When owning a Yorkie, it is not an easy task to potty train them. But once they get a grasp of it, they will follow the appropriate ways of doing so. However, if you find your Yorkie constantly urinating inside the house, it can be a big problem and frustrating. So how to stop a Yorkie from peeing in the house?
A sure-fire way to stop a Yorkie from peeing in the house is by training them. You can try crate training as well.
Let’s get into the details below!
Yorkshire Terrier
The Yorkshire Terrier breed came into existence in Yorkshire, England, in the mid 19th century. Among the terrier breed type and other dog breeds, Yorkshire is considered one of the tiniest breeds of dogs but don’t let their slight build fool you as Yorkie are known to have a big personality. This breed of dog is independent, intelligent, bold, and courageous. Even when faced with dogs larger than their size, they stand their ground, so Yorkie owners need to be careful about that. If you are planning on owning a Yorkie, you get a dog both loving and feisty.
Why do Yorkies Pee in the House
Yorkies peeing in the house is a common problem, and veterinary doctors call it inappropriate urination. So before you dive into correcting this problem, first learn what is causing it and tackle it accordingly. Some of those causes are:
Improper Training
Proper training of Yorkies, especially when they are at the learning stage, is essential. If they are not trained correctly from the beginning and until they’ve adequately learned the do and don’ts, their inappropriate urination habits will come back again.
Extreme Emotions
When Yorkies are in a situation where they get too anxious or scared or excited, they tend to show inappropriate urination behavior. This behavior happens because they cannot control themselves, and proper training is needed to fix this issue.
Older Dogs
Your Yorkies may have been following proper peeing habits when they were young, but as they got older, their practices might’ve been regressing. This behavior happens because when dogs get old, their memory also weakens, and so they might forget their training and start breaking house rules. Aging in Yorkies also leads to many health problems, which also triggers inappropriate urination.
Medical Issues
When your Yorkie starts urinating in the house and becomes a habit, one of the most important things you should check is if they have any medical problems. Medical conditions like urinary tract infection, urinary incontinence, and kidney problems can also cause peeing in the house. When they have this or other medical issues, their ability to control their urine also weakens, and so they start peeing in random places,
Behavioral Issues
If medical issues are not the cause of your dog’s inappropriate urination, then behavioral problems are probably the issue here.
To know if this is the case, you first need to properly observe your Yorkies’ behavior and see if anything triggers your Yorkies peeing problem. Behavioral issues in Yorkies can be marking, especially in male dogs, exerting dominance issues and extreme emotions urination where they are either too anxious, excited or stressed.
How to Stop a Yorkie from Peeing In the House
When trying to stop a Yorkie from peeing in the house, there are some measures you can go to to help make it easier for both you and your Yorkie.
Check for Health Problems
When your Yorkshire Terrier is showing inappropriate urinating habits, make sure to take them to a veterinarian to check if they have any severe or minor medical problems. These issues could be kidney or liver disease, tumors, diabetes, bladder stones, lifting or squatting leg when urinating can be canine osteoarthritis, and so on. These medical conditions also affect urinating habits, so it is crucial to see that your Yorkies’ health is good and take them for regular checkups.
Clean the Spot
When your dog urinates inside the house, make sure to clean that spot thoroughly with suitable cleaning products that will adequately remove any odor. Because dogs have a habit of visiting the place of their crime, any lingering smell will lure them to that spot and urinate again. That’s why ordinary soaps or cleaning products won’t help, and you need to use products like enzymatic cleaners, which will thoroughly clean the urinated place.
Stop the Act
When you catch your Yorkie red-handed while urinating, quickly interrupt their act with a loud sound so that they won’t come back to that place again to urinate. You can also spray water at them to stop the action. Use some negative reinforcement but don’t physically harm them.
Train your Yorkie
If your Yorkshire Terrier is a puppy and has a problem peeing inside the house, that could mean that you need to train them in the appropriate urinating habits. But if you have an older Yorkie who is already trained and is falling back to their old habits, then what you could do here is either home train them or take them to an expert professional trainer and retrain them again.
Supervise your Yorkie
The other method for solving your older Yorkie peeing problem is by keeping them close to you at all times so that you can keep checking on them and teach them when needed. After you think your Yorkie is trained enough, you can slowly give them their freedom after some days. You can also change your Yorkies’ routine and give them their meals at specific timings. These steps will help you set your Yorkies’ bad habits straight.
Identify What Is Causing the Issue
Yorkies or any other dogs are prone to be stuck to their habits. So when you find your Yorkie peeing in the house, identify the accident location and see if your Yorkie is peeing in the same spot. Why because Yorkies tend to mark places. So Identify why your Yorkie is marking those spots or objects. It could be any reason like bringing new things in the house or anxiety, and after identifying their patterns, eliminate those problems. You can also take the help of artificial pheromones or calming aids to stop your Yorkie from marking.
Positive Reinforcement
Training a Yorkie is not an easy task, especially after finding your Yorkie peeing in the house. When this happens, make sure that you don’t resort to using violent means of handling the situation, like punishing or shouting at your Yorkie. If you are, this approach will not help let them learn, but it will only slow down the training process.
So try using methods that will help your Yorkie learn quickly and behave well when they’re training. The use of positive reinforcement goes a long way, so whenever your Yorkie completes a task or follows your command, reward them with some treats in between.
Developmental Stages and How It Can Help a Yorkie Stop Peeing In The House
To stop Yorkies from peeing inside, many of us have taken various measures like giving the Yorkie peeing training, identifying the triggers, and many more. Still, we didn’t focus on the developmental stages of our Yorkie and how it affects them.
When the Yorkie is a newborn, it is important not to bring them home if they are less than 12 weeks old. The puppy should be at least around 12 to 16 weeks or more. When the newborn is separated too early, they can develop separation anxiety, which might trigger the peeing problem later on. When dogs are under tension, stress, or fear, they urinate improperly.
During eight weeks to 6 months, they become full-grown puppies. Make sure that you’re training your Yorkshire the little stuff in this stage. Also, give your Yorkie an excellent social experience as this is the stage where they start developing personalities and learn new habits.
When your Yorkie has reached six months, the Yorkie must receive proper advanced training as this is the stage where they need continuous training to learn appropriate habits and rules. When peeing or potty training is not taught at the right time, it gets more challenging to train the Yorkie, and they might not learn it properly if not taught in the right stage when learning things are easy and remembered for a more extended period.
When a Yorkie becomes ten years or more, your dog might forget the training being taught to them, and so at this stage, your Yorkie will need extra help and should be trained from time to time.
That is why training a Yorkshire at the right stages and taking the adequate steps to raise them well in all stages goes a long way in having your Yorkie behave appropriately.
Conclusion
It is a myth that Yorkies are impossible to train because they might be hard to train, but it is not impossible. With patience, attention, compliments, and some dog treats, always work when training Yorkies. Training your Yorkie the correct way and choosing the best professional trainer is essential. Otherwise, after some time, the Yorkies trained behavior will start regressing.
So if you find your Yorkies urinating inside the house, don’t use harsh ways to deal with the problem. Instead, learn what is causing the issue and address it with appropriate measures.
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