I got my Yorkie pup last week. I also moved into my brand new house only 4 months ago and fitted it out with lovely new carpet (washable, but still carpet). I also have 4 small kids. I decided to cover the lounge/dining room carpet in plastic sheeting but its driving me crazy. I did this because I had a berber carpet when I got my last dog and I could never ever remove the urine smell no matter how many times I cleaned it. In fact cleaning it made the smell more obvious for a while!

I got a crate on Friday and its going really well with the crate. Obviously we do have accidents, but he is also performing in the back garden too, so I think we are heading in the right direction. Friday night in his crate he was clean and dry all night, and next morning did wee and poo first thing in the garden (pround moment). Last night, he wasnt happy about being outside though (cold, wet and windy with fireworks locally) so we had a wee in the corner of the crate this morning, but he still did a wee and a poo outside first thing, then another under the table later!

Has anyone any other survival tips for puppy training that will hopefully hasten the demise of the plastic sheeting? Its not much fun to walk on!

(Thanks for moving it mod! Sorry! Will learn my way round soon!)

I have asked for this to be moved into the dog section

You don't say how old the pup is, but if it's around 9 weeks old, you're doing very well.

I think it sounds like you're doing everything right, ultimately unfortunately it just takes time for them to learn and know that outside is the right place to go.

The rain and wind doesn't make it any easier, I know that Hugo will pee very quickly and run back in only to need a poo a couple minutes later. Its just a case of pre-empting any accidents and big praising outside when they go.

Re carpets, I got the stuff from Pets at Home that if you use straight away gets rid of smells and is meant to mean they wont go there again, it seems to work on my carpets (eek well I hope it is and I'm just not immune to the smell) you have to get it straight away tho.

Good luck and for what its worth I think you're doing it all right!

Leigh (and Hugo) x