Ok, I have been having a lot of trouble potty training June. She is now 4 months old. When I am not home or can't supervise her, she is in her expen with her food, water, bed, toys and pee pad. I am mainly training on the pad as we don't have a garden.
Up until now, I would attach her leash to her pen and her to the leash so that she can play in the play area (blankets, toys, chewies, etc.). But she just went potty everywhere! She used to be pretty good in her pen (pottying on the pad), but now she is just peeing everywhere.

So, I decided that we needed to try something else. Our previous method obviously wasn't working. I asked Sweetviolet for advice on her method since Puddin' is successfully potty trained. I had previously made some panties for June from a pattern that Sweetviolet had sent me. These are now an important factor in our potty training.

So, here is what we are doing now... I put the nappy on her whenever she is let out of her pen. The objective of the nappy is to limit the damage that she can do by pottying somewhere she shouldn't. After washing my bedding for the hundredth time, I am very grateful for these little diapers.

So, June is given more range and freedom in the house, but every hour, I take her to the pad. I started by praising her for being on the pad. Now, she has to potty for me to praise her. Whenever she is in her pen and wants to potty, I have to be alert and move her to the pad, praise her a lot, say the command and treat her.

This morning, I put her on the pad, she moved to the side - on the floor - and started peeing there. I just quietly picked her up and put her on the pad. Then I started praising her like crazy when she continued peeing on the pad. She pooped in her diaper though. And later she peed in it as well. (If she potties in it, it is my fault.)

She hasn't gone potty again yet, but I am waiting on it. Every time she has to go potty is an opportunity to get her closer to the awesome 'potty trained' title.

I will post an update again soon.

This is pretty much the way you potty train a kid.

They will pee and poop wherever they are, in a nappy or on the floor or furniture...or you...at first. It's what they know.

First you have to introduce them to the potty. Then you need to help them understand what the potty is for, and take them to the potty regularly, praising the successes (which at first will probably just be coincidences) and ignoring the failures. In the meantime, you keep the kid (pup) in nappies to protect the furnishings and floors.

Sometimes they will learn to tell you they have to go...this is why I always ask her if she has to go potty and then take her to the pad. The objective is to get her to associate the word "potty" with her pad and eliminating. Puddin' runs around anxiously looking for a spot to go, which is when I ask her. Sometimes she would bark at me when I asked...which has now turned into her barking when she needs to go and can't get to the pad without help (like when she is up on the bed or in the car).

One step at a time...patience...and remember she is not being intentionally bad, she is doing what comes naturally and it is your job to "direct" her to answer nature's call where you want her to do it. It won't happen overnight, but if you are persistent and patient, it will happen!

I think we made a lot of progress already. This morning, I put her in her pen after removing her nappy and she stared at me for a while. When I sat down she peed on her potty pad. I gave her loads of praise and a treat.

Hehe, ever since she realized that she gets praised for being on the pad, she goes to the pad every time she is in her pen.

Today, we are leaving for a month long holiday at my parents' house in Wolseley. Of course my babies are going with me. I can't wait - June has only spent a few hours there and now she is going to get to know her grandparents' home as well. And she will get to know them better!

How cute that you call your parents their grandparents...my mother-in-law refers to herself as "Grandma" with reference to our furkids! Wonder how she'll react to the next one?

If you continue the same technique at your parents' house, I would not be surprised to find her fully potty trained by the time you get back. And putting her in a nappy when she is loose in the house should make your parents happy...no puppy accidents on the floors!

Please keep up the log while you are gone. I will be interested in her progress.

Today is our first whole day at the grandparents' house I set up her expen in the den (underfloor heating, so everyone in the house is always there).
My brother and his wife are also here for the weekend and although they don't like Cash a lot (he is very independent, stubborn and cheeky), twice in the last day they told me that they really like June.

Anyway, back to potty training. I didn't expect a lot from her yesterday since it was a new place and she wasn't used to it yet. This morning, however, I put her in the pen and left her for a few minutes (she wouldn't go immediately). She peed on her pad (happy, happy!) and got loads of praise.
I put the diaper back on and now she is having a ball with my older brother and his wife (I have two brothers, the older one is married while the younger one is in his last year at school).

In about an hour, I will put her back in the pen and hopefully, she will go potty. How long should I leave her? She seems to be more comfortable doing it if I am not hovering over her while she is in there, but it is impossible to praise her for peeing when I am not there.
Do you think I should put her in there for 5 minutes each time and just sit next to it and relax?

Puddin also prefers to be left alone to toilet, so leaving her isn't a problem. If she doesn't need praise to get her to use the pad, so much the better. Just make sure you give her the command when you put her down.

If leaving her alone means she pees on the floor, however, then you need to be there to put her back. Just play it by ear and do what gets the result you are after...for June to pee on the pad.

Sounds like the nappy is helping her freedom at Grandpa's house, too!

My dad has a problem with dogs in the house, mainly because he is allergic (same as me, but not to yorkies). He also doesn't like the fact that they potty in the house, so the nappy has made it so much easier to placate him. He actually doesn't have a problem with her in the house now. Have I thanked you for the nappy pattern? Regardless if I did, THANK YOU!! It has made my life so much easier with my dad.

Further, June hasn't peed since this morning, but I put her in the pen a while ago (she went to sleep), but I think she will soon have to potty. I am watching a movie in the den or reading there, so I am with her the whole time.
I think she is still a bit stressed about the change in environment, but she will soon love it here.
The only real problem I have with her potty training at the moment is that she pees first thing in the morning and I know she needs to poop too, but she doesn't want to do it on the pad. I am going to put another pad in the pen, in case she doesn't want to poop on the same pad she peed on. Do you think that will help?
As it is at the moment, she will pee and get loads of praise and sometimes a treat, but she ends up pooping in her diaper, later in the morning.
She has always been bad with the poop thing - she gets very distressed and whiny - and ends up going in the most unsuitable places.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Actually, a second pad is a good idea. Puddin went through that poop thing for a while...and the second pad solved it.

Pooping in the nappy is annoying, but better than cleaning up the floor! Eventually she will get it. if you know she likes to poop in the morning, then keep a close watch on her after she has peed. In fact, I'd pick up the peed-on pad and put down a clean one and leave her in the pen until she poops. She will, you know!

Glad the nappy pattern is helping...Puddin has 6 nappies to match her dresses and now she just wears them as part of the outfit (and to placate those who are afraid she will pee on their floors).

Enjoy your visit with your folks and you're welcome!

I just wanted to know how often I should take her to the pad? She pees and poops in her nappy a lot and when I put her in the pen, she just lies down in her bed. Arrggghhh! Help me, please...

Well, how often is she peeing and pooping?

Shorten up the time between trips to the pad and leave her there longer.

Can you get a box that a pad will fit in the bottom of (so she can't walk off it)? Keep the pad in the xpen, but try confining her even more closely for a few days at potty time and don't let her off the pad until she performs. Ignore crying or barking and praise performance,

She's got the habit of going when and where she wants and the nappy, right now, is only keeping her from damaging the floors and furniture. You still need to break her of the habit of going when and where she wants, so that means more frequent trips to the pad and longer visits with it.

Is there any "time factor" for her? Does she go at 3 every afternoon or 15 minutes after she eats or drinks or anything like that? If you can establish a pattern...i.e., feed at a certain time then potty a specific time later, you may be onto something. Puddin wants to go about 10 minutes after a meal or a big drink. Try timing June to see what her patterns are.

Puddin still poops beside the pad sometimes...I don't think she's got her "body image" all worked out yet...she will stand with her front paws on the pad and I think she thinks all of her is on it!

I agree with Sweetviolet. Keep her on the pad until she performs. That is what we did with Chloé until she got it right. Also while she is on the pad, give the command over and over
again in an excited tone of voice....

Did you know that Yorkies can recognize a word or a command after just 15 times of hearing it..... so she will learn when she is on the pad and you give the command what to do..

Good luck, it is all worth the while in the end

Thanks for all the great advice. I think we had a breakthrough tonight. I knew it was time for June to potty, but she just went to sleep in her pen if I put her in there. So, I took the pee pad and put it in the bathroom (when she was in there with me this morning, she peed - in the nappy). I took her to the pad, she tried to get off once, but I stopped her and praised her when she stayed on the pad.

She sat down - it looked like she was peeing, but she didn't - and then tried to get off again. I put her back on and told her to potty. AND SHE DID!!!!!!

I am so happy that she seems to be getting it! Now, just loads of practice and consistency and she will soon be able to pee on command! I am so happy!!

My plans for tomorrow are as follows: Since she doesn't like pooing on a pad that is wet, I will put her in the pen and tell her to pee (she always goes first thing in the morning and this is how I started teaching her the command). She will pee on the pad in her pen and a few minutes later I am taking her to the pad to poop. I really hope it works since she is still horrible with the poop part of the exercise.

Question, do I use the same command for both no.1 and no.2? She knows to pee on command now and I want to start getting the poop thing under control too. As it is, she refuses to poop in her pen and will hold it until I put the diaper on her and then she will pee and poop minutes later.

Except for tonight, she only peed on command (in her pen) in the morning, but never after that. Moving one of the pads to the bathroom helped and I hope that it will work with the poop thing too.

Any thoughts?

Well, it seems she is trying to tell us that she doesn't want to poop in her pen. I had a similar thing with Puddin...she did not want to poop near her sleeping/eating quarters. The sokution was to find out where she DID want to poop. Turns out that she wanted a dry pad to poop on, distant from her food dish and bed.

We now have two pads for Puddin...one in the loo and one in the main part of the bathroom, near the door to the loo. Whichever one she pees on, she poos on the other one. Both are at least 4 metres away from her food and water.

How about this...leave a pad in the pen for her to use when she is in it and just can't wait to go, but start pottying her in another room? For the time being, keep her in nappies when she is out of the pen and close the door to the room where you are keeping her other pad. Only take her to the new pad when her nappy is off. I have been know to shut Puddin' in the loo when I know it is time for her to poop and she would rather fool around. You are doing the right thing, to keep putting her back on the pad to go, but maybe giving her an alternative pad will help. Try using the alternative pad and keeping a clean one in the pen in case she needs to go when she's in it, but the other one as her "primary" place.

As far as the command goes, I use "go potty" because it covers both functions. That way, whatever she needs to do, the command covers it and she gets praise for eliminating on the pad. We are now only praising her if she comes in and uses her pad when we are there...one pad is outside the shower glass and if she comes in while one of us is in the shower and uses it, she gets praise. Otherwise, she just goes on her own, no praise or reward needed. Praising her when we see her using the pad is just reinforcement. After her surgery she had a short relapse of using the floor, but she's back to normal now.

We got some steps from Game for Puddin' and it just took her a couple of days to learn to use them. Now, she can get on and off the bed at will, and when she needs to go, she will go down the steps, go use her pad, then come back up. So she is choosing her pads independently and what I find is that she doesn't want to use a pad that has poop on it (of course I pick it up and flush it when I see it, but sometimes I don't go in the shower room for half a day, so I don't see it), she will not pee over an old pee spot on her pads (next to it, OK...on it, never), and she will not pee on a pad that has poop on it. Before the weather turned cold, she was OK to pee on a pad repeatedly, but now that it is not hot enough to evaporate and dry the pads, she's gotten pickier. So, I suspect that the pad being wet underfoot may also be a factor.

The key, I think, is finding a place where she wants to go...and it seems that the pen is not that place. Also, you are dealing with one factor I was not...she has decided it is OK to pee and poop wherever she wants (the nappy is just protecting your furnishings and floor) and she has to UNlearn that behaviour. So, your process is going to be a bit longer as you need to help her unlearn one behaviour and learn a substitute. But you are obviously on the right track, so keep it up. Potty training...for kids or puppies...doesn't happen overnight!

Thank you so much for the advice. I am totally useless with the potty training, so June is useless too.
I am going to put her in the bathroom where her pad is when she has to go. She has to do her thing soon, so I am going to put her in the bathroom in a minute. Hopefully, shutting the door with her inside will help. If she has an accident on the bathroom floor, it is okay for now, but I hope that she will use the pad.


I think I sort of failed and succeeded with Cash when I gave up with his potty training. He taught himself to go outside and although he still sometimes has accidents inside, he prefers to go outside. But the fact remains that he still has accidents, but only at home - when we are visiting, I take him outside regularly and he doesn't make mistakes, but I don't have a garden at home, so he uses the balcony (on a pad), but when it is too cold, he goes inside.
June just has to get it! I refuse to give up.

The poop thing is really frustrating because she poops in her pad, sits on her bum and consequently, I have to wash her little fur butt twice a day. My fault, I know, but it is still frustrating.

On the up side, she knows that going on the pad gets her praise and sometimes a treat, so I am actually looking forward to going back to our flat where I am not so afraid of accidents, so that she can learn to use the pad independently.
Oh, and there is newspaper under our parrot's cage and she often tries to potty there, but in the pad. (She often disappears for a time and then I know that she is pottying somewhere, but she doesn't want me around when she goes.)

She is doing a lot better than Cash did at that age, so I am optimistic. The only true failure is when you stop trying, so I refuse to give up. The peepee won't win!!

I took the plunge. June isn't wearing her nappy any more. She goes potty on newspapers in one room of the house and although she has had a few accidents, she is definitely improving.
She was without nappies and out of her expen for the whole weekend and only had about three accidents - all on tiles - so I am happy.

I am really looking forward to folding up and putting away her expen when we return to the flat. I won't do it immediately, but the door to her expen won't be closed anymore.

She doesn't like pottying in her expen, so I think it is time to remove the expen. I can't wait!

Progress!! Wonderful!

The perfect time to put the pen away is when you go back to your flat. It may represent some security for her in the strange environment, so I'd leave it up while you are visiting. But when you get back home, just take it out of the car and put it straight away.

Even Puddin' has the occasional accident, but they are usually either my fault for not changing the pad to suit her or because she still hasn't quite figured out where her bum is with relation to the pad. But she'd definitely got the hang of it...yesterday the maid cleaned the bathroom and she picked up the soiled pads and threw them away. While she was washing the floor, Puddin' sat on her bed, watching. As soon as Thandiswe put the clean pad down, Puddin' ran over to it, used it, then left the bathroom to play on my bed. She definitely has it down!

I'm looking forward to when you can say that about June!

A question for you...we are getting another puppy in the spring...did Cash help with June's training at all? I am wondering if Puddin' will be helpful...like setting an example...with the new Baba. Years ago, when I had a Peke puppy, we took her with us to visit my grandmother. When the puppy started to squat on the kitchen floor, Gramma's dog (a border collie cross) whuffed at her and led her outside. By the time we left for home, the puppy was trained to potty outside...by Gramma's dog!! It would be SO nice if Puddin' took that kind of initiative!

Oh yes, definitely. June looks up to Cash and mimics everything he does. If he runs around, she follows him. If he goes potty outside, she follows him. Puddin' will definitely teach the new baby a lot of behaviours.
My advice about that would be to make sure that you agree and like everything - and I mean everything - that Puddin' does because she will teach it to the pup as well. So, just make sure that Puddin' is a good role model.
It is actually a lot easier to raise a pup with a socialized, trained adult dog. Just make sure that you bond with the pup as well. Dogs bond automatically since they speak the same language, but you have to spend a lot of time with the new puppy individually. Hehe, this is sometimes difficult, especially if Puddin' is used to all the attention or if the puppy follows Puddin' everywhere.

Congrats on the new puppy! How old will Puddin' be when you get the new puppy? It is best to get another when your current dog has reached adulthood because if Puddin' is in her teenage phase, she will be a very bad girl (probably). And you don't want a puppy to witness and mimic this!

Puddin will be about 10 months. She is starting to "embed" behaviours now...getting certain things habituated...so I'm being careful to make sure she understands and obeys certain things. In particular we are working on table manners. Because we take her everywhere, it is important that she behaves well while we are eating. So far, so good.

How is June doing with her training? Puddin' is just getting remarkable! We haven't one accident since she recovered from her mouth surgery. We take a pad with us in the car and a plastic bag for disposal, but usually she doesn't need it...she waits until we get home!

I am hoping that 10 months is old enough to be a good role model but young enough to want to play with the puppy. Puddin' is lonesome when we go out and leave her home because the Maltese are just too old for her...she is full of energy and wants to play and they think she is just an annoying little kid!

10 months should actually be fine since their teenage period is from 7 to 9 months.

June is doing okay, she still has accidents, but I am optimistic for when we go back to Cape Town. Since we live in a flat, Cash uses the balcony when it isn't too cold or raining, but I am thinking of putting June's pads in the bathroom.
Cash will use the bathroom or my sister's room ( ) and I don't want June to do the same, so I think the pad is going in the bathroom. What do you think?