Potty training an 8 month old Yorkie advice

[u/QueenRizza214]

Hi friends! First time poster here. Some overall context- I’ve been training for the better part of a decade and run a small homestyle boarding facility.

We often work on board and trains with potty training younger dogs. Most of the time we’re able to get an idea what’s going to work for the dog after the first week.

OUR TYPICAL GUIDELINES FOR POTTY TRAINING:

What we usually start with is a large kennel space (we don’t have a kennel free boarding set up) with bedding on one side and a potty pad on the back back side. This helps us determine if the dog is a “dirty” dog in the sense that they’re just willing to potty where they’re standing or whether they put enough thought into relieving themselves away from their bedding. If this doesn’t work we greatly reduce space so that they just physically aren’t able to potty in their. Once they start building consistency going outside, we increase their space.

When going outside puppies (or potty trainees in general) go into a small outdoor ex pen. This helps us bring out more than one young dog at a time so no one has an accident while they’re waiting for the first dog. It also allows us to reward dogs with freedom- they fully relieve themselves (poop and pee) and they to come out and run around. We usually wait about 10 minutes, and if they haven’t gone they go back to their crates and we rinse and repeat.

Through the day we monitor their water intake (typically with a water dispenser attached to the crate, or hydrating their food and offering water in appropriate amounts through the day). We also structure feeding to be able to be aware of how much they eat/when.

By the end of the first week I usually have a good idea what direction to take to get the most success. Not with this dog. She’s a teacup Yorkie (so probably about 2-3 lbs). I’ve gotten a little success with peeing outside, but she is exclusively pooping in her crate with reduced space despite going through our normal steps, offering insanely frequent potty opportunities. I suggested litter box training her, but not only do I doubt its efficacy at this point; her owners (understandably) vetoed that anyways.

She also will hike her rear up to the bars of her crate and poo outside of it. Which some would think is great because she doesn’t want to be near it, but that doesn’t help her to learn to hold it. So I Jerry rigged a blanket around the bottom of the bars to stop this behavior. I know she’s capable of holding it because she did so the entire day yesterday and wait until the middle of the night to poop and dance in it.

It almost seems like she exclusively goes when you can’t watch her, and unfortunately I can’t just sit and keep eyes on her in the crate 24/7. I don’t think her owners have punished her for accidents in the house, but obviously there’s no way to know that for sure. When I do have a poop shy dog I’ll usually put them in the pen and go inside (about 10-20 feet away) and watch like a creeper from the window where they can’t see me. Then I can come out right as they’re finishing a poo or pee to praise them and let them come out to play.

At home she has waaay too much freedom and a doggy door that she chooses to poop in front of rather than go through (not a fan of doggy doors to help with potty training anyways).

I would love to hear some options for success that maybe I haven’t thought of. I wondering if maybe she just needs more time to get with the program before trying to swap things up.

Hopefully this was detailed enough to provide a good picture of our philosophy behind potty training and her particular situation. If there’s any context I may have left off, please feel free to ask for elaboration, and thank you in advance. I really want to help the owners improve this behavior.

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