cant housebreak

[boosty]

i do not know how to housebreak a dog. i just got this yorkie and shes 3 lbs and shes three months old. i keep her in a kennel in the bathroom. i take her out every few hours to go outside and take care of business, and she does right away. then i bring her inside and she plays with us for 20 minutes for reward. then back in kennel again. i have had her for one week. they say yorkies are hard to train. am i doing it right? how long do i do this? when can she be free in the house. i pick her up when i take her out of the kennel and i take her outside holding her. should i walk her to the door so she learns better? i am just scared she will pee as i am trying to take her out. and my daughter is 2 and shes very scare of this dog and she stays on the couch when the dog is free. the dog plays, runs and nibbles on you while playing. she doesnt like any of that. any suggestions?

[Jaybay]

Hi boosty.  Have you ever owned a dog before now?  From what you've already described, I think you're headed for some trouble if you don't get educated by a professional soon.  Please consider hiring a trainer or better yet, a veterinary behaviorist to help you out with your Yorkie.

A couple of problems I see right now: even though Yorkie's are small dogs, they should still be treated as a DOG.  Try to resist picking her up and treating her like a baby.  Put the leash on her and walk her to the door.  Make sure that YOU go out the door first - that helps establish you as a leader in her eyes.  Anyone who has housetrained a puppy can tell you to expect some accidents.  It's a very rare case that accidents in the house don't happen.  Just don't make a big deal out it and clean it up.  And NO rubbing the dog's nose in it - all that will do is teach your dog to fear you.

When you first get up in the morning, don't express anything to your pup.  Silently, just get the leash and take her outside.  When she does her busines, heap on the verbal praise.  Come inside and let her play in the house for a while.  Supervision is a must at this stage.  As soon as you see her squat, say NO!  (nothing more, no hitting), get the leash and take her outside.  Heap on the praise.  Positive reinforcement works wonders with dogs.  Other than that, just avoid lots of water or food a couple hours before bedtime so you don't have any messes to deal with in the morning.  If she's not going in her crate overnight, she should be ready to control herself for several hours during the day by now.

Dogs do very well in crates, but not full-time.  Keeping up what you're doing with only 20 minutes at a time of free time out of the crate will only result in a neurotic, and possibly dangerous dog.  Yes, little dogs can inflict damage on people  - just not as much as their larger counterparts.  Start walking her for short times twice a day.  And I don't mean walks with the 25-foot leash where she gets to do anything she wants when she wants to do it.  The Walk is a structured activity with you as the leader and your dog either right at your side or slightly behind you.  To correct her, just give a slight jerk of the leash and immediately release the tension.

You have a problem developing if you have a dog who is already "mouthy" and nibbling on you and your daughter.  Your dog does not see you or your daughter as having a place in her society above her: your dog is leading your pack.  Three month old pups are mouthy anyway since they're beginning to lose their milk teeth and grow in adult teeth.  They HAVE to chew.  She needs to have appropriate things to chew on - not humans!

If you can't afford a trainer, have a look at the library for some books on dog behavior.  I can recommend Cesar Millan's latest book, Cesar's Way as a great resource.

Sorry, I didn't mean to write a book - hope some of this helps.  :-)

[boosty]

wow, thank you so much. i do all that you say. she holds without any accidents from 12am to 8am in the kennel. then i take her out as you said on the leash now to the door, she goes right away. right after that, she plays in the house for reward. but i do put her back in after 30 minutes or so of playing. she eats and i get her again after 1 hour and she is used to that. she goes right away again. and agian reward time. all day the same. but she stays in the crate without any accidents sometimes for a few hours. when she really has to go, she barks this certain bark different from her other barks and i knwo she has to go so i take her out and she does her business. the other day , inside the house, she was playing for a long time and she ran to the door and pooped right by the door. half way of her pooping, i said no! , picked her up and took her outside where she finished. praised her. hope all that helps and i am doing it right. how long do you think it will take?i have called many trainers . they charge about 2000 to do this stuff. too much for me. thank you for your advice.

[Jaybay]

Good job!  Since she's already telling you she has to go by changing the sound of her bark, and you are recognizing it, I think it's time to enlarge her world.  Put the crate in whatever room you spend time in during the day and just leave the door open so she can come and go in it as she pleases.  Close doors to bedrooms or use something like a baby gate to block her from going into other areas of the house.  Makes it easy to keep an eye on her having her in the same room with you.  

Dogs usually don't like to "go" where they live and sleep, so by making other parts of your house her home, she'll understand not to go in the house.  Honestly, I think she's got it already mentally from what you describe.  The control just isn't quite there yet, and that's perfectly normal.  Like I said, every pup owner has to clean up a few messes in the beginning.

I despaired of ever housetraining one of my rescue dogs - guess she had been out on her own for a bit too long.  She was just too fast to catch in the act and we cleaned up a whole lot of messes.  It took a good 6 months for her to figure out how to tell us she needed to go, and it was really inventive on her part.  We kept a string of bells hanging on the doorknob of the back door, and one day this dog just walked up and jingled the bells with her nose.  Then she stared at me.  Sure enough, that was it.  From then on we had no more trouble, and she even rings the bells in the middle of the night if she has an emergency.  She just put it together that every time the door opened, the bells rang, so if SHE rang the bells, we would open the door.  Pretty smart, huh?  :-)

As for training, you might contact your local SPCA or Humane Society.  Some organizations offer free or low-cost group classes, or can direct you to them at other facilities.  PetSmart has low-cost training available on the weekends in my neck of the woods.  Basic obedience training will be a big help to you and your dog, and it's fun too!  The folks who run these classes should be able to advise you on housetraining and any other behavioral issues as well.  Other than that, hit the books for more detailed training techniques.  :-)