"Specializing in Yorkshire Terriers & Maltese"

Playpen Training Your Yorkie & Maltese

Small indoor dogs that will not have regular access outside your home, will be best to have them playpen trained.  Playpen training simply is to train your puppy to potty on pads inside a confined area.  This could be very easily taught, for the fact that it will come to them naturally not to potty in their bed and also, the pads come scented to attract the puppy to potty on it.  This will be automatic for the puppy when it is left in the playpen unsupervised for a long period of time.  All our puppies are already, partially housebroken to go on the potty pads inside the playpen.  The main training is to have them go on the pads outside the playpen.  This may require lots of praise and care.  Make sure the first few weeks your puppy spends most of their time in their playpen (their home), otherwise the puppy will be accustomed to being outside its playpen and will not want to go back. Whenever you place your puppy back in the playpen, do not call your puppy by its call name. The best time to train them is when they wake up from sleep or after eating.  They usually will potty within about 10-15 minutes after.  Pay attention to your puppy and when it looks like they are about to go, take them to the nearest pad.  If your puppy goes anywhere on the pad, give them high praise.  If they happen to miss, do not punish or scold them.  The best thing to do is to just clean it up and not make a big deal.  By punishing them, this makes the puppy tend to hide where they potty, most likely under beds or furniture in fear of being punished again.   As long as you are consistent with the training, you should be able to leave your puppy with the playpen open when you are not at home.  This process could take few weeks to a few months, so, like any other training procedure, have patience.