GSD Housetraining at 4 weeks? - Page 1

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.

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!

I have soiled, but dry newspapers.

Is there anything I can do to start encouraging the going to the bathroom in once specific area?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.