Cleanness - How does it work?

[Tuga]

Hello,
I got my Yorkie about a month ago, she'll be 3 month next week.
For more than 20 years I only had cats (I have 2 of them now), as everybody knows they're the kings of cleanness.
So before I got my new puppy I did a LOT of research in the internet, I feel like I have a degree on house breaking puppies in general and Yorkies in particular...
My last dog was a Cocker Spaniel.
I don't remember it to be so hard to train as described everywhere, but it could be my memory failing...

I've been using the crate training method, at night and when I'm not home, it's working fine. I put a potty pad inside and now she uses it all the time when she's in the crate.
The problem still is when she's at loose in the house, she pees and poops everywhere.
She only poops after she eats, so I believe (hope) that question will be solved when she can go outside (after her last vaccine), I think I'll just have to take her out just after she eats.

My question is: how does it work?
I've read a lot about how to do it, the methods, etc... but I don't know how it works...
I mean, to they stop gradually?
Do they start peeing less and less until one day they'll only do it outside or in the pad?
Or is it sudden? One day they just stop?
How does all the process actually work?

I have another question:
I take her with me everywhere I can. Now it's a little complicated because I can't put her in the ground outside because of the vaccination issue, but that will be over in a few weeks.
But sometimes I'll just have to leave her at home.
Do you think it's possible for them to sometimes do it outside and when they're at home do it in the pad?

Thank you.

[TinyBit]

Crate training and pad training are too different ways to train. If you have her in her crate, she should NOT use it as a potty area. Only put her blanket/bed in there. She needs to learn to wait to use the potty until you take her from the crate outside.
However if you want to train to use the pad inside. Each time she goes else where tell her NO and sit her on the pad and say Potty. She should learn thats where you want her to go. Puppies do want to please you so keep working with her.
My Duke of York uses the potty pads, because he was sick when I brought him home in the winter and could not go outside. When his outside he goes any where.
Hope this helps clear things up a little.
Dawn

[ketters12]

I used the crate training method with tobey and he learned VERY quickly but the key is consistency. the idea behind the crate method is that they won't go to the bathroom where they sleep. so don't put a potty pad in there with him. you'll need to take him out every hour and take him immediately to where you want him to potty (mine uses a potty pad inside- always in the same place). say go potty! after he does his business he can play for awhile but you have to keepyour eye on him so if he does go potty somewhere else, you can catch him in the act- yell NO! and take him to the potty place. AFter playing for awhile, then take him potty again and back into the crate. Then you just repeat the process over and over and over. It can be REALLY exhausting, but mine was potty trained in about 2 weeks (around 10 weeks old). Now he just goes potty on his own, on his pad, whenever he needs to. he never even needs to go in his crate anymore. IF you are going to be gone for more than and hour or two, you should leave him in a bathroom or kitchen with his crate,blanket, water and food at one end and a potty pad at the other end. that way he can go potty while you are gone if he needs to. Good LUCK!

[ketters12]

so in simple terms the pattern to follow is:
Crate time, potty time, play time, potty time, crate time, (keep repeating)....

Eventually the amount of time he can be out of the crate will be longer and longer until he is always going in the right place. I never trained him to go outside so i don't have advice on that but tobey just gradually started going to his potty pad on his own more and more until he got the idea completely. the more diligent you are, the shorter amount of time it will take- IMO. Give him lots of praise everytime they go in the right place!!

[patty58]

I am probably one of the only ones on here who don't use a crate. As for training, he really was pretty easy. He went outside from the very beginning. I didn't and don't know anything about waiting for vaccines It is a tedious time but as was said before consistency is the key. I would take him out quite often and tell him to peepee and watched him all the time. If he started snifffing, he was out the door. I always stayed with him, of course, to tell him what a good boy he was. I was really lucky though and didn't have to leave him to go to work. He was mostly NEVER alone....can I say spoiled

[Tuga]

Thank you all for your answers, they where really helpful.

But actually, what I was wondering was more if the process was gradual or if it happened one day.
Like: I ask her to seat when I give her food, I don't want her to jump around. For some weeks she just ignored me. One day I said "seat", like I always did, and she sat. Now she does it all the time, I don't even have to ask her anymore. It was sudden, one day she just understood what I wanted...

Babies (human babies) pee all the time in their diapers. Then they start to do it less and less often as they learn to control their bladder. One day you can just let go of diapers. It's kind of a sudden thing. My son only had a couple of "accidents" when I took the diapers away, he was ready.
I was wondering if it was like that with dogs...
If one day they could control themselves and wait enough time to go outside (or to the pad) or if they started peeing less and less times around until they turned completely clean?
I mean, is it sudden or a progressive process?