HOUSEBREAKING YOUR YORKIE
Most likely, your puppy was paper trained by the time
it was ready to go home. A good breeder will have your puppy paper trained and starting to even go in the grass before it leaves their house. If not then you need to start paper training and potty training your new puppy. Below you will find some help in training your new puppy properly and the different methods you may try.
Paper Training:
Pick a spot in the corner of your kitchen or a room you and your new puppy will use often. You can buy potty pads at your local grocery or pet store. These work best to absorb the wet liquid and keep your puppy dry. Place the pad in this chosen corner and put down the puppies food and water near it. Teach your puppy that this is his/her own spot! After a puppy wakes up, eats or drinks, it will want to go potty. Place the puppy on this pad and tell it to go potty. When the puppy messes in another area in the house, take it to the pad and tell it to go potty. This will help it associate this task with the pad. Be sure and praise the puppy when it goes where it is supposed to. When it has an accident, you can scold it with "Bad puppy" and it will soon learn the difference between the good voice and the bad.
You can also use a playpen while the puppy is young to train it in instead of the house. They are also usefull when you are gone, or have to travel to another household to avoid unecessary accidents. This is also best to keep your puppy safe from harm when you cannot watch it closely.
To clean up the accidents, use white vinegar to take away the smell. Do not use ammonia. It smells like urine to them and they will surely go there again.
Crate Training
Crate training can be very effective and not cruel at all if done properly. The crate will soon become your puppies new little house that they will go to when they want to rest or feel secure.
You want the crate to fit your dog. It should be big enough for the dog, but not too big that it has alot of space to move around. Then it could just go on one end of the crate and sleep on the other and would never learn how to go outside. The dog should be able to lie down and turn around in the crate. Buy one that will be around the size you think your dog will be when full grown so you don't have to buy one later.
It should be placed in an area that you will be in often and the puppy will be near. This crate will avoid alot of trouble in the future. This will prevent things being chewed or distroyed while you are away or asleep.
If you are to be away for long periods of time, the dog should be kept in a larger area. A bathroom without carpet or laundry room would work well.
Place a potty pad in the crate so that if the puppy does go while in there, it will not get soaked. Take the puppy out often. It is little and will need to relieve itself often. Eventually the puppy will learn not to go in the crate. Most dogs do not want to go where they sleep. Therefor, the crate method is one of the most effective.
Outside training
The above 2 methods must be used with outside training or you will have a dog that goes on paper all it's life. Take the puppy out often, set it in the grass and tell it to Go Potty. Use this phrase all the time. They will get to know it and will go on demand! If the puppy does go at this time, be sure to tell it Good dog and give it some love. It will learn that this is the right thing to do. Your praise will help along the process.
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