Puppy driving me mad

[glitzglamz]

hi wondered if anyone had any advice, got a 17 week old mini yorkie, and i love her to bits but my OH is getting very annoyed because she is weeing everywhere.I let her out every morning, night, few times a day etc, and she has a trainer pad by the door, which I praise her when she's been there, but if she goes into a new room or anywhere else she just has to do it!! I know she's only a baby, but is there anything I can do - any advice please?

 

[Barb]

I have the answer for you - buy her a 'playpen'! We have the most gorgeous yorkie - (see my avatar) and when we first had him we were forever worrying about where he was and what eh was getting up to. So we bought a child's playpen and if I couldn;t be watching/cuddling him we would pop him in there. He loved it, had his puppypad in there, easy to find and use and a good selection of his toys. We popped him in it when we went out too - so never any issues about wondering where he might have left a 'surprise' for us.

It worked brilliantly and over time we found he got reliable and sensible and after about a year we took it away. He never seemed to miss it.

Try it, you will be so chuffed!

Love

 

[toller-girl]

First things first, get rid of the training pads! they teach the dog it's ok to go indoors.

Puppies need to go outside after eating, after playing, as soon as they wake and every 30 mins to an hour.

Supervise her all the time, she shouldn't get freedom around the house unless she's just been.

You need to make sure it's cleaned up properly (so that she can't smell it, not so you can't. You can buy special cleaners from pet shops, or clean first with a solution of biological washing powder and then wipe over with white spirit)

Never punish her. If you find a mess she's made after she's done it she wont understand why she's being told off, and if you do catch her in the act, she'll just learn to go when you're not there which makes house training harder.

Go out with her in the garden, ignore her and wait for her to go. When she does, give her loads of praise and either a treat or a game so she'll learn saving it up for outside is much more rewarding.

A bit of hard work now pays off in the long run.

 

[glitzglamz]

thanks for the advice girls, gonna take this on board and hopefully sort her out - let you know how i get on x

 

[Barb]

The going out advise is vital - when Ozzie was tiny we thought nothing if taking him outside very 15minutes during the day and half hourly all evening. We would praise him like mad every time he did a wee or a poo in the garden. He wasn't keen on the puppy pads apart from in his playpen.

He quickly became house trained and we've never had puddle since. In fact he has extraordinary capacity now and will happily go at least 12 hours at night and then has to be encouraged to get out of bed to go out in the garden! I think he was born a teenager!

 

[fun1uk]

Thought id add to this,i have a 7 month old cavalier and let me tell you its hard work.I thought when i got her how hard could this be?I read the books got the t.shirt but nothing prepared me for her coming home and the work i and time i had to put in.I always went to bed as late as i could without droping to sleep so she could have a last toliet trip and alway woke up at 5.30 to let her out.Quite often she had messed indoors but it wasnt her fault,i was in bed.It took about 4 months for me to feel fully 100%confident she wont mess indoors.She now tell me when she needs to go outside even if its 3am!!!!
Stick with it.Just take the pup out late at night,set your alarm if ness for midnight trips,first thing before you even go,after playing,eating,sleeping and other than that every 10 min.It will take time but if you stick to this it will work.I still use puppy pads at night but she barks to go outdoors its just incase im in a deep sleep.
Also id advise you to learn your pup go wee on the lead too,when i take mollie out for walks even if its 3 hours long she holds herself till the back garden which is good and bad,good as i dont have to clean up on walks but bad as were campers and when on holiday she wont go lol.
Good luck xxx

 

[Henpom]

The best thing ever invented (I think, others may disagree) are dog crates. My two Pomeranians have one each, with a lovely thick mattress in the bottom. The doors are closed at night and the crates are covered with dark blankets, making them snug and secure. During the day the doors are open so they have access. I bought mine from eBay and they cost £14 each, about a third of the price of Argos, but these are only suitable for smaller dogs, not Staffies or powerful dogs like that, although strong cages are available from the same seller.