vainchick5]

Thanks Dena! She is super cute. You can click on the dogster link, and all of her pics are on there.

[whispersmom2]

If I read correctly, you said you could block off an area that is carpeted. Most breeders tell our new parents to keep the new puppy off of carpeted areas til they are fully trained. One does not expect a young one to be able to go longer than a few hours without pottying. I ALWAYS say use an X-pen, I like the cheaper wire ones. There is room for a bed in a small crate, food dishes and water dish(I use bird feeder stainless attachable bowls) They hang above the floor and cannot be turned over easily and puppy can still reach them. If you are gonna train to pads put the proper ones in. Put a small crate that can be used as a bed and safe house. I cover the back end of the crate sometines to make it feel more secure. Kong toys stuffed with peanut butter or such and once everything is in there, take a treat or two toss them in the pen, tell him what a good boy he is. While he is distracted with his goodies, make an unannounced get-away. I would suggest you start that when you can take some time off to be there in case any unforeseen problems arise..Try it on really short periods of time out...go outside, laundry room. Just any place where the baby cannot see or hear you..Try different things. Something is sure to work for you..