yorkie training and food types to give her.

Question
I have a 7 month old Yorkie and i haven't exactly trained her the way she suppose to be trained. She uses the bathroom in my room mostly poops in my bed. And she really don't eat her puppy chow food and she is littler than what she is suppose to be. Why I don't but she is. my question is what should I do to train her more efficiently on going to the bathroom outside and what kind of food should i feed so that she will not beg for my food.


Thank you.

Answer
First, get yourself the paperback book, "How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live With" by Rutherford and Neil. It will address a lot of your questions.

Get your puppy into some obedience classes for a few months, and start working with her every single day. Also start practicing "Nothing in Life is Free" with her. http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

Since she has been allowed to potty in the house for this long, it will be a bit more difficult to train her, but just pretend you just brought home an 8-week-old puppy and start over from scratch.

GET A CRATE FOR HER! When you cannot watch her, she must be in it... and this includes at night. Take her outside when she wakes, after she eats, and after she plays hard. Due to her age, she won't need to go out as often as she would if she was younger, but you must stay on top of her to catch her. Make a journal of her "potty times" so that you have a better grasp of when she might need to go out. Go out with her so that you can give her lots of praise when she potties outside in the correct area.

Close off your bedroom so that she cannot go in there since that is her "default" potty area, and do not give her total run of the house until she starts pottying outside on a regular basis. It is up to you to WATCH her.
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1548&articleid=157

If she is begging for your food, put her in her crate during mealtime. She really doesn't need puppy food anymore, but do be sure you are feeding her a quality food. Dogs beg because they have been rewarded for doing so on occasion.

The first ingredient of a good food should be a specified meat meal (ie. chicken meal), there should be a minimum of grains, with NO by-products, NO ethoxyquin, and NO menadione sodium bisulfate (source of vitamin K activity) in the food. I like to see enzymes and probiotics (acidolphus)in the food.

If your Yorkie is really tiny, she will not need much food to eat. Make sure that she is kept slightly on the thin side. You should be able to feel her ribs easily, but not see them; I do not like to feel the hip bones.