Help! I adopted a five year old yorkie and she is peeing everywhere :(
 

Hi! We have just adopted a 5 yr. old yorkie girl and she is truly wonderful, the only problem is she keeps peeing on the carpet.:thumbdown :eek: We were told that she is piddle pad trained but have yet to see her actually use it. It's only her second day here so maybe she is just getting used to the environment and is confused and anxious. What can we do to help her learn to use the potty in the right place? Should we try crate training her? or keep her on the pad? I don't think she has ever used a crate for pottying though. We already started a schedule where she eats at 9am and 5pm and we try to get her to use the pad shortly after that but so far it isn't working. Everytime she pees somewhere she runs and hides under the couch before I even have a chance to say something- so I can tell that she knows she did something wrong but I have no idea how to get her to understand she needs to use the pad. If it's confusing for me it must really be confusing for her. We keep her food bowls in the laundry room and a few feet away is her pad. We can close the door and I thought of closing her in there after a meal, but someone mentioned giving her a treat & praise as soon as she uses the pad. I don't think that will work if we have the door closed. Any help/advice would be much appreciated.:confused:

get a puppy gate (tall one)
 

use a puppy gate...or crate her when you can't watch her 100%...outside directly after meals and after playing and waking up..I 've never had luck with the puppy pad thing, but I live in a warm climate..


maybe she just likes to potty outside...take her for long walks (I know it's been snowing where you are) when you can. then praise her when she pottys and give her the treat, but you're correct, it needs to be immediatly or she won't understand....

use something that removes dog urine and poop smells, regular cleaning stuff doesn't work...you and I can't smell it, but she can..and will return.


You can also use a leash to watch her in the house. (tether)

I'm sure she is just confused. I just moved six months ago and thirteen year old Lady had accidents for a few weeks until she adjusted to the change.

First, you mentioned that her pads are close to her food bowls. You need to have them in separate areas as dogs do not like to potty where they eat. You wouldn't like to have your supper in the bathroom, would you? :D

You need to go back to Potty Training 101 with her and treat her like a new puppy. Take her to her pads after she eats, wakes up from a nap, etc. When she pottys, do the happy dance and give her a treat. How about a gate in the doorway so you can watch her?

If she's having accidents, she has too much freedom. You have to keep her with you at all times so you can watch her. Some people leash the dog to their waist. Walk her to her pads at the appropriate time (don't carry her or she won't know where they are).

It is very normal for adult rescues to have housebreaking relapses. Be consistent and put the work in now and she'll get back on track. Be sure to treat any stains with Natures Miracle to get the scent out so she won't be drawn back to the spot.

First and foremost I would like to Welcome you and congratulate you for opening your heart and home to a rescue! You have already been given very good advice. At 5 yrs and not housetrained you will really need to work to try to correct this isse and be prepared for the very real possibility that you might never fully correct it. The sad truth is that her former owner was probably not honest with you. If you had been told that she is not housetrained and would pee all over your house you would have RUN in the other direction. Not to say that I wouldn't blame you but most people would. It is the #1 reason that many Yorkies end up in rescues to begin with. The breed is notorious for housebreaking issues. I would bet if we took a poll asking how many people have NO CARPET the numbers would be very high.

So with all of that said, you have already been given very good advice. You need to return to Potty Training 101. Do not let her out of your site. This will cut down on her accidents. You should confine her to either a crate or a small area. A lot of rescues have a fear issue with crates. Many have spent years inside a crate and trying to crate train will only cause more trauma. When she is out you cannot let her have run of the house. Put her leash on and keep her at your side at all times. When you take her outside for potty if she does not go in the first few minutes bring her back inside. When she does do her potty outside praise and treat and then immediatley back inside. If you are offering a treat for potty, make sure you give it outside right after the potty otherwise she will not associate the treat with the potty. It is only then your should let her have a very short time of freedom.

We would all love to see pictures of your new baby! Don't hesitate to ask questions. Thank you again for opening your heart and home to this little girl.

Are you suggesting stopping the pads and just using outside or walk her in addition to the pads? I had not thought of leashing her in the house, that's a great idea!

If her previous owners said she was pad trained, trying to take her outside to potty will only confuse her more.

I really think if you are dedicated to Potty Training 101, she will get back on track if she was previously housebroken.

Okay, I thought maybe her food was too close to her pad, but I was not sure how close was too close? I'll move it to another area. Is it okay in another room all together? I can put her food in our living room and then her pad in the back laundry room. But what should I do if we leave the house during meal time? We planned on putting her in the laundry room, but if it's a meal time then we would have to move her food temporarily for that time. Will that be confusing?

I had not thought of leashing her to me- that's an awesome idea. I need to get a harness though because her previous owner only gave me a collar and leash and I don't think those are safe anymore right? I had not thought of putting a gate in the door either. I feel so stupid. I did so much research before we got her and now that we have her my mind just goes blank in the heat of the moment.

Thanks for all your help!!:D

If you leave food out all the time it will be harder to potty train her. It's best to feed her on a schedule so you can take her to her pads afterwards. I'd feed her in the kitchen.

You are right. Collars can damage their delicate tracheas and cause collapsed tracheas. Toy breed dogs should never wear a collar.

Where did she come from a shelter, rescue or rehome? It really is hard to tell is it is confusion or that she is just not trained. If you have her tethered she wouldn't be able to run under the bed. Pebbles would always run under the bed too. So I started keeping her leash on her all the time, but then she got smart and would take the end of the leash with her if she decided to run away from me. Can you say too smart for her own good. :rolleyes:

Only use positive reinforcement when she has accidents. Get a good enzyme carpet cleaner and just clean up the urine spots. If you don't clean the spots she will keep going in the same place.

Thanks for all the awesome advice! My question is can we use the piddle pad & walk her outside or should we really do one or the other? Will that confuse her at all? I have no idea that's why I'm asking. I just want Tallu to be comfortable and for everything to work out. We really do love her an would like to keep her. We just have to get this potty thing sorted out.

I use both. I prefer that they go outside, but if they are home alone...or if I am asleep and they dont' want to wake me, they use the pads.
She is lucky to have someone so patient with her! She will learn...they respond when they know they are loved! It is not true that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks (although she is not old.), but you know what I mean.!

One thing at the time is the best . I think , she is confused about the fact she is in a new home . Recently , we adopted Molly . She wasn't potty trained at all . We placed pee pads where we wanted her to go , after 2 weeks , she decided to go on . I Know it may look like long time but with love , attention and patience , patience and patience , she'll be pottytrained .

First of all , you'll have to decided if you want her to go on pee pads or outside .

I just noticed that you live in MN and it is COLD. I know mine will have more accidents when the weather is bad.

I have to agree with with Ladyjane, its not bad to use both and didn't cause confusion with my three.

I forgot to recommend a book to you. It's Secondhand Dog and is a must have for anyone who adopts an adult dog. Lady was 4.5 when I adopted her and I found it very helpful. Many rescue groups give it to new adoptive parents.

Amazon.com: Second-Hand Dog: How to Turn Yours...

Thanks a bunch! I'll def check it out.

She finally went potty on the pad!!!!! Thanks to everyone's advice I moved her food to another room and as soon as I did she finally ate! Then afterward she went potty. It was great!! We gave her treats and she was very proud of herself :D So far she has used the pad 2x but she still has not gone poopy. Should I be worried? I know sometimes when your in a new place it's difficult to go, but we are running up on the 3rd day. Of course the first day she didn't eat anything. But she has eaten all her food today, plus a little meatloaf we made :rolleyes: I really hope she poops tomorrow her tummy is so small. I am planning on taking pictures soon too, we have just been so engulfed in eating & peeing :p!

I thought we were in the clear...maybe not
 

Okay well she did potty on the pad but then this morning she pooped in the boys bedroom. I have no idea when she did it- it's possible it was in the middle of the night but it seemed fresh so maybe it was this morning. Anyway...I'm glad she finally pooped as I was getting a little worried but I wish it would have been on her pad. I picked up the poop and put it on her pad so maybe next time she will know to poop there instead. Should I leave it there for a little bit or just throw it? I left the pad that she peed on last night so she could smell it, now with the poop, I am hoping she gets it. :rolleyes:

:congrats:

Yippeeeeeeee! Success!

Some dogs don't like to pee and poop in the same place. Lady is like that. She will not poop on her pee pad. Since she is cross trained, I try to take her out after meals so she can poop there.

Are you in contact with her previous owner? Maybe they could tell you how they handled it.

Glad that she did poop:p but you need to keep her contained until you have her potty issues totally under control. What I hear is that she pooped but it was in your boys room and you are not even sure when she did it. Which tells me a few thing, you are giving her the run of the house, although she did pee on the pad she probably is peeing in other places too.

But it does look like you are moving in a good direction and it will only keep getting better with your new little pup.:thumbup:

In Minnesota too!
 

Hello, congrats on the new addition to your family!!

We also live in Minnesota (Maple Grove area) and adopted our little one in October. She is 3 years old and we were told she was pad trained and crate trained... only to find that she didn't understand what the pee pad really was and preferred to be outside to go! We went through 2 full months of continuous cleaning the floors until we figured this out!

We did the leash thing until she could be trusted more. She was always on a leash or in the room with us with the door closed so that we knew where she was at all times. It was like having a toddler in the house!

And with 2 weeks of pottying outside with no accidents in the house she now is able more freedom around the house and we can even leave her during the day without accidents! (it helps that she can't get enough of the snow and winter weather!)

Good luck!

We have been trying to keep her near us but up until today I didn't have a harness and I did not want to leash her to me by her collar. But I picked one up last night so she will be with me all day from now on. We tried to use a puppy gate and put her int he laundry room where her pad is but she just got really angry at us, as soon as we let her out for a bit she tried to pee on the floor again, but this time I caught her. I told her "no" very firmly and brought her to her pee pad right away. But she still did not go, maybe it's because there was poop there and she doesn't like to poop and pee in the same place. Ever since I put her poop there she won't even walk near the pad. So I got rid of it, and hopefully today she will use it again. I wish I could tell what she was thinking instead of just trying to guess. It's so hit or miss. But we are making some progress which I very am happy about. :p

So she doesn't mind the cold? Tallulah shivers after one minute of being outside. Then she will lay down and her feet will shake. I don't think she can handle the cold weather very well. Do you put boots or a coat on him. I was thinking to purchasing those for Tallulah. Because she hangs out by the door a lot and acts like she wants to go outside but as soon as we get out there she just freaks out and starts shaking uncontrollably.

Any dog you bring home is going to need a refresher course in potty training because every house is different with the rules and she's probably confused. I would crate her at night and when you can't watch her. The second she comes out of the crate, put her on the pad, and don't let her leave until she pees. Watch her closely over the next week or so for the little things she does when she needs to go. Chip used to sniff in circles and then he would go. As soon as we saw him sniffing and walking in circles, we picked him up and put him on the pee pad. Don't forget to use treats EVERY time she uses the pad and LOTS of praise. Throw a party. Soon she'll remember and just go on her own.

All that you can do is take small baby steps and it sounds like you are headed in the right directions. You are correct about using a harness so I can now see why she was not on her leash. Keep up the good work you are doing an excellent job. :thumbup:

Christmas blessings to you and your family.:xmastree1:

Well, you are already getting the best advice, but I would love to welcome you to YT and say congrats on your new girl. Hang in there, it'll be a lot of extra work right now...but you will reap the rewards. These little ones are special.

No, we got lucky and Gracie LOVES the snow and everything that comes with it. We do put a coat on her whenever we take her out. But she refuses to wear the boots we bought. :rolleyes: If she still shivers with a coat on you can try layering with a t-shirt or sweater under the coat. we have been doing that on the days when it is really cold out.

Merry Christmas!
 

Tallulah peed on the pad 4 times last night! Yea!!!!!! We are so proud of her! I was feeling so hopeless because I leashed her to me yesterday and sh would just pee on the carpet right in front of me! I kept bringing her to her pad but it was like she didn't want an audience while she was going on her pad. Finally after a terrible day she used the pad four times last night! She even woke me up in the middle of the night to take her to her pad! We are finding out a few important things about her:

1. She prefers to be alone when using her pad
2. She likes to be left alone with the door shut when using her pad- the dog gate is not private enough
3. She won't poop where she pee's- so we set out another pad on the other side of the room

Thanks to all your advice and getting to know Tallulah better we are getting a lot better at this thing. Hopefully she will be potty trained in no time! Merry Christmas everyone! We will be taking a lot of pictures today so I'll be posting some later!

:thumbup::thumbup: Picky babies!! lol Just keep watching her and you'll find so much out about her. She just needed reminding of where to go. Chip I think gets embarassed when he pees because he always turns away and pins his ears down. It's so funny.

:bravo:

Great news! I can't wait to see pictures!

We adopted DJ was 6 when he came into our lives and he was already pad and outdoor trained. Who ever owned him before did a great job of "potty training" him. Harley D, bless his little old soul, was 12 when we adopted him. He was a different story as he would go near his food, and if he had to go, he went. Since he was intact at 12, our best guess was he was a BYB or a PM in S GA where he was found. He never got the idea of pads but I learned his actions and could usually get the Old Boy out in time. We understood him, his past and learned to live with it during his brief time with us.