Housebreaking HELP??

[ProudArmyWifeD]

I have a six month old Yorkie, male and neutered. We've had him since he was 11 weeks old and he is still not housebroken.

When he was really young we had him papertrained and he was doing good with it, but also was going outside. Once he got older he started shredding the papers and going on the floor next to the doggie litter box, so we decided to switch to exclusively outside. He did that transition really well (he always seemed to want to go outside anyway, and he never went back to where we had the papers or litter box once we took them away).

He's crate trained, and goes in there overnight and when we are out and when we can't watch him. But the problem is, I have to check his bed constantly, because he sometimes still pees in it. And I have no idea why, because he's never left in there for extended periods of time.

He can go a few days without an accident, but just when I think he's 'got it' he'll piddle in the house.

I will admit I don't have him on a schedule, but that I take him out often and have been trying to get him to let me know he has to go out.

Anyone have any advice as to what I need to do now???

[CarLooSHoo]

I never had a schedule with Meesha either. When she was still a little puppy, I would literally take her out whenever I thought about it, whenever she drank, or whenever she sat by the door. Puppies have such small bladders, especially yorkies!

Do you keep the bed in the crate with him? How big is his crate? If it's too big he will think he has enough space to go in his crate. Usually a dog will never go in his crate if the crate is just the right size.

[*Meg*]

I have heard yorkies are tough. No advice since I am still working on this with my puppy, and my 10 year old pug still sometimes has accidents. I'll be watching this thread

[Lilly]

O yorkies are a pain in the butt to train, but still soo cute! We had one for about two years, we got him as a baby. My mom would take him outside every couple of hours and he was pretty good with keeping it in till she brought him out, but every now and then he would go in the house. Like right after she brought him in he would go somewhere in the house, maybe he was just mad at her the few times he did that? lol

[ForeverBaby]

I take our puppy out seriously every 20 minutes when I'm home and when I'm not, she goes in her crate. She refuses to pee in her crate and it keeps her from chewing on our furniture.

[Jenn026]

So it sounds like the only issue is peeing in the crate right? Well first your crate might be too big. The crate needs be just big enough for the dog to stand up, turn around, and lay down. They do not need a big crate with extra space my little 11lb dog is in cat carrier because that was what we found in the right size for him. If they have enough room to pee and not have to sleep in it, that's what they will do. Second, take out the bed. It's absorbant and he knows that. I know it seems "mean" to not have anything in there for him that's comfy but he will be fine. Put in a thin hand towel. The dog understands the concept of peeing on the bed and it absorbing his urine. Basically this is the idea, you need to set it up so if he pees he has to sleep directly in the puddle of urine. YOU'RE not making him do that, he is doing that to himself. Once he realizes he will have to sleep in his pee, which should be very very quickly, he should stop doing it. Not peeing where they sleep is something their mothers teach them at birth so unless he was taken away from his mother very young all you need are a few adjustments and he'll be fine. Once he is completely house broken you can put a bed back in there, but you might not want to use the same one because he will smell the urine and it might un-do things a little bit.

[ProudArmyWifeD]

Thanks for all of the good suggestions!! I really appreciate it, keep 'em coming if anyone else has anything to add!!

[lilangelbabe1217]

i have a almost 4 month old yorkie and he is really good about using his potty pads! we are slowly working on getting him outside (we live in an apartment) but he still does have his occasional accidents...maybe tape the potty pad down so he cant rip it up... now you have me scared!!