my 17 week yorkie is still not fully housetrained is this normal at her age i've had her 9 weeks :-(

There is no written rule on how long it takes to house train. Some pick it up quicker than others.
The important thing is to stick to a routine and be consistant with it.
The general rule is take them outside when they wake up, after they've eaten, drunk, played etc and pop them out every hour throughout the day and evening.
When you let her out, use a word/words for going to the loo 'wee wee' 'be clean' and  go out with her and once she has gone, give her lot's of praise, however long you have to sit out there.  It is better to go outside and make sure she has gone as a lot of pups will go out and play and not go to the toilet. Therefore coming inside and relieving themselves.
Keep sticking to the routine and it will come right. Don't bother with puppy pads, or newspapers inside as you as you are encouraging them to go inside then.

Generally a puppy won't ahve full contorl until it about 5 or 6 months old.  some of the toy breeds can be so and so's to housetrain seeming to mind less about going within their living areas, so I would say you are expecting him to be housetrained a bit soon.

I am only a new owner myself, and don't have a huge amount of experience, but if I were you I would probably go back to basics with your dog. I didn't use paper/pads in the house in the end, even though I bought pads, and instead decided that because I work from home I would persevere with getting my pup to learn to go outside, but I do understand not everyone has the time that I have had to do this. I used the words 'wee wee' for when my pup did either wees or poos, it is just a general 'toilet' trigger word, but choose what works best. Everytime she went, we would gently say 'wee wees' as she was going, and we wouldn't look at her going either. We just persevered with this, and on top of that, if she even started to go in the house (which when it happened was our fault for not watching the signals) we would stop her with not a shout to scare her, but a loud 'stop', and then carry/usher her outside where she would finish her wee to lots and lots of praise and fuss. Also, if she looked like she wanted to go, we would say the word 'out?', and now she responds that she does want to go out by stopping whatever she is doing, sitting in front of you and putting her head to one side. She is now 12 weeks and has had no accidents at all for 3 weeks (touching wood right now). We just kept a look out for the signs (sniffing about, and circling) and the times (about 10 minutes after food, after play, everytime someone came home/visitors came, first thing in the morning, last thig at night, after waking from naps, and on top of that about every hour). I know it sounds like you might as well pitch a tent outside, but it has worked, and now she only needs to go once every few hours, and can be left for up to an hour and a half. We have so far been very lucky, but if she does take a step back with the trainng, we will just go back to basics again, but it has worked, and as often as not she will tell us she needs to go by looking at the back door and whining.

NannyOgg, what you're doing sounds exactly right. It's hard work and time-consuming, but it works.
:)

My Rottie girl is 5 months and we still have the odd accident. I am going to have to go back to basics with her. I send her out in the garden while I clear it up as I don't want her to see. I won't tell her off for it, she is still a baby. We put the crate away, but that will have to come out again and also letting her out everytime she plays.

I am not saying I expect my pup not to have accidents, as I am sure she will, but I think going back to the basics is the only way to make it work, and it ensures your dog knows what you expect. It is the same with some commands. Sometimes my Missy will sometimes not respond to a command either because I have not delivered it properly or because she was not so certain  of it as I thought she was, so every day I go over all the basics with her, both with voice only, hand commands only and both, just to check she knows OK, and again it is just going over basic ground.

Good luck with the toilet training. I know how frustraing it can be. Take care xxx

I have had three dogs before and thought I was an expert on toilet training as they were all trained by about 11 weeks old - but my most recent puppy (now 11 months old) was 5-6 months old before she stopped weeing indoors, despite me taking her out into the garden constantly, whatever the weather, standing under trees in the rain, watching her like a hawk, giving her lots of praise outside for performing, etc etc. So I realised that some dogs just have weak bladders and take longer to mature - in her case she would frequently do a puddle inside only 20 mins after doing one outside - so it was a nightmare trying to deal with her toilet training. So basically my advice is just grin and bear it and tell yourself that it will get better some day. I found the stain removing liquid you get from Pets at Home (can't remember the name just now) was very good at getting rid of stains.

My pup chihuahua/maltese took a while to toilet train (months), and even with a dog door still had the odd accident inside. I fact he went through a phase of playing outside, comming inside, peeing and then going back outside to play...

As for not telling them off, well i treaded the fine line... Despite all the positive encouragment to go in the right place, there was a lot of mistakes at first. What i did work for me was to tell the puppy off and act dissatisfied over it (not to go so far as to rub his face in it), and walk around in a noisy huff (thats what i felt like anyway after having to clean carpet for the 5th time that day...). I am convinced that he soon learnt that 'going' there made me upset and he didnt go *there* again. Repeat for every corner of the house, and every mat. Eventually the only good place left that didnt 'get me upset' was outside...

Now when we ever he steps on grass he'll pee, and incidently we use "outside?" as a question if he needs to go,  "be quick" for pee and "anymore?" for poop on command. Its quite funny to watch his responces...

I think it's always important to remember that pups are like human babies in  that they are all different - would we get cross with a baby? Hopefully not.
It does take time for them to learn and for their muscles to be under control and all will vary, the best way IMO is to go outside with the pup after eating, sleeping, playing, and every half an hour anyway, and actually give a food reward outside as or just after they do go. Teach a command too, and you will have an adult dog that will wee on command which is very useful on occasion :)

There will be accidents, as owners we need to just keep calm and clear them up - not using disinfectant though as that has ammonia in and will cause confusion.

If a pup is actually doing it in front of you, calmly pick it up (this usuallystops the pup mid flow) and take outside, encourage to go and praise/reward.

Lindsayx

Oh, dont get me wrong, there was plenty of positive reinforcment with getting to go outside. What i found with my pup was that he didnt get the message that he *shouldnt* go inside. So just like i would treat a child, you tell them it isnt OK. In dog speak (and i am no expert) i got angry at the soil... not the pup, and showed i wasnt happy.

I got very good at spotting his actions before a #1 or 2 and would pick him up and take him ouside. But without prompting (even with a dog door) he wouldnt go by himself untill i started getting upset. Maybe it was a co-incidence...

And yes, going on command is not just usefull on occasion, i use it every day. Hhe seemed to associate words and actions very quickly, so every trip outside was marked by "outside!", every pee by "be quick! (... its bloody cold out here and its 3am)", and "any more! (... i dont want you to come inside and poo in 5 minutes)". In the transition between him taking himself outside i could command him to go outside by himself, just to remind him...

Never mind 17 weeks, my little horror isn't trustworthy at 9 1/2 months!!! She had been a lot better, but over the last couple of weeks I am getting puddles nearly every night and occasionally during the morning (I work full time but come home at lunchtime). Last night I dug out the crate and put her in it, we went to bed unusually early and she was in it for about 10 hours without a squeak or a puddle. But when she's loose with one of the boys in the kitchen she will wee even if we go to bed late and it's only 7 or 8 hours she is shut in for! She knows the command as she will go immediately I take her outside and tell her to go. I have a sneaking suspicion I have managed to teach her it is only safe to wee if I am standing next to her, as she sometimes wees during the day when she has the dog door. I must be the world's worst house trainer, my 2 boys were really hard to train too!

Hi, I think most Yorkies are notoriously difficult to train! Especially if it's raining!! Our boy(91/2 months) is dry at night, we let him into a carrier with a nest bed in, they don't like peeing in their beds! But even during the day he's a bit naughty and sometimes poo's by the back door! But really anything under 6 months is early! Sorry!!! All the best, Dawn.