Potty Machine!

[Romeo's Mommy]

Hello everyone! I just became a new yorkie mommy of an 8 week old male named, Romeo. I am trying to start the potty training thing but it isnt going so well. I really don't expect much because he is so young. I just needed a little advie. I heard crate training was the best so this is where I began. This is disgusting so brace yourselves. If I leave him in there for any time at all, he poops, pees, etc. but this is not the worst. I guess if he feels he is in there too long, (I never leave him in the crate over 2 hrs.) He will actually try to eat his poop! I dont know?! I know that is terrible, so I switched to potty pads, and he does okay every now and then, but mostly he just goes wherever he pleases. Then, I show him his accident and put him on his pad. He doesnt try to eat the poop unless he is in the crate! Help!! Any suggestions of advice would be greatly appreciated!

[chloeandj]

She had an accident on the kitchen floor so I soaked it up with a paper towel and put it on the puppy pad. She went right over to it and pooped on her pad. She only goes on her pad if there is a poop or pee already on it. So when I put down a fresh one, I put the paper towel with the pee on it. Hopefully she will just be able to know to go there after she gets a habit of doing it. Also try to confine him to one small area with the pad at times when he should need to go. I have an area in my kitchen blocked off into a "playpen" like area and when she wakes up, etc I put her in there and wait with her until she is done and praise, praise, praise. She actually disappeared from me last night during some play time in the front room and I found her putting a poo poo on her pad. Very proud moment!! But this morning peed in the front room. So it just needs to become habit with your diligence. Very important not to let him be overwhelmed with such a large space as your entire home being open to him. For a while he needs to be confined to areas where you are watching him and to where his pad is in a close proximity to him so that it can remind him of where he should go. Definately try wiping up his mistake and putting it on the pad. Hope this helps a little. My puppy will hold it in her crate. But I wonder if he doesn't like his crate being dirty and that's why he tries to eat it?? I don't know. My mother's dog did what yours is doing. Peed and pooped in her crate even if she was playing around the house she would run into her crate to poop. We did not know the breeder of this dog and learned a big lesson on puppy mills from her. We think she was raised only in a cage and never let out so she must have learned to "poop where she eats and lives". She eventually has grown out of it now at 8 months. Hope things get better.
Jodi

[Kathy]

Hi and welcome to you too. I am also a new yorkie owner or rather the yorkie is my owner. Actually, I am kidding about that. I have decided that the best way to have a wonderful yorkie is to be her boss and remember that she is a dog and not a human (even though she is reallly cute). In response to the pooping question: I have a cocker bigon mix that was very tiny and eat her poop in the beginning. I was mortified. I called the vet. She gave me a powder that I had to be mixed into her food for a few days. Well, at first I thought that it wasn't going to work. Everytime I saw her going for it I told her to leave it. I cleaned it up immediately. After about a week or so, she stopped eatting it completely. It actually worked! Now she may sniff at it but she leaves it alone. I still clean it up immediately. That dog is trained for the outside. I also do believe that in reality dogs do prefer the outside over the pads. We make the pads fit for our conviences and their size (weight) but outside is really what is more natural for them. Now back to the training tips. I feel like I am slowly becoming either an expert with it or nuts about it. After reading so many comments and talking to many trainers, I have finally come up with my plan which seems to be working. It is a combination of many of the comments from people on this very site. And let me tell you, in one week I have been all over the map . So here is what I am doing: I bought a little 22 inch crate with a divider in it. I placed it inside a metal pen (rectangular shaped with door in front). I put a dog bed in the crate and a wee wee pad in the pen (in front of it). I leave the crate door open. I have gone back to the one room at a time method too. This set up is in a main entertainment room (den like) on the first floor. It is also next to the backdoor. We spend alot of time in this room. At any rate, I leave her in this pen set up while I am at work all day. When I come home from work I say hi and keep telling her to go potty,"hurry up, go potty." i figure that since she is so excited to see me she will have to go potty (I've been right so far). Then I open door to pen and pick her up and praise her. I continue to put her in the pen when I see the signs (sniffing) or I think she is due. I do this until she goes and then I open the door for her to walk out and give lots of praise. WHile she has freedom in the room, I leave the pen door open so that she can go in and out as she chooses. I also put her in there (pen) whenever I have to leave the room. If the weather is nice out then I take her out back and do the same (it snowed here today and she doesn't like the snow). Yesterday was 50 degrees so this was all done outside, today 15 degrees and windy so inside. Now for the big part, I leave her in this (pen) to sleep too. She is not in the room with me. It took a night to get this going but it is working. I have made the decision that she is going to be a wonderfully trained and unspoiled (ok....a little spoiled addition. So, now for the results: She goes on command (in only a few days) outside and on the pad. She has wondered to the pad while out in the room (I never have my eye off of her when she is out and about), she goes into the pen area without complaining and stays there without crying. Nice start. When I am sure that she keeps returning to the pad (or goes to the door), I will then be able to allow her upstairs. It will depend on how big she gets (if she can walk the steps) if I will need a pad upstairs or not. I assume I will. I figure that when she gets to be about 3 pounds, I will then begin to close the crate up (versus the pen) during the night hours (so she can learn to hold it longer). I do believe that at some point I will not see any wet spots on her pad during the night anyway. She had many the first few nights but only 1 last night (around 5 I think). I want her to be able to sleep with my daughter but not until she is fully trained. I figure at least 9 months. I am in no hurry. She will be around for a long time. A year to make sure she is trained right will be worth the 15+. I have trained other dogs and so I am now of the thinking that if I want those same results I will need to train similiarly (except using pen because she is soooooooo little and I do not want kidney problems). Sorry that this is sooooooooo long. I hope it helps though.- Kathy

Originally Posted by Romeo's Mommy

Hello everyone! I just became a new yorkie mommy of an 8 week old male named, Romeo. I am trying to start the potty training thing but it isnt going so well. I really don't expect much because he is so young. I just needed a little advie. I heard crate training was the best so this is where I began. This is disgusting so brace yourselves. If I leave him in there for any time at all, he poops, pees, etc. but this is not the worst. I guess if he feels he is in there too long, (I never leave him in the crate over 2 hrs.) He will actually try to eat his poop! I dont know?! I know that is terrible, so I switched to potty pads, and he does okay every now and then, but mostly he just goes wherever he pleases. Then, I show him his accident and put him on his pad. He doesnt try to eat the poop unless he is in the crate! Help!! Any suggestions of advice would be greatly appreciated!

[tfc3rid]

I am trying to envision the pen you have set up. It sounds like you are doing a terrific job. I am at this point trying to determine what would be my best method for traning my Yorkie when I finally find one and then adopt one. My home is a row house with small backyard, acessible only from the basement... I live inthe first floor apartment my parents live in the second dloor apartment. My plan for days currently is to set up a play pen or baby gate area in the kitchen (where it is nice and warm during the day and my dad who is retired and home 95% of the time suring the day) can be to watch... The best I think would be to have a wee wee pad in there since it is about a minute to get from my apartment to our yard... Trust me I would love to go outside to the yard all the time to train but the way my house is I don't see it as possible. At night I am planning on having the crate in my room with me.

[Kathy]

Hi -You should have no trouble with your training. I agree with the kitchen except I don't think you should use the entire kitchen at first. You will not know for sure if she is going all the time on the pad or the floor. My first set up was in the kitchen. She went on the pad, but, I noticed that the pooop dragged around the room and she urinated in front of the gate (I think from being upset or nervous) also. Either way, it was so little that I could hardly tell. It could have been missed (and I certainly do not want that to continue). When you are not there, give her enough room for a small crate, one pad and little bowls. That way you will see what is going on. The pad will ultimately just be there when you are finished with the pen. Then, when you are sure that she uses it all the time, give her the entire kitchen. I spoke with many TRAINED yorkie owners who did it this way. They did not give the entire kitchen (too big). I bought the pen at Pet Smart. It has pieces that fold up and it can make different shapes. I made it into a rectangule using 6 panels. I can tell you that it seems to be working so far. Last night, she slept in it (goes into the comfy crate) until I came down and woke her up this morning. No wet spots on pad. Slept right through (I put her in at midnight because we were cuddling before that). This morning I took her outside. Too cold for her. She sat and shivered. I put her back into her pen. Told her to go potty and she did. The pen makes it so that she is in one place and not wondering all around. You are able to tell her to go potty and then praise her when she does. I would suggest to keep her crate in there for now. Unless, you are going to get up in the middle of the night when she has to go potty and carry her to her confined pad. You can do that if you think she is big enough to hold it all night. By not having her in the room with me at night, I am helping her to not be sooo dependent on me being with her "allll" the time (I have heard that that can be a problem). I figure that, after I know that she can hold it all night, and after I put her in the crate (without pad near by in pen),... then.... can she sleep in the bedroom ( I will put her in her crate in my room first until I am absolutely sure that she knows and uses the pad everytime). I have been known to make myself crazy with the "how to do something" but once I figure it out I usually get it (now who knows with yorkies, she may change all of my ways of thinking in time). I have trained many animals (parrots, cats, dogs, pot belly pigs). So, I figure that I will eventually figure this one out too (laughin). Anyway...those are my suggestions for now. Hey, by next week, I may be asking for help again myself (laughin).- Kathy

Originally Posted by tfc3rid

I am trying to envision the pen you have set up. It sounds like you are doing a terrific job. I am at this point trying to determine what would be my best method for traning my Yorkie when I finally find one and then adopt one. My home is a row house with small backyard, acessible only from the basement... I live inthe first floor apartment my parents live in the second dloor apartment. My plan for days currently is to set up a play pen or baby gate area in the kitchen (where it is nice and warm during the day and my dad who is retired and home 95% of the time suring the day) can be to watch... The best I think would be to have a wee wee pad in there since it is about a minute to get from my apartment to our yard... Trust me I would love to go outside to the yard all the time to train but the way my house is I don't see it as possible. At night I am planning on having the crate in my room with me.

[tfc3rid]

Sounds like you are doing quite well at this point in time. As I said I am open to suggestions but that was my general game plan for the moment. I would say I am a good 3-4 months from adopting a Yorkie so I'm sure mine isn't born just yet!

By the way, I wish I had a kitchen where I cold fit 2 people width-wise he he he

[Kathy]

Well, I either spoke too soon or I have proven my own game plan. I came home from work today to find that she was out of her pen and running around the room. Before I could figure out how that was done,I noticed that there were two poops in the room. One in front of crate and one not. I also noticed that there was wet spots on the previously clean pad. I noticed that the pen was almost shut (I guess she couldn't get in...I am hoping that that is what it was!). I cannot tellif she urinated or not. I did not see or smell anything. I will clean with stuff just incase though. Anway, point still taken. One room at a time with total supervision to help her to learn. The big problem with a pe, or blocking her ina kitchen, is that you do not see when she goes on the pad to reward her or teacher her where to go. I can really only teach when I am home or weekends. I really believe in total crate training but I am afraid that she is still too light for that (1 1/2 lbs). I do not think she can go all day. Maybe all night. I would love someone to comment on that. I do know that the one night she was in the crate she went in it two times. ANy opinion on that. I am afraid, however, that she will think that the pen is just a big crate and that she can go in it. I would really love to be able to just crate her and take her out to go potty. My day job does not allow for that flexibility. My other dog trained in one week this way. Two accidents in the crate and done. She holds it all day long. I am half tempted to do the same except for my fear that she is not capable of holding it the entire day. It sure would make training easier though. It would be a complete understanding. - kath

Originally Posted by tfc3rid

Sounds like you are doing quite well at this point in time. As I said I am open to suggestions but that was my general game plan for the moment. I would say I am a good 3-4 months from adopting a Yorkie so I'm sure mine isn't born just yet!

By the way, I wish I had a kitchen where I cold fit 2 people width-wise he he he

[Kathy]

Hi Jodi- Thanks for sharing. Question for you: how much does your yorkie weigh? You stated that you use a crate. Do you put her in there over night? If so, what time to what time? DO you use the crate during the day? If so, what times? How long can your puppy actually hold it for? If she is in a crate, when you wake up in the morning you put your puppy in a pen-like setting to confine her to go potty? And then, leave the door open after that or do you have other pads in the house (room)? I have been leaving mine in a pen set up with crate, pad, and bowl in it. I am only afraid that that is seeming like just a big crate. At some point, with this set up, I am afraid that she willnot want to enter the pen set up in fear that she will be locked in it like the crate. Or, just think it is her crate and you can go in it. Suggestions? thoughts? -kath Just when I think I have this thing figured out I go back to re-thinking it again.

Originally Posted by chloeandj

She had an accident on the kitchen floor so I soaked it up with a paper towel and put it on the puppy pad. She went right over to it and pooped on her pad. She only goes on her pad if there is a poop or pee already on it. So when I put down a fresh one, I put the paper towel with the pee on it. Hopefully she will just be able to know to go there after she gets a habit of doing it. Also try to confine him to one small area with the pad at times when he should need to go. I have an area in my kitchen blocked off into a "playpen" like area and when she wakes up, etc I put her in there and wait with her until she is done and praise, praise, praise. She actually disappeared from me last night during some play time in the front room and I found her putting a poo poo on her pad. Very proud moment!! But this morning peed in the front room. So it just needs to become habit with your diligence. Very important not to let him be overwhelmed with such a large space as your entire home being open to him. For a while he needs to be confined to areas where you are watching him and to where his pad is in a close proximity to him so that it can remind him of where he should go. Definately try wiping up his mistake and putting it on the pad. Hope this helps a little. My puppy will hold it in her crate. But I wonder if he doesn't like his crate being dirty and that's why he tries to eat it?? I don't know. My mother's dog did what yours is doing. Peed and pooped in her crate even if she was playing around the house she would run into her crate to poop. We did not know the breeder of this dog and learned a big lesson on puppy mills from her. We think she was raised only in a cage and never let out so she must have learned to "poop where she eats and lives". She eventually has grown out of it now at 8 months. Hope things get better.
Jodi