HELP! Advice for potty training a Yorkie?

KyleighsMommy

Hello, I have a 7 month old female Yorkie. She is the sweetest & cutest thing, BUT she refuses to go #2 outside. She will go #1 outside, but not #2. The only time she'll go #2 outside is first thing in the morning, but after that it is ALWAYS done in the house. What do I need to do to break her of this?? I feel like I have tried everything!

pawsitiveside

Have you thought about training her to go in a kitty litter box instead?

KyleighsMommy

No I have not. I would like to avoid the mess that that would cause. Specially with her fur, it would stick & then get all over the house. I just don't understand why it is so hard to train her to go outside. We have have a lab & he learned so quickly, but not so much with her!

pawsitiveside

Try not to compare your dogs. Each dog learns at its own pace.

You'll have to take her back to potty training 101 til she gets it right. Stay out there with her til she goes, and when she does, give her treats and praise IMMEDIATELY afterwards.

Many times, people who are potty training their dogs will give treats and praise at the wrong time. (I used to make this mistake myself.) The dog will go to the bathroom outside, but treats and praise are given inside. So the dog starts to think that he gets treats by being indoors and low and behold, his urgency to go outside vanishes.

So, whenever you take your dog outside to relieve herself, be patient and be armed with some high value treats. Reward her enthusiastically and generously when she goes outside.

Cali

If she is having accidents inside she's not being monitered or taken outside as much as she needs to be. Ditto above post on rewarding.
Your lab even as a puppy was larger than your yorkie will probably ever be. The bladder is also smaller. I have had days where I took small breed puppies outside every 15 to 20 minutes if that's what ot came to. Just be patient, she's a baby.
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kmes

Do you notice her going #2 in the house around the same time each day?
If so you can simply take her out a bit earlier for a nice walk. The walk should also help to get things moving.

Also I agree with going back to housetraining 101!
-Always supervise her. Tether her to you. Use babygates, x-pens, and closed doors to limit her access to the house. If you can't watch her then put her in her crate or special puppy proofed space.
-Be sure to reward her everytime she goes potty outside.
-If you have clicker trained her, use the clicker outside when she goes potty!
-Make sure you clean up any messes with an enzyme based cleaner. Even if you can't smell anything, your dog may still smell it, and think that she should go potty there.. Enzyme cleaners should remove all odor.
-Instead of litterbox training you could always use potty pads.