house breaking a puppy?

Question

I am trying to house break my 9 week old german shepherd pup that i got about a week ago. He seemed to be doing well at first. I take him out to potty about every hour. When he pottys outside i praise him and give him a treat. I know if I don't see him potty inside I am not to scold him because he won't know what he did wrong. However, he likes to be by my side at all times so I almost always SEE him go when he does his business inside. So well when I see him going potty inside I firmly say "No Pluto - we do not potty in the house" and proceeded to take him to his cage. Is this the right thing to do? Because since I have started it seems like he doesn't potty outside as well anymore. Also i wonder if he THINKS he is SUPPOSE to potty in the cage, because on numerous occasions he went potty as soon as he gots in the cage at night -right in front of me as to say "look ma, look what i did" I thought when being "crate trained" they learned to NOT potty in their cage. Suggestions Anyone???

Answer 1

C Nally - I sense by your "HE" useage, that this is a Male German Shepherd.

I am the owner of 2 German Shepherds, 1 Female, 1 Male. I got the Female 3 years before the male. I got each as Puppies.

It took me "1" Day to Housebreak "Jinny" my Female where as "Zuma" my Male took several months. He has had some accidents even at 1 1/2 years of age.

Males are harder to break for a few reasons. Since by Nature, they have a inclination to want to mark their territory although your Pup is no where mentally at that stage. So, the Male will not always empty his bladder in one squat or raise of the leg (as an adult), and I see my 2 y/o now Zuma urinate as much as 6 times in one outing within 10 minutes. Most is marking his territory. Even a Neutered Male will do this.

Continue to praise him as you are doing, but, don't give him a treat with it. He may equate food with an okay to defecate or urinate. The praise is good, and that's all you should need.

I always use the word "Potty" although it might seem silly, but, it's an understandable term, and they equate it with going outside.

"Let's go Potty"! Gotta go Potty? Let's Go Potty!

Don't wait an hour. Take him out when you least think he needs to go. His little Bladder fills up quick, and I imagine he drinks quite often and when he comes inside from going Potty.

A Puppy/Dog by nature will not usually soil their cage. This is their shelter and I imagine you are using it as a training aid as I did with mine also. Make sure you take him out before you put him in, and if you happen to be up later after putting him in, take him out of the cage and outside agin before you go to bed.

Males also are seem to experience "Bladder Training" and I was told by my Vet that they can tend to be incontinent more than a female puppy (German Shepherd).

ADDENDUM- Oh, by the way, whenever I saw Zuma in the act of urinating in the house, I quickly picked him up and carried him outside regardless if he was finished or I stopped him in the act. Always take Pluto out if you see him going or just gone. He will get the message he needs to do this outside. Don't merely just clean up and chalk it up as a done deal. This is a great teaching and behavioral message to set him out ASAP.

I also have a Rottweiler that took 1 week to House Break. Sonya is a Female and I got her as a Puppy also. She is 5 months younger than Jinny. I let Jinny help train her and put her on Jinny's Potty schedule and she followed suit real well.

I love all three, but, Zuma was hardest to train. He had and has to go more often as he did as a Pup and an Adult. Now he is completely Housebroken.

I never beat, hit, rubbed their nose in their "acidents", but, I did scold them and say "Potty Outside".........Potty Outside, Bad Boy!....Potty Outside! Of course I didn;t have to do this with the girls.

I'd give your Male (Pluto) more out times more frequently based on my experience with Zuma. (I just realized you used the word "Potty" too.....ooops sorry, silly me).

The crate training is to hopefully give him that Den feeling. If there is a smell of waste/urine in there, clean it out, and get rid of the smell. This may trigger him to go. Give him a clean blanket and hopefully you got a piece of his litter blanket or something with his Mother's scent on it as I did my Dogs as Puppies. It soothes them, and they will be less apt to soil the cage. If you don't have anything with his Mama's scent on it, and the breeder is fairly close by, see if you can get a piece of cloth, blanket, or something with his Mother's scent on it. It makes the transition for him go very well, and he will be more nurtured by this and feel comfortable as he did bond with his litter-mates and Mother during his 7-8 weeks.

By the way, congratulations on your having one of the smartest breeds and one of the most loyal of the 150+/- recognized Breeds by AKC. Is this your first German Shepherd?

I hope he brings you much happiness and lives long, healthy and brings you as much joy as mine have brought me. I also hope he has good hips and everything goes well.

If this is your first German Shepherd, or haven't had one in a long time,......might as well address something else for you too so you can stay ahead of the game.

Pluto is no doubt starting to teeth. It will get worse, and if you have nice shoes, boots, any footwear in the open.....put them away.

Watch out for loose or accessible electric cords such as a Vacumn Cleaner plugged in, or lamps easy to get at. Zuma even chewed on my Oak Kitchen Chair cross-members.

Hopefully you have a pair of old tennis shoes he can chew on. remove the laces, and eyelets if they can come out easy.

Pigs' Ears are great to chew on for him, as well as Hard Pressed Turkey Treat discs. (About the Diameter of a Mayonaise Lid Jar). Encourage him now to chew on these things. A Hard knoted rope sold at Feed/Pet suplly stores is good too. However; try to get one without frayed ends. He will yank them out and swallow them.

Anyway; I wrote a Novella here. But, the content equals the care and appreciation I have for these wonderful dogs and an owner that cares.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Never, ever use the crate for punishment! The last thing you want to do is make it a place he associates with unpleasantness, and by doing this, you may be giving him the idea that he should be going in his crate.

If you catch him going, either:

1. Say “NO!” firmly once or twice. Point at him while you say it. Don't scream at him or scare him; just say "no" and forget it ever happened afterwards. Also, do not say anything long and complicated; dogs cannot speak English and he has no idea what you are saying when you say, “No Pluto - we do not potty in the house.” Most dog commands are only one or two words for a reason. This makes it easier for them to recognize them and remember what they mean. Clean it up as well as possible, eliminating all traces of urine, or he may use that spot again.
2. Completely ignore it and clean it up. Sounds odd, but many books and vets will tell you to do this.
3. Say "NO" firmly, then take him and put him outside. Once there, use your potty command. If he doesn’t go, take him back in and try again later.

When he DOES go in the right place, praise him. I have also found giving a small treat immediately after going - I mean the second he is done - helps cement the idea that THIS is where he is supposed to be going.

Here’s something to keep in mind: you should not be getting frustrated yet at all. Some dogs are quick to understand this, but some take months to get it. If it’s only been a week, then you should not be at all surprised that he hasn’t figured it out yet. This is not a quick process.

Answer 3

Anytime he goes inside the house, immediately put him outside so that he knows that's where he's supposed to go. He might just stand there and stare at you, but he'll eventually get the idea. If you feed him at certain times (only in morning or evening) then put him outside about 20-30 minutes after he's eaten so that he'll know to go outside as well. And that's right, you don't scold him if he went on the floor...it doesn't help. Good luck!

Answer 4

Don't get one now winter you have school and you can't really have time to spend with it and don't have time really to get to now the puppy, my advice is get the puppy in the summer and plus it is WAY WAY WAY easier to train the pup to potty outside, and in the winter the snow it high you can't expect a puppy to go in the deep snow and and it will get cold and it won't want to potty. I prefer you to get a big dog in the winter or wait till summer to get a pup. Plus are you responsible yet? You dad will get you a pup or dog if you show him you are responsible because when you want a dog then it is yours and you take care of it. Did you even research about different dogs? Don't get a dog because it is cute know about the dog and if it has any problems like wheezing or skin infection. Or common problems that you wouldn't know how to take care of it.

Answer 5

If the crate is too big for the puppy then he will most likely relieve himself in it. If you minimize the space he has to eliminate, he most likely will stop doing it in the crate. It's a dog's natural instinct NOT to go potty where he or she sleeps. If the puppy can NOT get far enough away from the poop in his crate then he will not want to eliminate in it anymore.

Answer 6

He should not go potty in his crate. Keep being consistent and your dog will learn. A lot of people are now hanging a bell near their exit door. They teach the dog to ring they bell when it's time to go out.
Don't let your dog watch you clean up the mess. They should always be out of site.
Good Luck!

Answer 7

No don't put him in his crate when he messes, tell him NO and put him OUTSIDE. If you put him in his crate you will make the crate a bad place rather than a safe comfortable place. Take him to where you want him to pee... Don't try to ' time out him ' he is a dog.

You are messing him up... If he is peeing in the crate already, he knows that Carpet is bad, but where she put me must be the right place to go. You'll take a lot longer to get him trained if you don't tell him NO and put him outside where pee belongs.

Answer 8

He is starting to think that he should go to the bathroom in the cage when you do that. Just take him outside when you see him going in the house. Good luck

Answer 9

we had an akita and we had so much trouble potty training him.. so we started using a spray bottle and spraying him whenever he did it in the house and it worked within a week

Answer 10

my poodle had puppies so we kept one my daddy told me t poddy train it and my friend told me to keep it in its pet taxi all the time unless we took her to the bathroom and i did that for about a month and its been trained ever since

Answer 11

put the cage outside he might get the drift. then slowly take the cage away from him when he wants to go outside to the cage.