potty training!!!

Question
i have a female yorkie about 4 months old, i just bought her and have had her about 3 weeks, i cannot get her potty trained, the biggest problem is i work a lot, i work from 4- midnight, and i take my puppy (bella) out as often as i can, usually about every half hour that i am home, and if she doesn't go potty i put her in the kennel, and tell her bad girl for not going potty outside, then i take her out again in about 15 minutes, she will go potty then outside then, but when i am not home, i put her in the kennel with a puppy pad, but she wont go potty on it, instead she chews it up into a million pieces! i would lover for her to not get locked up but she wont use the pads, and she will only go outside half the times i take her out, but i do praise her for going potty and i give her treats!! What do i do to make her realize she cant potty in the house, or to make her realize that the puppy pad is for potting instead of a chew toy?

Answer

Hi Matthew,

Your puppy isn't "locked up", she's being contained because she's not yet house trained. Not containing her would be foolish, and counter productive to house training. It's a must.

There is no way to prevent your puppy from chewing up the puppy pads, if you're not around to stop her. It's best not to leave her with the pads.  She has no idea what they're for.

Don't scold your puppy when she doesn't go to the bathroom on her walk. She has no idea why she's being scolded. Do continue to put her right into her crate if she doesn't "go" on a walk, and try taking her outside again in 15 minutes. Lavishly praise and reward for any good behavior.

You didn't say what size kennel (do you mean a crate?) you're using. If a crate is too large, your puppy will have room to soil in an area and still lay comfortably. A crate should only be large enough for a dog to stand up in, turn around, and lay down. Any larger than it's too big. Don't leave padding in the crate, a puppy's crate is not a bathroom area, and soiling inside the crate is not something to encourage.  What might work for your puppy is not to crate her, but contain her to a small area with a child gate or two, or with an indoor dog pen. This is an example of an indoor dog pen:
http://www.petstreetmall.com/Dog-Pens-Black-Series/3824/1373/

Paper the entire containment area with newspaper, so anywhere your puppy "goes" will be on paper. This will make clean-ups easier. You can expect some newspaper to get torn up, again, she's a puppy and that's what puppies do.

Best of luck,
Patti