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ForumsTraining and Obedience > GSD Housetraining at 4 weeks? (17 replies)
GSD Housetraining at 4 weeks? by fawndallas on 10 May 2012 - 16:45 |
| My appologies if this has already been discussed. I could not find anything on this though. I would like to start training my GSD puppies on housetraining; they are 24 days old now. Is this even feasible? I have a potty box in their room, but they do not seem to understand. I have tried putting them in the box right after they wake up, but they all just sit there and either cry or climb out. Two minutes later they are peeing on the floor. I do understand that nothing will be perfect at this stage, but any suggestions on getting started would be great. |
fawndallas by Sunsilver on 10 May 2012 - 16:58 |
| By 8 weeks, 2 of the females in my friend's litter were climbing into the bathtub to do their business. IMO, 4 weeks is WAY too early. What do you have in the potty box? As they get older, the pups will tend to do their business in one corner of the pen. You might try putting soiled newspaper in the box to encourage them to use it. I have heard of pups being housebroken just after going home at 8 weeks, but it's the exception rather than the rule!  |
Sunsilver by fawndallas on 10 May 2012 - 17:18 |
| I have soiled, but dry newspapers. Is there anything I can do to start encouraging the going to the bathroom in once specific area? |
by Sunsilver on 10 May 2012 - 17:43 |
| Like I said, place them where you want them to go, and have some wet or soiled papers there to tell them it's the right spot. There is absolutely NO guarantee this will work, though... They really are too young. But if you are patient and consistent with it, they will likely start to catch on. |
by 1GSD1 on 10 May 2012 - 18:15 |
| I have a liner in the box for the first 3 + weeks. At about 4 wks if they are not out yet, I put 1/2 a liner and 1/2 paper. they go to the paper to potty on their own. Most of the time I end up taking the box away as they are getting out by then. I have newspaper on the floor in the room in one area and they are very easily self trained. I don't know about climbing in a box like a kitty. I would not use the box, just the paper. |
by fawndallas on 10 May 2012 - 18:37 |
| Ahhhh. I have newspaper down over most of the floor (outside of the box too). I will change that to just one specific area. Thanks |
by beetree on 10 May 2012 - 22:46 |
| The technique is to cover the entire box with paper. As they go on the paper, pick the soiled paper up and use it under another area. Keep doing this, and eventually you will be left with one area of paper for them to go on, that they will seek. |
beetree by fawndallas on 15 May 2012 - 21:13 |
| Update... House training is going better than I expected with 9 puppies. We still have accident galore, but I would say 60% of the time the puppies are spot on. Pretty good for 4week old puppies. |
by Donnerstorm on 18 May 2012 - 02:20 |
| I have nothing useful to say just thought if the goal was to get them in the potty box, Cat shit sure seems to attract all of mine to the litter box for cat box crunchies! |
Donnerstorm by fawndallas on 18 May 2012 - 04:10 |
| EWE... I so try to discourage the kitty cookies. I did have a potty box. That just did not work well at all. Rose started using it as her escape from puppies box (at least until they learned to climb in). The newspapers in one area is working the best. Poop is there 100% of the time the last few days; pee is still hit or miss. I am afraid training slowed down this week. I am renewing my efforts on the pee side this weekend. The magic was much more simple than I expected. 1. Keep the bathroom smell; 2. Show the correct behavior; 3. Reward every time it is done right. By the way, it helps that I work from home and puppy room is also my office. Now that they are on solid food, smell is biggest challenge for me. Cleaning twice a day is not cutting it. I am still working to figure it out. I have a deck right outside the room. I may expand the puppy room and put potty area out there. |
by Sunsilver on 18 May 2012 - 13:47 |
| Fawndallas, you're going to have to live with the smell! It's part of raising puppies. The breeder of my friend's Shiloh stud is quite fussy about her house. When Nero's litter reached this stage, the puppies got moved to the garage! You can buy rubber matting to put under the puppy area, but this will hold the smell a bit. There's a product on the market that is supposed to contain the active ingredient that's in Febreeze, and i use it in areas where my dogs have had accidents. It's called OdorZyme: http://www.proschoice.com/html/odor_zyme.html |
by fawndallas on 18 May 2012 - 14:55 |
| Thank you Sunsilver. I will definitely try it. We are starting the move to the deck for the potty area today. I have also left Rose it there to give everyone the "right" idea. It also did not help that the last round of dewormer has resulted in loose stools.... |
by fawndallas on 18 May 2012 - 14:59 |
| Sad face. The product cannot be used on wood floors (I just talked to a technician there). Good thought though. |
by Sunsilver on 18 May 2012 - 18:26 |
| I've used it on MY wood floors, and they look none the worse for wear! Well, except for all the scratches from my doggies' claws! :( |
by fawndallas on 21 May 2012 - 02:48 |
| Lol |
by K9Sport on 22 May 2012 - 12:34 |
| We start with a litter box in the whelping area at about 3 ½ weeks. We use the plastic tray of a 36" crate and fill it with equine pine pellets. If a pup poops outside the tray we pick the poop up and put it in the tray... inside of 7-10 days almost all of the pups were using the litter box to poop and pee in. Out of 7 pups in the last litter, all but one male would use the potty area. When the pups were older we put some pine pellets outside on the deck and they would use that area to potty. Once they were bog enough to climb the stairs down to the grass they naturally went in the grass. By 10 weeks they were reliably house broken, in that they would stand by the door and whine to get out. Little pups can absolutely be potty trained :) Laurie |
K9Sport by fawndallas on 22 May 2012 - 15:14 |
| Maybe pelts are the key. For poop, they are doing well. Pee is still a challenge. Some go in potty area, rest go as soon as the need to and wherever they are. Did not think about crate tray. I will start that today. Thanks everyone. Nice to know I am not the only one to start the house training now and not after 8 weeks. |
by fawndallas on 22 May 2012 - 15:14 |
| Maybe pelts are the key. For poop, they are doing well. Pee is still a challenge. Some go in potty area, rest go as soon as the need to and wherever they are. Did not think about crate tray. I will start that today. Thanks everyone. Nice to know I am not the only one to start the house training now and not after 8 weeks. |
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