[keely'smomma]

hello there. My name is Jessica, I am 15 years old and i am having problems with my 14 week old yorkshire terrier puppy. I will give you some backround on her. I brought her home on Saturday, August 2nd. She is confined to 1 room, and didnt have ANY problems adjusting, she had already adjusted to My family and I am known as her mommy (she is my dog, and i am the one she cries for and gets excited about seeing) . Well, She is the smartest puppy i have ever seen in my life (im not just saying that because she is mine, her breeder said it too) I've had her for two days and i have taught her the "sit stay" command, and she listens everytime i use it. But, because she is stubborn like a terrier, she is having issues with using the paper. She was totally paper trained when we got her( I realize that as a puppy she will have accidents being in a new home, but her breeder siad she hasnt had an accident in her home since she was 10 weeks old) , she will use the paper everynow and than, but she does her buisness where ever she wants every other time. We tried Praising her when she does her pee/poop on the paper, and we give her a firm "No" When we catch her doing it on the floor, and we try to move her to the paper as sonn as possible. Before we tach her to do her buisness outside, we want her to master the paper training first. Any suggestions??


Thanks,

Jessica and Keely<3

[Cheetah]

Personally, I would just toss the paper. I think if you're going to train her to go outside anyway, then you might as well start doing that from day 1, instead of teaching her it's okay to potty in the house, and then suddenly changing the rules and switching to outside. This can confuse the poor pup.

Also, it sounds as if she's got too much freedom in the house. Right now, she is just a baby. You wouldn't let a toddler have run of the house, right? I would put a leash on her in the house, that way she has to follow you everywhere, and can't run off and have accidents. When they're that young, they'll run off, forget, and just potty where they happen to be.

How is she confined when nobody is home, or when you are sleeping? These two times are prime times for accidents to occur.

[FilleBelle]

I'm with Cheetah. Why teach her to go on paper when you actually want her to go outside? See the sticky on crate and house training at the top of this board.

[ModemX17]

I used to work at a vet clinic and one of the doctors had the joke

"people think you have to take puppies to the bathroom all the time, but really you only need to do it four times a day; after they eat, after they play, before they sleep, and when they wake up." Unfortunately(fortunately?) thats all they do...

so you probably already know, get a schedule, stick to it tightly. 15 minutes after they eat, right after they wake up and right after playing, and before bed offer it to them. So what I did with my puppy was litter box trained her. At those "potty" times I'd litterally lock her in a corner with a box and say "potty" until she went and then praise her and reward. As she got more used to it I'd say potty only once, and then once more as she went, followed by her reward word (good-girl!). She learned theres only one place where "potty" works inside. I then started moving her outside saying potty and she was going on command. Now she's almost 100% outside but uses her litter box for emergencies.

The only problem I did have was right at the beginning as she adjusted to her new home I moved the litter box a couple of times trying to find the best place. Periodically she'd still go where the box once was. G'luck