1.5 year old yorkie & house training

Question
Hello!
My fiance got me Daisy for Xmas in 07. At the time we were still living with his parents who had 2 other dogs. When we decided to finally move out to our own place we couldn't have any pets, so my parents now have her.  She was doing good with the potty training but now she goes in the house constantly...My mom or dad will have her out for over an hour then bring her back in then she goes...Any tips will be helpful!!!

Answer
Ashley,

Yorkies are notorious for being difficult to potty train.  Of all the small dog breeds they are the most difficult to train.  The fact that she was doing good and is now doing so badly could be due to the separation.  A Yorkie usually bonds with one person and when they are separated from that person they will act out just like a small child would do.  Since she can't throw a temper tantrum she will get attention any way she can, hence the bad potty behavior.

It is difficult to know if the behavior is related to separation anxiety or if she is just being a typical Yorkie.  The only thing that can really be done is to confine her to a crate or cage when she has gone potty in the house.  If she is caught in the act she should be scolded and then put in the crate for a time out.

When she is taken outside to go potty she should be put in a small enclosure where she has room to potty but not enough room to play.  You can get some chicken wire or lattice from a hardware store and make a small enclosure that has no doorway and put her in there to go potty.  If she will not go potty in 15 minutes then she should be taken inside and placed in the crate for 15 minutes.  Then take her out of the crate and back outside into the enclosure and repeat everything over again.  You should do this until she does go potty.  After she goes potty someone should play with her for a few minutes as a reward for good behavior.

The key here is consistency and repetition.  If you are consistent then she will eventually get the idea that you are not playing around and that she will have to comply or be put in time out.  At first it will be a real pain but she should learn fairly quickly what acceptable behavior is expected of her.

With all that being said I must reiterate that she will probably never be fully trained.  She will occasionally go in the house because that is the norm for a Yorkie.