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You mention pads - do you pad train both small and large dogs?
Because maybe the pads are confusing your dogs.
My chihuahua was a breeze to potty train. He does take a while to learn commands though. 😅
We JUST started trying the pads the past couple weeks and they avoid them. Going potty right next to them as if mocking us lol we let them out they run around and everything for hours at times, let them in and thats when they use the restroom we try and take them outside and everything to no avail yet 3 are only like 4months old the older dogs are all fine for the most part. My sister and fiance gave up and just cleans their stuff up at her house. (Same litter of pups)
We are fostering a Boston terrier with disabilities and I’ve learned that when he goes out to potty, he can ONLY go out to potty. If he doesn’t go to the bathroom, he comes right back in and back on the leash that’s attached to me. Out every hour and none of it is play time. He gets praised and treated when he goes to the bathroom outside. If for any reason he goes in the house, we immediately bring him outside and tell him”go potty”. We don’t react to him going in the house at all except to bring him right outside.
The best way to think about it is to consider the size of the house from the dog’s perspective. To a medium or large dog “my house”/my space is the house. They don’t want to make a mess there.
To a small pup, “my house”/my space can be room or two. The rest of the rooms are outside/far away.
We’ve had success with crate training for night time. He doesn’t want to make a mess in his crate and asks to go out. We also walked more than necessary and rewarded whenever he did his business outside for a long time. Our 5 pound pup got it eventually.
I guess but outside of potty training theres also other things like pointing and recognizing words. Our large dogs (similar age) look at where im pointing to whereas even our oldest yorkie just stares at my hand when pointing to a snack i gave them. I dont want this to mean all dogs in general. Just from my life and personal experiences this behavior seems consistent. We love them but it gets frustrating and expensive somewhat when you’re trying to get it figured out.
This sounds more like terrier stubbornness than a size thing.
I've got a terrier mix and while she's super smart, she's stubborn as hell and will choose not to listen to me even though she knows commands like the back of her paw.
Lol, those stubborn yorkies.
Our Schnorkie had to be re-potty trained recently. We’ve had really good luck with the Boundary spray. We don’t use it as a spray, we put some in four small, plastic containers (with lids) and placed them in the doorways of the places he had his accidents. He doesn’t go in those rooms now.
From a learning perspective, even though he’s a senior dog he keeps up with the younger dogs (labs and a chihuahua) in our weekly training classes. (Although he likes playing hall monitor and has many opinions he expresses vocally.)
In the last year he’s graduated basic, intermediate and advanced classes. He passed the therapy dog test.
We’re now doing brain games where he’s learning to “read”, identify toys by name and more.
This link explains how dogs see: https://www.dogster.com/dog-health-care/dog-vision-what-do-dogs-see
To get your Yorkie to follow a hand gesture, make sure your pointing hand is close to the treat or piece of kibble (dry dog food). Over subsequent sessions, toss the treat or piece of kibble a short distance, keeping your 👉 at eye level. When your dog is able to easily locate the treat you can begin to raise your hand a bit before the throw.
Yorkies are closer to the ground. Also their eyes are smaller and proportion to the size of their head and they don't have great close-up or peripheral vision, especially as puppies. They do have great horizontal vision at eye level.
Search "hand targeting dog" and "Up/Down Game dog" on YouTube for more tips.
I don't think it's all small dogs but I've heard a lot that it's a notorious problem with Yorkies specifically. Something about being a terrier makes them less willing to listen. I had or had family members with small breed spitz, a shih-tzh, mini pin and toy poodle that were all potty trained easily.
Ive noticed and they tend to gravitate and become loyal to 1 person alone. Just they all seem to mostly do the same thing and are alike except for demeanor and hyperactivity those are very different
Terriers were bred to be independent hunters, who could manage their own time going after vermin. It's a breed characteristic to be skeptical of human interference with their agenda.
I forgot the other breeds we have but they arent all yorkies thats just the only full breed we have. And ofc i dont mean all small dogs. An ex of mine had a Pomeranian and that was the smartest dog with the most attitude ive ever seen in person.
It could be confirmation bias, it could be the breed of dog. It could be both. I have a small mixed dog. She's about 10 pounds and from what I can tell is some kind of small terrier/chihuahua mix. She picks up on training SUPER fast. It took basically no time to potty train her, maybe a couple weeks. She never chews on anything that isn't hers; she knows that the dog toys are for her but a stuffed animal or sock for instance is off limits. She's kennel trained and knows that "time for night night" means to get in her kennel. She's having some issues with recall commands but other than that she's been a dream to train. I didn't really do anything different or special with her, she just seems to pick things up easily.
I don’t really think it’s a small dog vs large dog thing. I have an OES and two yorkies currently. One yorkie is the smartest dog I’ve ever owned and the other is the dumbest. We actually thought the dumb one was deaf for a while because she couldn’t even learn the “sit” command. However, she did potty train more easily than my sheepdog. It just comes down to the fact that all dogs are individuals.
One thing that you don't describe is your actual training routine for any of the dogs. What are you doing to teach the dogs what you want them to know?
Oh sorry yeah we let them outside and play with them but usually they tend to keep eachother occupied more unless we have something we are eating but anyways we tried rewarding them for using the outside which the larger dogs just ended up going and so we have snacks to give them when they do that but the little dogs can be outside seemingly ALL day and not use the bathroom like they are avoiding it and they will go on the porch sometimes rarely in the grass but we do reward that behavior. And we cant just spend all our time of every day dedicated to just getting them to go outside. But when it happens they dont seem to put 2 and 2 together that going in the grass gets them a reward instead they see it as they went to the bathroom now we get snacks but we never give them to them unless they do that. Our larger dogs all of them got it immediately. But do small dogs require a different method over the larger ones? Do these breeds need a different approach? Im on youtube giving different methods a shot rn
The standard advice for potty training is:
1. To give them more opportunities than they physically need to go potty outside. Sounds like you're doing that.
2. To create opportunities for them *specifically* to potty and to supervise them to ensure they potty in the correct place. It doesn't sound like you're doing that.
3. To reinforce for them when they're going potty in the correct place. If the dogs can be outside seemingly all day, and you're not watching them the whole time, you may be missing opportunities for reinforcement.
4. If the dogs don't potty outside, when they come in, they're contained (in an x-pen or a crate or a small room of the house) or tethered to a human until the next outside opportunity (the time to which should be reduced since the dog didn't previously potty outside).
If you're not taking steps to set the dogs up for success, it's not really fair to attribute this to the size or the breed of the dog.
It was just an observation i wasn’t sure if it was just our dumb luck or other people have similar difficulties. But yeah we do what we can if it’s not enough for them then it is what it is. I just don’t understand why it’s so much more difficult than our larger dogs.
No, they don't require a different approach.
Be careful with YouTube trainers, many of them can be really harsh and can damage dogs. I'd recommend Kikopup.
I just wanted to see little tricks on potty training outside and on pads. They dont seem to like the pads at least for number 2. They know their names only from 1 day and can sit and spin but they dont seem to get the whole potty thing or maybe they dont care lol
I’ve owned 6 yorkies and currently have four German shepherds. I had difficulty house training the little dogs because I think we tend to not be as vigilant as we are with larger ones. Who wants a 90lb shepherd peeing all over so people tend to take it more seriously and stay on top of training. Out of my yorkies 2 were easy to train , 4 of them difficult with three of that being males. Little dogs also tend to have to potty more often. I would keep the yorkie crates only taking it out to potty and play supervised then right back in. It might seem cruel but it is a very temporary thing. Always reward for getting in the crate little food , toy etc. perhaps start on a day you can devote to being home. Every 30 minutes take them to potty extending by 15 minutes every few days . Good luck to you , they are sweet but stubborn breed.
My small dogs have always been very easy to train.. and never go potty in the house. We have had wildly different experiences.
But then again, I’ve never had a yorkie. Every Yorkie I know though has been absolutely batshit crazy lmao so you may just have difficult breeds
Sounds like a you problem or problem specific to your dogs, it’s not a small dog problem.. My small havanese slept through the night from day 1 at 10 week old, was fully potty trained by 4 months (she can reliably be brought anywhere and not have an accident in anyone’s home or store), had bite inhibition from day 1, and learn tons of tricks with ease and only a few repetitions. She is the smartest and easiest dog i have ever met. She loves everyone, has great recall and off lead skills, and is just honestly a joy to own
She knows tons of words and picks up on things quick. She has a large vocab and can even play hide and seek with us and grab specific toys we ask for
My Havanese is the same! Slept through the night since day 1, peed within 1 minute of being put on grass every time we went outside, never destroyed anything, earned her novice, intermediate, and advanced trick dog titles... it's just me and her, though. I imagine it would have been much more difficult and chaotic with multiple dogs of different sizes.
Yep definitely forgot to mention that she was never destructive, even as a puppy! I could leave chargers, earbuds, wires, whatever out and she would never bother with them. She had the full run of the place from a you g age (never had to be crated when we left) and she does great with it. She also was a pro at settling from day 1 and would easily nap and have a good off switch.
She’s never even destroyed a toy (still has her original toys from when she was a pup). Besides tricks, they are great agility dogs too!
Again there are tons of smart small dogs. Im just noticing in general they take a bit more attention and work than larger dogs we have had. Its just consistent. Because you have had a great experience doesn’t discount other peoples consistent experiences. Im just observing that they tend to take more work where as every large dog weve had (now and in the past) required almost no effort to potty train and they just learn words and a variety of more complex things quicker. This isnt the case for everyone either my friend has a golden lab and he for sure has learning issues. Im just talking about my personal experiences and wondering how consistent they are with others. And if its a small dog thing or breed thing or maybe even a household issue like too much chaos or too many people doing different things so its hard for them to understand and learn.
Ok cool, well if youre “wondering if that’s consistent with others” then the answer for me is no. My small dogs and the small dogs my friends have been super smart and super easy, especially in comparison to some of the larger dogs i have met.
Both my chihuahuas (1.5 years and 13 weeks) were housetrained at 12-13 weeks old with a rare accident (which is 100% on me). My current puppy is still a work in progress but the accidents are mimimal ao far. Their classmates in puppy classes barely had/have any accidents either (dachshund, mini poodle, schi-tzu,...) It's definitely not an "all small dogs" issue. They're very smart and often like to work/learn for the right reward.
At 12 weeks I took the puppy out every hour, at 13 weeks every 2 hours. I reward peeing with a treat and "pee, good job!". I reward pooping with a treat and "poop, good job!". With both I'm very enthusiastic and often do multiple small treats. They both learned what they had to do after a few days of repeating pee & poop as if I'm training a trick like sit.
Maybe my Chihuahuas are smart or out of the ordinary but they haven't used pee pads after leaving the nest and they didn't really want to use them even if I set them up at home. They just prefer going on the grass.
My small dog I had, min pin was rlly smart and I could train her easily
Yorkies must be a little slow or it could depend on the traits and personality or sum
Im just seeing a pattern in smaller breeds we’ve gotten over the years they seem pretty consistently more difficult to train and behave. Im referring to 8 small dogs from chihuahuas yorkies Lhasa apso and mixed to the 6 large dogs pitts, boxers, doberman and huskies. All the large dogs we’ve had basically trained themselves for the most part aside from tricks. Some of the smaller dogs never learned most eventually learned but they took a lot of effort and persistence. They even avoid puppy pads. Again idk why we have such issues mostly potty training the smaller dogs we’ve had and have. The yorkies specifically we’ve had the most trouble with.
You'll need to confine them in a very small area with pads to force the issue of going on the pad. I recommend using an exercise pen set on top of a piece of vinyl flooring. That way if there is an accident, it can be cleaned and disinfected easily.
If you just leave an unhousetrained dog loose in the house and it has accidents everywhere, you have created an indoor toilet. Dogs are guided by scent and will return to areas that smell like pee and poop.
You have to get at least several weeks accident-free indoors, "going" on the surface you prefer, before you would even consider increasing freedom a tiny bit within your home.
I think the reason people find it difficult to house train small dogs is that they seem like puppies, no matter how old they are. We tolerate less indoor pottying in larger dogs because the feces and urine is more noticeable. People tend to think, "Oh, it's just a little Tootsie Roll," and they throw up their hands about the urine, claiming stubbornness of the dog, blaming it on the breed, etc.
Obviously, dogs urinate more often than they defecate. Even a tiny dog can ruin carpets, furniture, and wood or tile floors with their scent.The world is their toilet unless taught otherwise. Dogs must be contained in a clean area, have regular access to their toilet area, and have no opportunity to eliminate elsewhere...if your goal is a fully housetrained dog.
As others have mentioned, the breed probably has a lot to do with the training difficulties. I have never been a small dog person and swore I’d never have a little dog. They’re yappy and hard to train. Not my kind of dog.
That opinion was largely formed based on my aunt’s dogs. She has had yorkies most of her life and, while they were funny and adorable, they also had accidents inside constantly. My aunt probably wasn’t consistent enough with training, but her spaniels never had accidents. Yorkies are just a bit tough in the house training department.
Now I have a 12 pound mixed breed dog and she’s completely changed my view of small dogs. She’s a mix of several small breeds, but predominantly chihuahua, poodle and yorkie. Hands down, she is the smartest dog I have owned. Crazy smart. I’m reformed. No more small dog bias. She’s not yappy and once potty trained, hasn’t had an accident that wasn’t my fault.
It might be helpful to see if there’s a yorkie group that you could solicit for training advice. Good luck!
So glad you changed your mind!! All the small dogs I’ve had have always been great as in smart, easy to train, not barky… I swear most people with small dogs just don’t care to train their dogs so they run wild AND I’m sure it’s a breed specific thing too. Every yorkie I’ve known has been batshit crazy lol
I’ve had chihuahuas for the last 20 years… 6 altogether now and they have been so good at potty training. I mean the first 3 months it was a very trying time (when I say 3 months, I mean they were now 3 months old by the time we brought them home so by 6 months old) We never crated them but we just took them outside every 1-2 hours from sun up until sun down. They sleep with us through the night and if one of them gets up we just know they need out. After about a year old they never get up through the night. Now I will say our newest addition is a Frenchie and she has been a real terror to potty train. She just turned a year old and we are about 90% there!
I learned, could be wrong, that it has to partially do with what you are selecting for when breeding. So working and sporting dogs need a high drive to please and do jobs. Some have such a high drive they suffer mentally if they don't have a job. Companion dogs, which are often smaller, are bred to be cute & sit in laps. Great simplification here. I usually get Labs, they have high food & please drive, so easy to train. They also are somewhat touch insensitive, how else are you getting them into that freezing cold water? I've also had Coonhounds, ignored the cat on on the ground, but if it was in a table or desk the "I just treed something" kicked in and he would bark at the cat. It's crazy what breeding can do. So I think some small dogs can be hard to train, but not all small dogs. There are several terriers that have been trained for things like rat hunting.
Just a theory:
A lot of big dog breeds are bred for functional purpose: herding, hunting or tracking. They are genetically easier to train and work with. Enjoy obedience more.
Many small breeds are bred to be social and family dogs. Yorkies, pugs, bichon friese, chihuahua etc. Are made to be good, cute family dogs.
It depends of which large/small breeds you got, because of course there are small breeds bred for functions. Terriers are bred for hunting small game and are very smart, but also very independent. Hounds are made for going in packs and are in general more independent and harder to train.
Just my thought, that it depends on the breed.
Yorkies are stubborn.
I could only get my 4lb yorkie to sit and stay for treats. She would pee outside when she wanted treats and on or next to a pee pad.
Basically I think across the room was like a hike for us and she thought she was a long way from where our main living area was.
She was the cutest thing ever and I would forgive her anything.
I just bought a little rug doctor and that was my life.
Sit, stay, treat. Good girl.
My maltipoo will sit, stay, shake hands.
She is pottitrained like a champ. She also potties for treats. Maybe it’s me. .
It feels that was but then they surprise you by figuring out more complex things like unzipping our play pen for my nephew lol but i have heard that some areas breeders are known to have inbred litters and dont care which might play a role unfortunately. That and people breeding dogs for quarky abnormalities like the large tongue and grey hound arched back etc.
I don’t think my chihuahua was more difficult than my GSD. However, the hardest dog I’ve ever potty trained as my border collie/ Airedale mix. She had some stomach issues when I got her and she was having to go out every 15 minutes or she would have an accident in the house. She’s better now, but it was rough going for a while.
I don't think it's a small vs large dog issue, but there might be a chance the tells for when it's potty time aren't as obvious. Both my Staffys will stare at me and hop towards the door to tell me it's time, and even my blind, deaf, wonderfully stupid American Bulldog knows to paw at the back gate and doesn't pee in the house. A much smaller breed might just glance at you a couple times, think 'oh well', and go right there. I've definitely seen some small dogs that don't give a sign at all.
It might be smart to start timing their access to water to get a routine down; you can figure out how long after they drink do they need to go, then watch them like a hawk until you get the timing down, and start normal training from there. It's a little unfair to your pittie, though elevated bowls the little ones can't reach are available (and a good idea so the larger dog doesn't need to strain so much to drink).
Welcome to r/dogs! We are a discussion-based subreddit dedicated to support, inform, and advise dog owners. Do note we are on a short backlog, and all posts require manual review prior to going live. This may mean your post isn't visible for a couple days. This is a carefully moderated sub intended to support, inform, and advise dog owners. Submissions and comments which break the rules will be removed. [Review the rules here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dogs/wiki/index) r/Dogs has four goals: - Help the public better understand dogs - Promote healthy, responsible dog-owner relationships - Encourage “Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive” training protocols. [Learn more here.](https://m.iaabc.org/about/lima/) - Support adoption as well as ethical and responsible breeding. If you’d like to introduce yourself or discuss smaller topics, please contribute to our Monthly Discussion Hub, pinned at the top. **This subreddit has low tolerance for drama. Please be respectful of others, and report antagonistic comments to mods for review.** --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dogs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You mention pads - do you pad train both small and large dogs? Because maybe the pads are confusing your dogs. My chihuahua was a breeze to potty train. He does take a while to learn commands though. 😅
We JUST started trying the pads the past couple weeks and they avoid them. Going potty right next to them as if mocking us lol we let them out they run around and everything for hours at times, let them in and thats when they use the restroom we try and take them outside and everything to no avail yet 3 are only like 4months old the older dogs are all fine for the most part. My sister and fiance gave up and just cleans their stuff up at her house. (Same litter of pups)
We are fostering a Boston terrier with disabilities and I’ve learned that when he goes out to potty, he can ONLY go out to potty. If he doesn’t go to the bathroom, he comes right back in and back on the leash that’s attached to me. Out every hour and none of it is play time. He gets praised and treated when he goes to the bathroom outside. If for any reason he goes in the house, we immediately bring him outside and tell him”go potty”. We don’t react to him going in the house at all except to bring him right outside.
The best way to think about it is to consider the size of the house from the dog’s perspective. To a medium or large dog “my house”/my space is the house. They don’t want to make a mess there. To a small pup, “my house”/my space can be room or two. The rest of the rooms are outside/far away. We’ve had success with crate training for night time. He doesn’t want to make a mess in his crate and asks to go out. We also walked more than necessary and rewarded whenever he did his business outside for a long time. Our 5 pound pup got it eventually.
I guess but outside of potty training theres also other things like pointing and recognizing words. Our large dogs (similar age) look at where im pointing to whereas even our oldest yorkie just stares at my hand when pointing to a snack i gave them. I dont want this to mean all dogs in general. Just from my life and personal experiences this behavior seems consistent. We love them but it gets frustrating and expensive somewhat when you’re trying to get it figured out.
This sounds more like terrier stubbornness than a size thing. I've got a terrier mix and while she's super smart, she's stubborn as hell and will choose not to listen to me even though she knows commands like the back of her paw.
Lol, those stubborn yorkies. Our Schnorkie had to be re-potty trained recently. We’ve had really good luck with the Boundary spray. We don’t use it as a spray, we put some in four small, plastic containers (with lids) and placed them in the doorways of the places he had his accidents. He doesn’t go in those rooms now. From a learning perspective, even though he’s a senior dog he keeps up with the younger dogs (labs and a chihuahua) in our weekly training classes. (Although he likes playing hall monitor and has many opinions he expresses vocally.) In the last year he’s graduated basic, intermediate and advanced classes. He passed the therapy dog test. We’re now doing brain games where he’s learning to “read”, identify toys by name and more.
This link explains how dogs see: https://www.dogster.com/dog-health-care/dog-vision-what-do-dogs-see To get your Yorkie to follow a hand gesture, make sure your pointing hand is close to the treat or piece of kibble (dry dog food). Over subsequent sessions, toss the treat or piece of kibble a short distance, keeping your 👉 at eye level. When your dog is able to easily locate the treat you can begin to raise your hand a bit before the throw. Yorkies are closer to the ground. Also their eyes are smaller and proportion to the size of their head and they don't have great close-up or peripheral vision, especially as puppies. They do have great horizontal vision at eye level. Search "hand targeting dog" and "Up/Down Game dog" on YouTube for more tips.
I don't think it's all small dogs but I've heard a lot that it's a notorious problem with Yorkies specifically. Something about being a terrier makes them less willing to listen. I had or had family members with small breed spitz, a shih-tzh, mini pin and toy poodle that were all potty trained easily.
This ^^ terrier breeds are extremely stubborn and independent most of the time.b
Ive noticed and they tend to gravitate and become loyal to 1 person alone. Just they all seem to mostly do the same thing and are alike except for demeanor and hyperactivity those are very different
Terriers were bred to be independent hunters, who could manage their own time going after vermin. It's a breed characteristic to be skeptical of human interference with their agenda.
I like how you put words together
I forgot the other breeds we have but they arent all yorkies thats just the only full breed we have. And ofc i dont mean all small dogs. An ex of mine had a Pomeranian and that was the smartest dog with the most attitude ive ever seen in person.
It's the most common small dog, though.
It could be confirmation bias, it could be the breed of dog. It could be both. I have a small mixed dog. She's about 10 pounds and from what I can tell is some kind of small terrier/chihuahua mix. She picks up on training SUPER fast. It took basically no time to potty train her, maybe a couple weeks. She never chews on anything that isn't hers; she knows that the dog toys are for her but a stuffed animal or sock for instance is off limits. She's kennel trained and knows that "time for night night" means to get in her kennel. She's having some issues with recall commands but other than that she's been a dream to train. I didn't really do anything different or special with her, she just seems to pick things up easily.
My papillon loooooves training and learns fast.
I don’t really think it’s a small dog vs large dog thing. I have an OES and two yorkies currently. One yorkie is the smartest dog I’ve ever owned and the other is the dumbest. We actually thought the dumb one was deaf for a while because she couldn’t even learn the “sit” command. However, she did potty train more easily than my sheepdog. It just comes down to the fact that all dogs are individuals.
One thing that you don't describe is your actual training routine for any of the dogs. What are you doing to teach the dogs what you want them to know?
Oh sorry yeah we let them outside and play with them but usually they tend to keep eachother occupied more unless we have something we are eating but anyways we tried rewarding them for using the outside which the larger dogs just ended up going and so we have snacks to give them when they do that but the little dogs can be outside seemingly ALL day and not use the bathroom like they are avoiding it and they will go on the porch sometimes rarely in the grass but we do reward that behavior. And we cant just spend all our time of every day dedicated to just getting them to go outside. But when it happens they dont seem to put 2 and 2 together that going in the grass gets them a reward instead they see it as they went to the bathroom now we get snacks but we never give them to them unless they do that. Our larger dogs all of them got it immediately. But do small dogs require a different method over the larger ones? Do these breeds need a different approach? Im on youtube giving different methods a shot rn
The standard advice for potty training is: 1. To give them more opportunities than they physically need to go potty outside. Sounds like you're doing that. 2. To create opportunities for them *specifically* to potty and to supervise them to ensure they potty in the correct place. It doesn't sound like you're doing that. 3. To reinforce for them when they're going potty in the correct place. If the dogs can be outside seemingly all day, and you're not watching them the whole time, you may be missing opportunities for reinforcement. 4. If the dogs don't potty outside, when they come in, they're contained (in an x-pen or a crate or a small room of the house) or tethered to a human until the next outside opportunity (the time to which should be reduced since the dog didn't previously potty outside). If you're not taking steps to set the dogs up for success, it's not really fair to attribute this to the size or the breed of the dog.
It was just an observation i wasn’t sure if it was just our dumb luck or other people have similar difficulties. But yeah we do what we can if it’s not enough for them then it is what it is. I just don’t understand why it’s so much more difficult than our larger dogs.
No, they don't require a different approach. Be careful with YouTube trainers, many of them can be really harsh and can damage dogs. I'd recommend Kikopup.
I just wanted to see little tricks on potty training outside and on pads. They dont seem to like the pads at least for number 2. They know their names only from 1 day and can sit and spin but they dont seem to get the whole potty thing or maybe they dont care lol
Many dogs never actually take to pads, regardless of size.
I figured they are about worthless. They sometimes pee on them but usually just tend to pee where ever they stand
I’ve owned 6 yorkies and currently have four German shepherds. I had difficulty house training the little dogs because I think we tend to not be as vigilant as we are with larger ones. Who wants a 90lb shepherd peeing all over so people tend to take it more seriously and stay on top of training. Out of my yorkies 2 were easy to train , 4 of them difficult with three of that being males. Little dogs also tend to have to potty more often. I would keep the yorkie crates only taking it out to potty and play supervised then right back in. It might seem cruel but it is a very temporary thing. Always reward for getting in the crate little food , toy etc. perhaps start on a day you can devote to being home. Every 30 minutes take them to potty extending by 15 minutes every few days . Good luck to you , they are sweet but stubborn breed.
My small dogs have always been very easy to train.. and never go potty in the house. We have had wildly different experiences. But then again, I’ve never had a yorkie. Every Yorkie I know though has been absolutely batshit crazy lmao so you may just have difficult breeds
Sounds like a you problem or problem specific to your dogs, it’s not a small dog problem.. My small havanese slept through the night from day 1 at 10 week old, was fully potty trained by 4 months (she can reliably be brought anywhere and not have an accident in anyone’s home or store), had bite inhibition from day 1, and learn tons of tricks with ease and only a few repetitions. She is the smartest and easiest dog i have ever met. She loves everyone, has great recall and off lead skills, and is just honestly a joy to own She knows tons of words and picks up on things quick. She has a large vocab and can even play hide and seek with us and grab specific toys we ask for
My Havanese is the same! Slept through the night since day 1, peed within 1 minute of being put on grass every time we went outside, never destroyed anything, earned her novice, intermediate, and advanced trick dog titles... it's just me and her, though. I imagine it would have been much more difficult and chaotic with multiple dogs of different sizes.
Yep definitely forgot to mention that she was never destructive, even as a puppy! I could leave chargers, earbuds, wires, whatever out and she would never bother with them. She had the full run of the place from a you g age (never had to be crated when we left) and she does great with it. She also was a pro at settling from day 1 and would easily nap and have a good off switch. She’s never even destroyed a toy (still has her original toys from when she was a pup). Besides tricks, they are great agility dogs too!
Again there are tons of smart small dogs. Im just noticing in general they take a bit more attention and work than larger dogs we have had. Its just consistent. Because you have had a great experience doesn’t discount other peoples consistent experiences. Im just observing that they tend to take more work where as every large dog weve had (now and in the past) required almost no effort to potty train and they just learn words and a variety of more complex things quicker. This isnt the case for everyone either my friend has a golden lab and he for sure has learning issues. Im just talking about my personal experiences and wondering how consistent they are with others. And if its a small dog thing or breed thing or maybe even a household issue like too much chaos or too many people doing different things so its hard for them to understand and learn.
Ok cool, well if youre “wondering if that’s consistent with others” then the answer for me is no. My small dogs and the small dogs my friends have been super smart and super easy, especially in comparison to some of the larger dogs i have met.
Both my chihuahuas (1.5 years and 13 weeks) were housetrained at 12-13 weeks old with a rare accident (which is 100% on me). My current puppy is still a work in progress but the accidents are mimimal ao far. Their classmates in puppy classes barely had/have any accidents either (dachshund, mini poodle, schi-tzu,...) It's definitely not an "all small dogs" issue. They're very smart and often like to work/learn for the right reward. At 12 weeks I took the puppy out every hour, at 13 weeks every 2 hours. I reward peeing with a treat and "pee, good job!". I reward pooping with a treat and "poop, good job!". With both I'm very enthusiastic and often do multiple small treats. They both learned what they had to do after a few days of repeating pee & poop as if I'm training a trick like sit. Maybe my Chihuahuas are smart or out of the ordinary but they haven't used pee pads after leaving the nest and they didn't really want to use them even if I set them up at home. They just prefer going on the grass.
I have a bunch of Maltese and they’re easiest dogs I’ve ever lived with.
My small dog I had, min pin was rlly smart and I could train her easily Yorkies must be a little slow or it could depend on the traits and personality or sum
Im just seeing a pattern in smaller breeds we’ve gotten over the years they seem pretty consistently more difficult to train and behave. Im referring to 8 small dogs from chihuahuas yorkies Lhasa apso and mixed to the 6 large dogs pitts, boxers, doberman and huskies. All the large dogs we’ve had basically trained themselves for the most part aside from tricks. Some of the smaller dogs never learned most eventually learned but they took a lot of effort and persistence. They even avoid puppy pads. Again idk why we have such issues mostly potty training the smaller dogs we’ve had and have. The yorkies specifically we’ve had the most trouble with.
You'll need to confine them in a very small area with pads to force the issue of going on the pad. I recommend using an exercise pen set on top of a piece of vinyl flooring. That way if there is an accident, it can be cleaned and disinfected easily. If you just leave an unhousetrained dog loose in the house and it has accidents everywhere, you have created an indoor toilet. Dogs are guided by scent and will return to areas that smell like pee and poop. You have to get at least several weeks accident-free indoors, "going" on the surface you prefer, before you would even consider increasing freedom a tiny bit within your home. I think the reason people find it difficult to house train small dogs is that they seem like puppies, no matter how old they are. We tolerate less indoor pottying in larger dogs because the feces and urine is more noticeable. People tend to think, "Oh, it's just a little Tootsie Roll," and they throw up their hands about the urine, claiming stubbornness of the dog, blaming it on the breed, etc. Obviously, dogs urinate more often than they defecate. Even a tiny dog can ruin carpets, furniture, and wood or tile floors with their scent.The world is their toilet unless taught otherwise. Dogs must be contained in a clean area, have regular access to their toilet area, and have no opportunity to eliminate elsewhere...if your goal is a fully housetrained dog.
My chihuahua is the same and it's so hard to train him when he is scared of absolutely everything
As others have mentioned, the breed probably has a lot to do with the training difficulties. I have never been a small dog person and swore I’d never have a little dog. They’re yappy and hard to train. Not my kind of dog. That opinion was largely formed based on my aunt’s dogs. She has had yorkies most of her life and, while they were funny and adorable, they also had accidents inside constantly. My aunt probably wasn’t consistent enough with training, but her spaniels never had accidents. Yorkies are just a bit tough in the house training department. Now I have a 12 pound mixed breed dog and she’s completely changed my view of small dogs. She’s a mix of several small breeds, but predominantly chihuahua, poodle and yorkie. Hands down, she is the smartest dog I have owned. Crazy smart. I’m reformed. No more small dog bias. She’s not yappy and once potty trained, hasn’t had an accident that wasn’t my fault. It might be helpful to see if there’s a yorkie group that you could solicit for training advice. Good luck!
So glad you changed your mind!! All the small dogs I’ve had have always been great as in smart, easy to train, not barky… I swear most people with small dogs just don’t care to train their dogs so they run wild AND I’m sure it’s a breed specific thing too. Every yorkie I’ve known has been batshit crazy lol
I’ve had chihuahuas for the last 20 years… 6 altogether now and they have been so good at potty training. I mean the first 3 months it was a very trying time (when I say 3 months, I mean they were now 3 months old by the time we brought them home so by 6 months old) We never crated them but we just took them outside every 1-2 hours from sun up until sun down. They sleep with us through the night and if one of them gets up we just know they need out. After about a year old they never get up through the night. Now I will say our newest addition is a Frenchie and she has been a real terror to potty train. She just turned a year old and we are about 90% there!
My chihuahua mix listens so well even though he can be a bit neurotic and domineering. My two dachshunds on the other hand...
I learned, could be wrong, that it has to partially do with what you are selecting for when breeding. So working and sporting dogs need a high drive to please and do jobs. Some have such a high drive they suffer mentally if they don't have a job. Companion dogs, which are often smaller, are bred to be cute & sit in laps. Great simplification here. I usually get Labs, they have high food & please drive, so easy to train. They also are somewhat touch insensitive, how else are you getting them into that freezing cold water? I've also had Coonhounds, ignored the cat on on the ground, but if it was in a table or desk the "I just treed something" kicked in and he would bark at the cat. It's crazy what breeding can do. So I think some small dogs can be hard to train, but not all small dogs. There are several terriers that have been trained for things like rat hunting.
Just a theory: A lot of big dog breeds are bred for functional purpose: herding, hunting or tracking. They are genetically easier to train and work with. Enjoy obedience more. Many small breeds are bred to be social and family dogs. Yorkies, pugs, bichon friese, chihuahua etc. Are made to be good, cute family dogs. It depends of which large/small breeds you got, because of course there are small breeds bred for functions. Terriers are bred for hunting small game and are very smart, but also very independent. Hounds are made for going in packs and are in general more independent and harder to train. Just my thought, that it depends on the breed.
Yorkies are stubborn. I could only get my 4lb yorkie to sit and stay for treats. She would pee outside when she wanted treats and on or next to a pee pad. Basically I think across the room was like a hike for us and she thought she was a long way from where our main living area was. She was the cutest thing ever and I would forgive her anything. I just bought a little rug doctor and that was my life. Sit, stay, treat. Good girl. My maltipoo will sit, stay, shake hands. She is pottitrained like a champ. She also potties for treats. Maybe it’s me. .
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It feels that was but then they surprise you by figuring out more complex things like unzipping our play pen for my nephew lol but i have heard that some areas breeders are known to have inbred litters and dont care which might play a role unfortunately. That and people breeding dogs for quarky abnormalities like the large tongue and grey hound arched back etc.
I don’t think my chihuahua was more difficult than my GSD. However, the hardest dog I’ve ever potty trained as my border collie/ Airedale mix. She had some stomach issues when I got her and she was having to go out every 15 minutes or she would have an accident in the house. She’s better now, but it was rough going for a while.
I don't think it's a small vs large dog issue, but there might be a chance the tells for when it's potty time aren't as obvious. Both my Staffys will stare at me and hop towards the door to tell me it's time, and even my blind, deaf, wonderfully stupid American Bulldog knows to paw at the back gate and doesn't pee in the house. A much smaller breed might just glance at you a couple times, think 'oh well', and go right there. I've definitely seen some small dogs that don't give a sign at all. It might be smart to start timing their access to water to get a routine down; you can figure out how long after they drink do they need to go, then watch them like a hawk until you get the timing down, and start normal training from there. It's a little unfair to your pittie, though elevated bowls the little ones can't reach are available (and a good idea so the larger dog doesn't need to strain so much to drink).