It might take you anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. It all depends how committed you are and how much time a day you can spend on training. The following techniques will work only if you can devote 2-3 hours a day. Housebreaking Tips Create a confined area: Start by creating a confined area for your puppy. It could be a crate or a play pen. Most people use a crate. Crate should be large enough for your puppy to stand up and turn around. Put a soft blanket or a towel inside of the crate to create a bed. Alternatively, if you are using a play pen, adjust the size and put some kind of blanket at the bottom. I used a pink baby blanket and a lot of toys to create a fun and cozy place for Sofia during her “alone time”. I used a play pen during the day and crate at night. Consistent Schedule: Put together a schedule and stick to it. This is very important. You puppy needs to know what to expect. Without a regular schedule for feeding, walking and sleeping the training will take much longer. Try to follow the same routine during the weekdays and on the weekends. Schedule is important because, if your puppy goes to bed at the same time and gets his meals at the same time, he should get the need to eliminate around the same time every day. When I was training my Yorkie Sofia, I would take her outside after she wakes up, before going to bed, after each meal, and after each nap during the day. I would say about 8 walks a day. For the first few days, I was just trying to learn when she needs to go, but then it was easy. In the morning, after waking up Sofia had to go potty right away. I would have to carry her outside because she just couldn’t hold it. As soon as I put her down on the floor for one second, she would instantly start peeing. You should have seen me trying to get dressed, put my shoes on, put the harness on Sofia, get the leash, bags, treats, and keys with one hand while holding her in another. It was very funny. Tip: Puppies eliminate more frequently when they get excited from playing. Walking Outside: When outside, just pick a spot and take your puppy to the same spot every day. It should be a quite place with not cars or people walking around, otherwise your puppy will get too distracted. Don’t run or play with him. Just take him to that spot and use a key word “go”. You can select your own phrase. It might take 20 minutes of standing and waiting for your Yorkie to potty. Play a game on your phone or read a newspaper. Don’t forget to give him immediate praise after he is done. While giving your puppy a treat, say something like “Good boy!” acknowledging with the tone of your voice that you are very pleased. This is important, because you not always going to have a treat in your hand, but your puppy still needs to known somehow he did a great job. So when you are praising him, always use the same key words with the same tone of your voice. Tip: Give your puppy a special kind of treat that he only gets when he goes potty. Sofia’s favorite treat was a soft treat that looked like bacon strips. In the crate: Your puppy should be in the crate during night, while you are cooking and cleaning and can’t supervise him. Be prepared for your puppy to cry first few days you put it in the crate. Do not pay any attention. Give him a few toys. Keep in mind, puppies have little bowel or bladder control. The younger the puppy the more often it needs to go potty. 1 month old puppy can hold it only of about 1 hour, 2 months old puppy can only hold it for about 2 hours and so on. Make sure to give your puppy plenty of opportunity to eliminate during the day. What Not to Do: Do not give food or water to your dog while in the crate. Do not use a crate as a punishment. Do not punish your puppy for accidents, because it is really your fault not his. Never hit or push dog’s face into the mess.

A Breeder is one who sacrifices personal interests, finances, time, friendships, fancy furniture, and deep pile carpeting! The Breeder goes without sleep (but never without coffee!) in hours spent planning a breeding or watching anxiously over the birth process, and afterwards, over every little sneeze, wiggle or cry. The Breeder skips dinner parties because that litter is due or the babies have to be fed at eight. She disregards birth fluids and puts mouth to mouth to save a gasping new-born, literally blowing life into a tiny, helpless creature that may be the culmination of a lifetime of dreams. A Breeder’s lap is a marvelous place where generations of proud and noble champions once snoozed. A Breeder’s hands are strong and firm and often soiled, but ever so gentle and sensitive to the thrusts of a puppy’s wet nose. A Breeder’s back and knees are usually arthritic from stooping, bending, and sitting in the birthing box. A Breeder’s shoulders are stooped and often heaped with abuse from competitors, but they’re wide enough to support the weight of a thousand defeats and frustrations. A Breeder’s arms are always able to wield a mop, supporting an armful of puppies. A Breeder’s ears are wondrous things, sometimes red (from being talked about) or strangely shaped (from being pressed against a phone receiver), often deaf to criticism, yet always fine-tuned to the whimper of a sick puppy. A Breeder’s eyes are blurred from pedigree research and sometimes blind to her own dog’s faults, but they are ever so keen to the competitions faults and are always searching for the perfect specimen. A Breeder’s brain is foggy on faces, but it can recall pedigrees faster than an IBM computer. It’s so full of knowledge that sometimes it blows a fuse: it catalogues thousands of good bones, fine ears, and perfect heads… and buries in the soul the failures and the ones that didn’t turn out. The Breeder’s heart is often broken, but it beats strongly with hope everlasting… and it’s always in the right place! Oh, yes, there are breeders, and then, there are BREEDERS!!

People want small dogs. They are cute, adorable! They have charming personalities. They fit in a bag, they don’t need much space, eat less and tend to live longer.  Aside from being just plain cute with wonderful personalities. That is all good.

How small is too small? You have to know the difference between a small healthy, happy and adorable and extremely tiny sickly dog.  Would you want a dog that is so small that it has health issues, that ends up costing you a fortune in vet bills, can’t play, can’t run, and can’t enjoy life?

Toy breeds are small, often 10 lbs. or less are dogs in the Toy Group recognized by the AKC and the FCI.  According to the AKC standard, a healthy Yorkshire Terrier weight is between 4.5 and 7 lbs.  There are other slightly larger toy breeds Maltese or Pugs or Pekinese.  A dog less than 20 lbs. is quite small; a 3 lb. dog is tiny and a 2 lb.  dog is miniscule. So, there are options to chose from.  But why are some breeders out there breeding ‘teacup yorkies’?

Well… let me tell you… there is no such thing as a teacup breed, teacups are not described nor recognized by any canine authority in the whole wide world! Not AKC, not CKC, not UKC and less FCI.  These are people who sit down, study the main characteristics of the different breeds, write them down and stablish a ‘breed standard’. You will not find anywhere a standard for a ‘Teacup’. Unscrupulous breeders describe Teacups as half the standard of the recognized breed standard…. The smallest and weakest of a litter is called a runt. Did you hear that? Smallest and WEAKEST! These dogs are so small that vital organs of their bodies (heart, lungs, liver) and other organs like teeth that try to grow to a minimum size to function properly do NOT fit in those bodies!  What happens?  Health issues, liver shunts, heart failure, underdeveloped teeth…. And on and on and on.  Because tiny itty-bitty puppies sell well… some people breed tiny itty bitty -not health sound- parents to get itty bitty itty -ill- puppies often sacrificing the life of the mothers and most of the litter… These pups -if they make it to adulthood- will develop early problems, have very short life spans and live miserable lives.  Very few of them are healthy and balanced and live long- very very very! few of them.

Because I love the dogs, I love the breed, I select my breeding stock to the best of the best and refuse to purposely breed tiny itty-bitty dogs that will have miserable lives and cost fortunes to maintain AND break my and other people’s hearts.  PLEASE DO NOT ASK FOR TEACUPS, I do not own them, I do not have them, I do not breed them!  It makes me sad and I get very upset when I see people out there looking for such thing.