House breaking my gsd fail....Help!!! - Page 2

If you can get the dog amped up and very excited anytime you say "Outside" or whatever word you choose it will make it so when they are older and they need to go potty they get very excited and kinda hyper over by the exit making it very hard to miss the dog needing to go outside :). The reason I say the hour timer (and I am very on top of it because it taught both my dogs to be potty trained in only a couple of days) is because you create so many positive oppertunities for the dog to succeed and you kinda put potty training on your time, with little guessing, you literally are always there when the dog is going to do its deed. I think in puppy dog training setting up the puppy to succeed is key, no one likes to fail especially very young animals or humans. Plus they get to feel like the king of the day every hour which they think is awesome.

She also pees and poops on cue.  She has a little "pee pee" song and a "Poop Poop" song.  The pooping part you DO need to be about the time when you know she needs to go. 

You start by saying the pee or poop word when she is going outside and you are giving her food and making pooping and peeing outside a huge party.  It becomes associative.  Pretty soon you say "pee" and she will and, if the timing is correct she will poop for that word.  

The really nice thing is the word tells the dog she has permission to go.  If you take her different places she will learn that is is OK to go on that "strange grass" because the word gives her "permission" to use it. 

It sounds silly and people may look at you funny.  That being said, I have gone to the park and put my dog through her obedience paces and people have watched and appreciated a great Drop on Recall.. but what I get MOST praise for is when I tell her to "go pee" and she does. 

  Boy, I've heard it all now.  You can have the puppy totally  housebroke in 2 weeks, if
  you are consistant and watch her/him.  When a puppy is not housebroken you don't
  let them run all over the house.  Try and confine 1-2 rooms that don't have carpet.
  You have to watch them closely,  they go to the bathroom after waking up from  nap,
  when they are excited, after playing and as soon as they eat.  The crate is a wonderful
  thing to have.  Don't punish them ever and put them in there.  The main thing is this:
  YOU HAVE TO WATCH THEM WHEN THEY ARE OUTSIDE GOING POTTY.  IF THEY GO
  POTTY OUTSIDE THEN THEY WON'T COME INSIDE AND GO.  ACTUALLY SEE THEM
  GO POTTY.  MOST OF THE TIME IF YOU LET THEM OUTSIDE TO GO POTTY AND THEY
  PLAYED THE WHOLE TIME AND YOU EXPECTED THEM TO GO POTTY,  WHEN THEY
  COME BACK INSIDE THEY STILL HAVE TO GO.  THE TRICK IS SIMPLE  SEE THEM GO
  POTTY OUTSIDE   SO THEY DON'T GO INSIDE.  BY THE WAY USE  "OUTSIDE"   AND
  THEY GET USE TO THAT.  MY DOGS PRACTICALLY PEE ON COMMAND.  THEY CAN
  LEARN POTTY JUST LIKE THEY CAN LEARN SIT.
 

Take your dog out every 20-30 min. when it's free in the house or in the crate and when it relieves it's self lot's of praise with a pee command. No food or water a 3 or 4  hours before you go to sleep. Take the dog out just before you go to bed, wake up once in the middle of the night and get up early and let the dog out. It's a pain, but it works well if the pup needs to be in the house all night. If you do this for the next month or two your pup will probably be good for life.

I didn't read anyone elses suggestions, so if it's already been said sorry.

LOVE THY SHEPHERD, it's true that one can have a puppy conditioned to eliminate outdoors, on cue, in a short period of time--IF one doesn't have to go to work outside the home--but that hardly constitutes 'housebroken'.  A puppy under the age of 5 months is probably going to need to relieve itself at least once during the course of 8 to 10 hours, which is the length of most people's typical work day if they have a full-time job; 'baby' puppies in the 8 to 14 week range will probably need to go at least twice during that time frame. 

Personally, I'm a proponant of starting a puppy off with paper-training for two reasons: the first being the need to go to work full-time and not having anyone who's at leisure and can come let the puppy out midway through the morning, at midday, and again at midafternoon; the second reason is because it's extremely helpful in an emergency situation if the dog *will* relieve itself indoors when absolutely necessary if provided with an area designated for that purpose...which the newspapers will still indicate to the dog long after it's matured and is fully housebroken.  There have been a few storms over the years that were severe enough that letting the dogs outside was either impossible (snow drifts preventing the doors from being opened) or too dangerous (gale-force winds with large objects flying around, and a lot of ground-strike lightening)...it was a blessing that my girls both had been papertrained when puppies, and willingly used the 'potty station' I set up for them in the basement during those times instead of them having to be miserable because they needed to go and couldn't get outside.

My rules of housebreaking....

• Puppy plays... it has to go out
• Puppy eats... it has to go out
• Puppy sleeps... it has to go out
• Puppy drinks... it has to go out

I am currently housebreaking a puppy. I got him at 10 weeks of age and he was a kennel pup when I purchased him so he had no idea what it meant to "go outside".  He made numerous mistakes the first week, minimal mistakes the second week, and this week has not made one error.  But... I have been very consistant... and basically take him out anytime I see him do one of the following on my list above... or if he starts to "wander off" into the other room... or starts sniffing on the ground.   Its exhausting at first, but they learn quickly.

In 30 years of having dogs, I have never taken more than two days to houstrain a dog.  When I buy a puppy, even when I was on active duty, I took off a week to start the puppy off properly.  After the pup starts going inside, it is MUCH harder to housebreak him/her.

Ok, first, NEVER scream, yell, use a rolled up paper or anything else or you will just teach the dog to think going potty is bad and/or doing it in front of you is verbotten.  This will result often in a pup that will avoid going even outside and then will hide inside and go there when you are not looking.

The best way to housebreak a puppy is to not even bring it in the house until it has to go. That might mean a little walk (be careful of exposure to Parvo) or playing in the yard until they need to go.  Lots of praise (not loud) and give it a label..e.g.  "Good pee outside" or poo, if that is what the dog did.  When inside, (use a label ...go "in the house", or just "inside" ) after feeding or even several hours, again outdise and praise.  Catch them doing what you want and PRAISE.  If they are circiling in the house looking around, they probably have to go.  Take them out.  If you catch them squatting, pick them up and praise when they finish outside.  Soon the dog will know the word for outside, for poo and pee.  Very useful.  If you have already scared the dog into not going in front of you, then I have no idea how long it will take. 

The crate training etc all will help.  I sleep with my pups the first days so I know when they need to go.  Avoiding accidents the first day or two and catching them being good by praising potty outside before they set foot inside will save you A LOT of aggravation. 

And pads etc..newspapers are all not good unless you WANT them to go inside. 

 
Quoted by Rass :

"Most GSD's do not like to soil their living quarters so be sure to never leave her in a crate so long that she must go there.  Besides being very cruel, it will take away the dog's natural desire to stay clean and eventually the dog can become a 'dirty dog' peeing and pooping and laying in it.  At that point, house training can be a LOT more difficult. "

I have just taken on a 6 month old pup who isn't housetrained. I've only had him since Tuesday night and on Wendesday I spent much of my time cleaining the floors in the living room and kitchen (no carpet downstairs fortunately). Yesterday it was about half the time and today he's had only 2 accidents inside. These were my fault for not managing to let him out in time.
Already he is asking to go outdoors.

Now even though he wasn't trained he does have the advantage of seeing where the other dogs are going to eliminate. Also, he's very quick on the uptake as are most GSDs (IMHO) and he sussed very quickly that if he went outside to toilet he'd get a reward of a little bit of chicken. If he did anything inside, I ignored him (didn't reprimand him, didn't say a word) and just cleaned up.

So, in 3 days he's gone from a pup who seemed quick happy to lie, sit and roll in his own pee and poop to one who asks to go out almost every time. I'm very proud of him and would go so far as to say that he'll be fully housetrained in one week.

I believe that whatever method is used, you have to stick to it. So long as you do so religiously and the dog knows what is expected (particularly if rewards are used), it shouldn't take very long at all and should never be much of a problem or issue.

@ amysavesjacks :

It looks as though there's a noose around your pup's neck! LOL! I know it's only the way the piccie looks though.

Very apt though considering how people can get so frustrated over something that others find so simple to resolve.

LOL @ stumpywop ... at the point when I took that photo I certainly was READY to put a noose around his neck!  (it's a rope way in the background... but it sure DOES look like that!)

He has been an absolute ANGEL for the last week.  So now after he goes out at 5:00 am, he is allowed to come to bed with me for an hour instead of going back into the kennel... and boy does he love that!