Potty training can be as stressful to your puppy as it is to you. Keep this in mind when you are training him/her. Yorkies are a very smart breed and pick up things very fast. However they are also very small and cannot hold it as long as a larger breed puppy can. If you don't know how many times you should take your puppy out to go potty below is a chart to help you out. The chart is just an example, keep in mind the size of your breed.

Age of the puppy                                     Number of times that he/she

                                                                      needs to go potty.

1-14 weeks of age                                  10-11 times a day

14-21 weeks of age                                  8-9 times a day

21- 32 weeks of age                                 7-8 times a day

Adulthood                                                   5-6 times a day

A puppy should be taken out to go potty between 20 to 30 minutes after a meal time depending on the age. When you begin your training, you will learn your puppies habits and  how long he/she can hold it,.

Potty Training is the most asked about question for any new puppy owner.Hopefully the information on this page will help you in solving that problem.

1st thing it is important to understand is that Yorkies are very small dogs and even thou they don't eat much at  meal time, they need to relieve themselves shortly after eating. They cant hold their bowels as long as a larger dog can.

Below is a chart to try to help you determine when your puppy needs to relieve himself. Keep in mind the younger the puppy the shorter amount of time between eating and potty time there will be.

Age of puppy                                          Number of times he/she

                                                                  needs to go potty

1- 14 weeks of age                                          10-11 times a day

14-22 weeks of age                                           8-9   times a day

22-32 weeks of age                                            6-7  times a day

upon reaching Adulthood                                   4-5 times a day

This is just an estimate for you to go by. every dog varies a little.

Imagine a puppy like a toddler. The attention span is very short, so when your puppy is playing for a long period of time and then just stops and relieves himself/herself, It is not that he/she forgot what you have shown him/her, it is that he/she didn't have enough time to get where he/she knew to go before he/she had the accident.

The following tips are only suggestions that hopefully will help you in your training of your new puppy, or maybe give you an idea as to how you want to handle the task.

Before the new puppy comes home You need to determine how you plan on training your new member of the family. If you plan on training him/her to puppy pads then make sure you have them in place before he /she gets home. When he/she arrives home show him/her immediately where the potty area is. Remember just letting the puppy loose to roam the house without restrictions will allow him/her to relieve himself/herself at any time. Keep in eye on him/her when he/she is running around. If he/she start sniffing around the floor and turning in circles, this is an alarm that he/she are about to go potty. Take him/her to the potty area, or outside immediately. when he/she relieve himself/herself. Praise him/her for going potty. let him/her know that they did the right thing.

If your potty is trained to go on potty pads and you have decided you want him/her to go outside, then you need to work slowly with the puppy to adjust to the change. Just changing his/her habit will be very confusing to him/her. I would suggest moving the potty pads a little at a time, closer to the door so that he/she follow the change and what you are trying to teach him/her. When you finally get him/her to go to the door, move the potty pad outside to the area that you want him/her to go potty. After the first time you can remove the puppy pad from the grass without any problem.

Crate training? some people feel that putting a puppy in a crate is mean, But there are some advantages and some information that might ease your mind about doing so. Most puppies need to know that there is a place of their very own. A quiet secure calm place that he/she can go when he/she need to. Puppies will not soil in the area that they sleep so having him/her in a crate when you are gone is teaching them to hold their bowels and also keeps them safe when you are not there to watch them. As the puppy gets older the crate is not that big of an issue. They will have learned to hold their bowels till you come home and they will know right from wrong (for the most part) about the house. Just remember the 1st thing you need to do when you come home is to take the puppy out right away. He/she needs to go immediately. Don't make them wait for you to change clothes, get a drink, or relax before you give them the attention. Your little family member has been waiting to see you all day, by coming home and ignoring him/her shows them a lack of love towards them. Take them out to go potty and play with them.

Here is a tip from Greg & Debbie of WI- when they got their little angel home, they showed Rocky right away where his puppy pads were. After they fed him they watched him run around and play, when he started circling, they knew to take him to the pads. They kept him on the pads and he went potty, they praised him and gave him a treat for going on the pads. they keep their pads right next to the door, so after Rocky knew that was where he needed to go potty, It was very easy to put the pads outside by the door, and show him that he needs to start going outside, Greg said after about 1 week, Rocky learned to go outside. he has not had any accidents in over 4 months!

PATIENCE is what you need when trying to train your puppy to go where you want him/her to go. It takes time to train him/her and if you start to teach him/her and them YOU stop showing him/her and he/she has a accident, It is not his/her fault and you are the one that should be punished. It is work and you should not give up on your yorkie, He/she would not give up on you and he.she will get it as long as you work with him/her every day on this subject.

Do you know how many Yorkies end up in a rescue center because the owner said "he/she cant be potty trained" so they got rid of him/her! How sad is that? People giving up on a yorkie because they are actually too lazy to help them understand and work with them. I wonder how that person would feel if every person they came across gave up on them for one reason or another, how do you think they would feel. Kind of like if your husband or son keeps forgetting to take out the trash, would you kick them out of the house and make them leave or would you correct them till they get it right? Gives you something to think about doesn't it? It saddens me how many people want a yorkie so bad because of the attention and status symbol they have, but they don't want to take the time to make him/her the best yorkie they can be. Maybe not getting a yorkie for a person like that, would be the best thing for both of them!