House training issues - Page 1

I have have very few dogs and they all live inside. At least, I would PREFER they all live inside. My two eldest are very well house trained and it was easy to train them. With most dogs, I start with them in crates and slowly give them more of the house to roam. By the time they are 2 years, they are fully and 100% trust worthy in the house.

However, my newest and youngest is 8 months and from day one, we've had issues with crate training. When I bought her at 3.5 months, she would pee and poop in her crate and was not a clean dog at all, even with lots of bathroom breaks. I finally kicked her out into the kennel for a few months because I just couldn't be here to let her out every 2 hours on the dot. I have started house training again, but am still having problems.

When on the leash and next to me, she is good. When left away from me in a crate OR laundry room, she will pee and poop at will. Even if I leave her outside to use the bathroom for 30 minutes, she will come back inside and poop. She is walked after she eats and let out at various times through out the day. She HAS held herself a few times overnight, so I know she can do it.

Any tips on what I can do to get her over this bad habit? My others have never been this hard to train for the house.

I have had no problems with my GSD's, so I don't think it is a breed issue.  However, the age in which you got the pup may be a factor if it has been in a kennel from day one.  She is under the impression that the house is the bathroom.  Make sure her crate is ONLY big enough for sleeping.
Take her outside immediately after awaking, eating, and playing.  Take her to the same spot (sometimes it helps to have a stool there for her to smell) every time.  Give a command, praise, praise, praise and treat when she does her job.  You will have to  be very vigilant and try not to allow for any mistakes.  If she is out of the crate, make sure she is leashed so you can watch her.  If she goes to potty, you must catch her in the act, not after, as you probably already know.

If it is urination she is having a problem with, vet checking her for a UT infection would be a good idea.

1st, I have to ask where did  you get the puppy from?

Jen

AmySue - Her crate is actually pretty small for her. I think it's almost borderline of being too small, but she is happy with it and with the crate issues as they are, I have not upgraded her size yet.

Red Sable - when she is out of the crate she is leashed to me and so far, I've had no issues so long as she is leashed to me. It is strictly when she is left alone. Sometimes, as mentioned, I will walk her for 30 minutes trying to get her to use the bathroom outside. She will only pee, not poop. When she comes back into her crate for the night, she will poop soon after. This is not everytime, but I get more frustrated when this does happen.

JR - she came from a breeder nwith very high quality dogs.

She is a West German working x showline.

I wonder if it is a separation anxiety issue.  My Morkie does that, the turkey.

This could be a dominance issue....

I had a GS that I got as an older dog (4yrs old) & she would poop in her outside kennel & then spin in it....EWW YUCK!
She would also pee or poop constantly when she was in heat//pregnant and/or had whelped a litter. It didn't matter how well food/water was monitored & potty breaks every hour or whatever. She was raised in a kennel with flooring, I think this may make a difference. I have experienced that puppies that were given access to grassy areas to potty were easier to train to crate/house.

Any puppy that I have raised from the start has ALWAYS been very easy to crate/house train. Obviously at 8 weeks they need more potty breaks but by about 3 months they are 100% crate & about 75% house trained. Like Guiding I start with them in crates and slowly give them more of the house to roam BUT only with 100% supervision. By the time they are over all the "puppy" stages, they are fully and 100% trust worthy in the house. We do have specific areas for potty so they don't learn to potty just outside the door or in foot traffic areas.....nothing like stepping in poop & bringing in the house or car.

I too have found all my puppies very easy to housebreak. When starting them at 8 weeks they were pretty well there by 10 weeks and I have never had one poo in their crate. But having raised 3 litters; alot has to do in how they are housed and cared for from birth. I have watched puppies without their eyes open waddle out of the immediate sleeping/nursing area to the edge of the box to do their business. I always have a bedding area and an area with just papers (or whatever you are using). Given the opportunity they will not eliminate in their eating/sleeping area. Plus you have to be very dilegent to clean up the papers. One time I had to move 6 of my eight week old puppies from my garage pen into the air conditioned house when we got an unexpected heat wave. I put 2- 500 crates in my laundry room and put 3 in each one. I placed a couple of towels in there. After the first night there was some pee on the towels in each crate, enough for 1 puppy. After that no further, of course I ran them around at night before putting them in at 10 pm and I took them out (to the outside) by 6 am. As I couldn't carry all six; I had to hurry them out the door. Luckily the door to the garage was close, some didn't make it out to the grass to pee and went in the garage but they all had the idea and they all pooped out in the grass. If they get used to living in poo and pee they lose that aversion, and it's a very difficult job to change them, but it can be done. Good luck!

Jo Ann

My older female ‘’goes on command’’
She always gets praised. When I get new dogs I just take them out with her and I praise them as well. Some friends say that I’m over doing it, but every chance I get to praise my dogs is a plus point to our human/dog relation

Yes, I also teach the "potty" command both on & off leash as puppies....makes things very easy & stress free when you are not at home either on vacation or trialing/showing, etc.