My Yorkie Terrier

Question
My mom has a co-worker who moved to an apartment from her house that doesn't allow dogs.  She gave my family the Yorkie Terrier (Peanut) about three weeks ago.  She told us that he is fully trained to go on the wee-wee pad and outside.I wanted to know:
1. Is there any way to make him go on his wee-wee pads?  My brother and I have set up time frames to take him outside, but sometimes my brother takes too long to take Peanut outside and Peanut will go on the floor.  We put the pads down where he went, put the spray on the pad, and even put his urine on the pad.  Instead of going on the pad, he'll lay on them and find another spot to go.  He also refuses to go on the pad in the middle of the night.  

2. Is there anyway to stop Peanut from whining when ever I'm involved in something else?  When I'm doing my homework, studying, getting ready to leave, on the computer, or about to go to sleep, Peanut will keep whining for me to pet him.  When I'm finsh my work, Peanut will sit quiet.

3. How long will it take Peanut to learn simple commands?  He doesn't know any.  When I'm walking him and tell him to come, he doesn't listen.  I'm not sure if I've been training him right.  An example is when I'm walking him and he'll start to stray away.  I'll tell him come here when he doesn't I pull his leash and tell him come here.

4:Are there any websites,books, or any advice to help me fully train him with commands?

5: Is there also any way to stop Peanut from barking when someone is in the hallway or outside?  I live in an apartment and the barking is disturbing alot of people at all hours of the day and night.

6: Is it normal for a Yorkie Terrier to run away from people who want to pet him outside?  Is it normal for him to always growl and run to attack bigger dogs?

Peanut is a 1 1/2 Yorkie Terrier.  I still think he has separation anxiety (but I'm not really sure). His previous owner has told us that she spoiled him. Would Peanut be able to change his ways?

I'm also sorry for asking too many questions about Peanut.  He's the first dog that my family and I have ever owned.

Answer
Hi Shanelle, congratulations on your new little friend! Don't worry about asking lots of questions, I think it's great that you care enough to make it work and it sounds like you are doing a great job as a new dog owner so far.

Let's start with the peeing problem! My first suggestion would be to keep Peanut supervised all of the time until he is going on the pads reliably. Don't let him have as much freedom as he has been having until he is going to the pad whenever he has to go. The goal will be to prevent any more mistakes by taking him outside (like you are doing) and to the pad before he can have an accident, and also by interrupting him when he is about to have or is in the middle of having an accident. Of course, sometimes you just can't keep an eye on him, like when you are busy or can't be  at home. For those times, you should let him stay in a special confined area just for him. This area should have his bathroom (wee-wee pad) and another softer nicer area to relax (a folded throw blanket might be ideal) and should be on a hard non-absorbent floor, like linoleum in the kitchen.

Some other things that will help (and you might be doing some or all of these already):

-Take Peanut to the pad regularly and encourage him to do his business there. It's not a bad idea to even take him to the pad on the leash sometimes, like you do when you go outside.

-Whe does go on the pad (or outside for that matter) give Peanut an especially delicious treat and lots of praise! Have something handy so you're always ready with it, like cubes of cheese or jerky type treats.

-If you catch him having an accident, interrupt/surprise him and take him to the pad immediately. Encourage him to finish there, and when he does, give him a reward and praise to show him THAT'S where you want him to go.

-If you find a mess on the floor but didn't see it happen, ignore Peanut and don't scold him. Just clean it well and keep a closer watch on him! :)

-When Peanut starts going on the pad when you escort him there, you can try giving him a little more freedom to see if he will go there on his own.


Now, about Peanut's whining while you are trying to do your work. I think that Peanut could use some work to do of his own! Something to keep him busy - an interesting new hobby. Does Peanut enjoy eating tasty treats? Some dogs are really into food, and others aren't. But if he has some favorite food that he enjoys, a great trick would be to fill up a small Kong toy (check out the pet store) with it. You could try cream cheese, a little roast beef from the deli, or whatever you think might interest him. He will keep busy for awhile getting it out of the Kong toy, which will give you some quiet time! You could also try out some of the nice digestible, totally edible chewies that are available and see if he would likes any of those.

Another thing that is likely to help a LOT with Peanut's whining and also with his barking at things is to give him more excercise. Terriers are active dogs, and it's quite possible that he needs to get rid of a little bit of extra engergy. If he's a little tired out he will be more relaxed and want to nap or hang out quietly at home, rather than being a little on edge and ready to bark. If you can increase his exercise by making his walks a little longer or by taking him more often, you should start to see him settle down a little more. That combined with getting him involved in his own indoor activities should help a lot. Over time, he also might start to desensitize to the noises of people coming and going outside and bark less.

In my experience, I have seen a lot of small dogs who are shy with strangers, including Yorkies. You can help Peanut be more comfortable with strangers by taking him around people to hang out, but kindly ask them not to pat him yet unless he seems at ease. He might not have had a lot of exposure to strangers when he was little. When people want to pat him, you can explain that you're working to get him more comfortable around strangers and just being near them is helping but that you don't want to push him too fast. People must seem awfully big to him. You don't want to force him, but you don't want to let him think there is anything to be afraid of, either. If you can, enlist the help of friends. Get them to walk up to you on the street and offer bits of those tasty treats to him by tossing them toward him from a distance. That will help him to see friendly stangers as a good thing!

Training Peanut on some basic commands is a great idea! It might not even take very long as long as you have some good info to refer to and are consistent with him. One simple tip that I can give you is to always reward him when he responds to his name and when you call him, either with a treat, or attention, whatever he loves best. Spend a little time each day practicing that with him in the house and outside in different places. Be patient with him, but persistent. Make sure he is comfortable and not too stressed about anything to concentrate. Some good books and videos I would highly recommend you check out can be found at the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants website. Here's the link: http://www.iaabc.org/products_resources_dogs.htm  (scroll down to find the training category). If possible, you might even want to consider a dog training class at your local pet store. Petco and PETsMART both have postive reinforcement programs that can show you how to work on all of the basic commands you need and help him to socialize around stangers and other dogs too. If enrolling is not an option for you, you might find it helpful to even just hang around and watch some classes.

I hope this helps, and if you still have questions or if anything new comes up please write again. I apologize for the delay in response (I've been having some internet connection problems). Best wishes to your family and Peanut!