In this article, we answer the following question: At what age should a Yorkie be housebroken? We give you a few valuable tips on potty training your Yorkshire Terrier, including what mistakes most owners make and you should avoid being successful.
At what age should a Yorkie be housebroken?
A Yorkie should be housebroken as soon as 3 months old, however, you should not have high expectations at this age. Puppies have different bodies from adult dogs. Not all of their muscles and organs turn out to be fully formed and offer them the ability to hold back their urge like adult doggies. A Yorkshire puppy will not be able to contain itself until around 3 months old.
Besides, the average duration of the detention will be less than 2 hours. This is the reason why the vast majority of people start potty training as early as 3 months in their Yorkshire.
However, even if your Yorkshire is only 2 months old when you adopt him in your home, I would advise you to start introducing your puppy to this training without obviously teaching him how to restrain himself as it would be ineffective!
This will give you a head start on the correct reflexes your Yorkie should display. As your Yorkie’s ability to hold back muscles will build up over time, you will need to be patient and consistent with your dog’s physical development. It should not be required that it gets to be clean in two weeks.
It will be necessary to expect that your Yorkshire will get clean between five and six months on average, it all depends on the environment and of course how much time you can devote to it.
Potty training a Yorkie Puppy – What should not be done?
Never leave your little puppy alone inside your home for a whole day without taking him out and yelling at him at night as soon as you get home from work. As we described earlier, your puppy will not be able to contain himself for Seven or Eight Hours, and grumbling at him will be useless because he will not understand why you are scolding him.
Don’t rub his head in the pee thinking that you will make him sick and that he won’t do it again. The smell of his urine will not turn off your dog and he will not understand that it is a punishment. Moreover, he will not be able to differentiate that inside the house, he is not allowed to defecate.
Don’t buy a cleaning mat. If you want your Yorkie to pee and poo outside, a cleaning mat goes the reverse of what you teach him since it will be inside your apartment. Also, your Yorkshire will not be able to learn to contain himself since he will have a carpet available whenever he wants.
Never pick up poop in front of your little pooch and do not use bleach to clean the floors in your home simply because the smell of the bleach could make your Yorkie to urinate again in the same place.
Here is the right Emmy’s Best brand cleanser that I recommend to properly wash, sanitize and kill your Yorkie’s pee-poo odours. Other products like this will leave off unpleasant chemical odours, but this cleanser removes any lingering odours and offers a pleasant lavender scent.
Potty training a Yorkie Puppy – What To Do?
Get him used to hold and wait. The sphincters, which are muscles that provide your Yorkie with the ability to contain himself, can be worked so that they can hold back longer. To do this, it is advisable to start making your Yorkie to wait for short periods of one hour and gradually increase these periods to 15 minutes, then to 30 minutes, then to an hour and so on.
This learning can take 3 to 4 weeks. Therefore, it is advisable to take your leave as soon as you arrive home. This will give you the time you need for a good start. Be aware that on average, a Yorkie will be able to refrain from peeing for 4 hours by the age of 6-7 months. But if you have practised the above methodology, you will get much better results!
Make him understand that he has to urinate outside. With this in mind, you will need to choose and teach your Yorkie the place outside to relieve himself. That way, from day to day, you will take him out and accompany him to that place so that he can pee always and invariably in the same place.
As you take him away, you will always have to say the phrase “Come on, let’s take a pee.” To make him understand even better, all you have to do is congratulate him or reward him when on his own he chooses to pee on his own.
For it to be effective, this learning must be done regularly, always taking it out at usual hours. So by organizing a sort of routine, your pooch will get used to it more easily and will adjust to peeing outside as soon as you take him out. With this in mind, you can also always take the same route to get to his corner.
Thus, your Yorkshire will quickly be conditioned to go in the usual direction to reach the little corner. If you’ve ever taught him that he should pee outside and you see him urinating inside, then yell NO! scold him and take him out immediately before he’s finished. You will lead him to his corner.
Thus, he can associate his action with the fact that you are scolding him and thus understand that there is a ban. Try to congratulate him if he finishes urinating in his toilet area.
Take it out regularly. As you teach your Yorkie to hold back longer and longer, you will need to space out his “pee” outings more and more. From 8 to 10 times a day during the first month, you can go from day to day to 3 to 4 times a day when he has reached 6-7 months.
This is why, if you are at work all day and you leave your doggie inside, it is necessary to give the keys to your apartment to a neighbour or a friend so that they can take him out during the day.
Potty training a Yorkie Puppy – How Long Does It Take?
Normally, a puppy will be housebroken day and night by around 6-7 months of age. But if you devote enough time and patience to train him as discussed above, your Yorkie could be perfectly housebroken from the age of 4 months!
How not to potty train a puppy
The worst part about potty training a puppy is enforcing a system of punishment that is useless and ineffective!
Professional dog trainers and scientific research are unanimous: sticking their nose into it and correcting it physically is useless and especially not for teaching your dog to go outside for his needs.
Worse, it can destroy the human-dog trust bond or create excruciating fear in your dog.
This fear can escalate in two possible ways:
- Your dog will become fearful of your presence.
- Your dog will develop a problem of coprophagia and will start to eat his excrement to hide his “mischief”.
Remember that your dog loves you no matter what he does and what mistakes he may make.
I’m sure some of you should be relieved to learn that this method is pointless because seeing your carpet completely ravaged by your puppy is hard, but correcting your puppy and seeing him staring at you with round eyes and completely scared must be even harder for some of you!
The education of a dog requires certain knowledge which avoids a lot of suffering for the owner and especially for the dog (and incidentally for the carpet).
A proper and kinder method
- Only intervene when you catch him in the act.
- Express your dissatisfaction by making a sudden noise: You can clap with both hands or clap one hand on the table and growl a “Grrr” or “Haaa”!
- Pick up your dog and drop him off where he should have been. Several options are then possible: outdoors, on newspaper or toilet training mats.
- Also, make sure you take your dog out as many times as necessary. An adult dog can hold back for a good part of the day, but for a puppy, it is impossible.
- If you arrive after the accident, there is nothing you can do except clean up. Shouting, yelling is useless, apart from scaring your dog who will not understand anything.
Conclusions
In this article, we answered the following question: At what age should a Yorkie be housebroken? We gave you a few valuable tips on potty training your Yorkshire Terrier, including what mistakes most owners make and you should avoid in order to be successful.
At what age a Yorkie should be housebroken depends only on the owner of the dog. Normally, a puppy will be housebroken day and night by around 6-7 months of age. But if you devote enough time and patience to train him as discussed above, your Yorkie could be perfectly housebroken from the age of 4 months!
If you have any questions or comments on the content, please let us know.
FAQ on At what age should a Yorkie be housebroken?
How do I stop my Yorkie from peeing in the house?
To stop your Yorkie from peeing in the house you have to educate it. Reinforce good behaviour and ignore bad behaviour. It may take a while, but it is a method that works in most cases.
Why does my Yorkie keep peeing everywhere?
Your Yorkie keeps peeing everywhere either because he suffers from separation anxiety or he wants to mark his territory. There are some things that you need to take into consideration. Are you bringing many strangers home or a new pet? Are you leaving him alone for long periods? have you not paid so much attention to him lately?
How often does a Yorkie need to pee?
An adult Yorkie needs to pee up t0 4 times a day, while a baby Yorkie needs to urinate about 10-12 times a day. It may seem a lot to you, but they are small dogs with big needs, and they cannot just hold it in.
Why is my Yorkie peeing on my bed?
Your Yorkie may be peeing on your bed for several reasons. He may be anxious or overexcited and cannot hold it in. Also, he may just be incorrectly trained or he just wants to leave his mark on your bed.
References
Yorkieadvice.com
Petsworld.in
Animalwised.com
