having toilet problem with my Yorky

[Sandramich]

I got a male Yorkshire about 2 months ago. He's 5 months old and I'm having difficulties to teach him to pee right in the training pad. In the beggining I had him in a small kennel inside the house where he had he's bed, he's food and water and the training pad. He was going pretty well, but now that I let him free in the house, he goes to his place, but pees and sometimes poops outside the pad. Usually he stays alone in the morning for 5 hours and it's really annoying to find pee/poops on the floor. I've tried to put more pads around but he keeps doing the same thing. What shall I do please ??

[psuek2007]

SandraMich,
I am a fairly new puppy owner myself but I have been doing a lot of reading up on raising pups.... and I believe you are going about it all wrong.
The crate should not have a pee pad in it at all. It should only be big enough for your puppy to reposition and stretch out. The purpose of it is to train them to hold their bladder/bowels. At 5 mths old they should be able to hold it for 8 hrs according to our vet. Our toy poodle pups are also 5 mths. We have water bottles (for rabbits) that hang from the outside of crate with the nozzle thing on the inside for the pup to access water.
As far as training them to use a pee pad... we bombed out. Our pups shredded every pad we put down. We tried taping the pad to the carpet... they still tore it up.
We bought one of those plastic pee pad trays.... they figured out how to not only grasp the pad from the middle but to chew on the snap down handles till they opened.... and the pad comes out.
We tried litter training them but they tried eating the litter. We switched to the recycled paper pellets for litter and they ate them too.
Needless to say... we have them going potty outside and doing fairly well with it.

[Sandramich]

Hi psuek2007,
Thanks for replying and appreciate your point of view. Actually the wire crate I have, has a lot of space inside (2 metres length x 1m wide). I work and have to leave him alone in the mornings for about 5 hrs until my son returns from school. I can't take him out yet until he's done with all the vaccinations. Also I live in an apartment and it won't be easy to take him out all the time. Although he's 5 months old, he does not have a time schedule for his pee. Actually he does it many times during the day. I feed him twice a day (first thing in the morning and late in the afternoon) and he poops soon after he eats. so it's ok but as he drinks plenty of water during the day, he can't hold for so many hours. I have been doing a lot of reading myself in the internet and asking for advice in order to make things right with my sweet little buddy and hopefully later on when I will be able to walk him out, the accidents will occur less.

[Sandramich]

Hi everyone,
Now that my Simba is done with all his shots, I started taking him out for walks and for potty. At first he was terrified about going out. He just wouldn't walk. then he just kept sniffing around and now he just poops in front of our building. he refuses to go any further. as for peeing, he only does it inside on the pad. I know that he wants to badly, but he manages to hold until he gets inside. Any ideas please ??

[ShardaBaker]

Hello Sanrda,

I apologize for replying soo late.

As for you first problem about the potty training pad.

I suggest that you be strict with your feeding and water schedule for your puppy.

Puppies will still have trouble controlling their bladder so accidents are actually unavoidable
at this stage but since you mention that he does pee and poo on his training pads then that
is actually a good sign.

You just have to keep this up, when you do see some pee and poo on the floor what I want you
to do is to act as if your MAD AT THE PEE OR POO but not your puppy (you can stomp your feet
in front the pee or poo, etc) and then do not pay attention to your puppy for 5-10 minutes.

I'm sure he'll get the message. Another way is to let your puppy relieve himself before you leave
him at home. When you do this make sure that you leave no food so that he doesn't overfeed at
the same time you stick to his feeding schedule so you will have an idea what time he usually goes.

And about walking your puppy, you actually can't blame the puppy for being afraid Sandra. Actually,
all puppies goes through the stage of being overly afraid but I assure you that they will get over it.

At this stage, I want you to let the puppy explore the outside of your house first (with a leash and with
you of course ). Introduce walking outside to him slowly Sandra so that we would enjoy the experience
rather than be more afraid of it.

I hope this helps Sandra.

[Sandramich]

Thank you Sharda for your advice. Of course I will stick to it regarding he's walks outside the house. I think he's afraid of new smells in the street and hears other dogs barking on the balconies and that makes him nervous. Regarding he's schedule, he normally releaves himself first thing in the morning (7:00 am) and then i feed him. So by the time he needs to evacuate after he's meal I have already left for work and everybody in the family. so he stays alone and I can't leave him without water for so many hours (till 2:00pm). What else can I do?
He's 6 months old now. When will he be able to control his bladder for longer periods ??

[Sarah]

A dog relieves himself about 45 minutes after eating. So if you are feeding him right before you leave for work, he will have accidents. If you leave a we pad where he can use that, it would be best, unlless you can have someone come in your home and take him outside or walk him.

A dog should be able to control his bladder the length of time according to the age. Your dog is 6 months old, so he should be able to control his bladder for about 6 hours.

[jude09]

Hello Sandra, I suggest that you feed him first and then take him our to do his business before you leave home.

This is a very stressful process but when you get the hang of it and understand your dog's schedule it's one of the most fulfilling feeling in your life.

[Sandramich]

Hi everyone. I was so relieved and happy with my dog's potty after so much effort and pacience, he was finally doing pretty well peeing and pooping outside. but it's been now 3-4 days that he went back to his bad habits doing his business inside the house. the worst thing is that I cannot predict when he is about to do this. He is changing his teeth and maybe he is somewhat disturbed by this but would this be the reason for this change of attitude?? please help.