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puppy help
1K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  JoanneF 
#1 ·
About two weeks ago I adopted a german shepherd puppy from a friend. I adopted her at 9 weeks and she is beautiful. I have never owned a dog in my adult life, I had one as a child and I have watched several videos on how to appropriately care for puppies and train them to be at their best.

I'm determined to have a relationship with my dog, but I can help but get overly frustrated with my GSD. When I got her, she was not potty trained at all and that seems to be the biggest struggle I'm having right now. We can spend upwards of about 30-45 minutes outside multiple times a day and she will do nothing, but pee and poop once we go inside. She absolutely hates the kennel despite me treating her, letting her go inside by herself, etc.

I don't know what else to do... I get angry with her and I know this is new to both her and me both. Any advice and frustration relief would be much appreciated.

BTW: I work during the day, typically 8-5 in which she is kenneled, Starting at her 12-week mark, I will be taking her to doggy daycare once she has the appropriate vaccinations.
 
#2 ·
Aww. I've been there. Puppy buyers remorse is a real thing. It's going to be a rough few months, but it really does get better. I found a lot of the information on Ian Dunbar's website quite helpful (Dog Training Digital Textbook). However, dog's don't read the internet, and no dog will progress exactly as described anywhere.

So she's 11 weeks right now? She is much too young to be potty trained. She is physically and emotionally still a toddler. Six months is more normal for housebreaking, though it might vary by a few weeks. Even if she understands the concept, which she probably doesn't yet, she won't be physically capable of managing it until her body matures. Even after she starts getting it she will still have the occasional accident due to stress or illness. We all have stories of that one kid who wet his pants in kindergarten or at overnight camp, right? Same deal with puppies.

Don't let her have the run of the house for now. I have several baby gates sectioning off parts of my house. With puppies I also use toddler fencing to keep them confined. Despite what dog books say, none of my dogs have ever loved hanging out in a kennel. Fortunately my most difficult housebreaking project was ok sleeping in a kennel as long as he didn't think he was missing out on fun. The rest of my puppies preferred sleeping in a pen in my kitchen. As they got older and more reliable I let them have more access to the rest of the house.

In a few weeks your pup will probably start teething. You will find she gets great joy in trying to wrestle with you and play bite. Those puppy teeth hurt! It's actually by design. Puppies teach each other how not to bite too hard by...accidentally biting a sibling too hard. The victim gets mad and leaves. Game over. No more fun for bitey puppy. You can teach her the same way. Have an assortment of rope tug toys available and offer her one whenever she starts chewing on you. Calmly put her away for a nap if she continues to bite you when you have redirected her to an appropriate toy. A tired puppy is a bitey puppy, and a tired puppy needs a nap.

Her tendency to mouth you should drop quite a bit when she is done teething, at around 6 months. However, she will enter a new phase of destructive chewing then. It will last until she's a bit over a year. What's happening is that she is building jaw strength and bone density around those shiny new adult teeth. One of my pups loved to chew on the arms of chairs. Another one pulled the inner soles out of every pair of sneakers I own and chewed the heels off my Keen and Crocs sandals. Providing appropriate chew toys will help, but really the only way to prevent the damage is to prevent access to things puppies shouldn't chew. They aren't doing it to be bad. It's just a developmental stage.

Puppy daycare might be a sanity saver for you. It was a godsend with two of my puppies when I was working outside the house. However, puppy daycare is not a substitute for training. She can start with puppy kindergarten right now; the trainer will have useful advice on many of the problems you will be going through. I have taken my most recent four dogs to various puppy and beginner obedience classes. The ones I find best are the ones that feed into the AKC Canine Good Citizen and obedience tracks. These classes don't just take your dog away and bring you back a perfect pooch. Instead they teach you how to train your dog, so you learn to read her signals and solve problems yourself. Avoid any trainer who is talking about being the alpha or dominating the dog. It is outdated theory. Also avoid trainers who start puppies in prong or shock collars. There is a place for both in certain situations, but not for a pet puppy just beginning training.
 
#3 ·
We can spend upwards of about 30-45 minutes outside multiple times a day and she will do nothing, but pee and poop once we go inside.
She is an infant, you can't expect her to be toilet trained. You need to teach her where to toilet.

Don't spend so long outside. Take her out, if she doesn't toilet bring her back in but don't take your eyes off her.

If she doesn't try to toilet indoors (great!) take her out a second time and repeat until you do get outside toilets.

Toilet training happens when two things come together - the ABILITY to hold the toilet, along with the DESIRE to hold it in order to earn the reward for doing so.

Ideally you want her to not be in a position where she needs to toilet before you have her outdoors, so that every toilet is outside - as far as possible, there will be accidents! So set her up to succeed by taking her out even more than she needs; for example every 45 minutes to an hour and always after sleeping, eating, playing. The time between a puppy realising they need to toilet, and being unable to hold that toilet, is zero. So your aim is to have her outside before she can't help herself. When she toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward her with a high value treat. Do that immediately, don't make her come to you for the treat so she is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that she wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until she is outside - once she is physically able to control her toileting obviously. As she is actually performing the toilet you can introduce words she can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when she is reliably trained you can use these to tell her when you want her to toilet.

If she has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed she may learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if she needs to toilet (by going off and toileting out of sight) - the opposite of what you want. Dogs cant make the distinction between you being annoyed at them TOILETING, as opposed to toileting INDOORS. Take a rolled up newspaper and hit yourself over the head for not having taken her outside in time. Not when she is there though in case you scare her. Then clean the area with an enzymatic cleaner to remove any trace of smell that might attract her back to the spot.

Indoors if you see her circling or scratching the floor, that can sometimes precede toileting so get her out fast.

Overnight she is unlikely to be able to control her toilet as her little bladder and bowel are underdeveloped and not strong enough to hold all night so set your alarm to take her out at least once if not twice during the night.

I don't know if you planned on using them but I don't like puppy pads - they give mixed messages about whether it's ok to toilet indoors and confuse the puppy.

She absolutely hates the kennel despite me treating her, letting her go inside by herself, etc.
Get a cup of coffee because this is quite a long read but this guide to crate training is excellent.


Then, read this.

 
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