Eat, dog, poop...
 

Rescued a GSD a few days and I'm having some issues with 'accidents'.

She's, unfortunately, not house broken. She's had all her accidents when I turn away or when I'm in the shower, she seems to have a pattern but when I take her outside she won't go at all...any suggestions? I'm home all day with her to make sure to take her out at the right time, but she's very sneaky...I check RS for one minute and boom, there's pee.

I also got her a crate but I just picked it up so I'm not rushing her into it anytime soon..

Any suggestions on poop/pee/crate training would be super helpful!

Thanks!

Catch her in the act and scold her. Even when you don't catch her in the act, grab her, bring her to her to the scene of the crime, and scold her about it. That should stop her from going poo/pee inside, however I'm not so sure as to how you can get her to start going poo/pee outside.

Maybe take her out first thing in the morning when she wakes up since that's a time when you know she'll probably have to go poo/pee. Then praise her and give her treats when she poo/pee outside.

Thanks for the advice, I'm happy to say that she finally went no.2 and peed. I had to watch her the whole day until she was about to squat and take her outside..even then she wouldn't go, I kept it at 15 min intervals and eventually she went.. thank god.

What ever you do, DO NOT rub her nose in it. That will teach her to associate the place with the pee smell and actually pee there more.

The trick is to get her to pee/poo outside and then reward her heavily for it too. Because then she'll associate going out and doing it with good things. Inside with a scolding.

As for crate training. One of the big things is not forcing the dog into the crate. My sister would put a Kong full of treats and comfy pillows in her dog's crate. Their favorite bones. What ever. They again would associate the crate with good things and voluntarily go in there at night or when ever they need to. The dog is never bothered when he goes in there, it's 'his room' so to speak.

That's the ONLY place she gives the dog certain treats too (his favorite kong for example, or raw hide bones) to keep it being his 'special' place.

Wait the dog out. You don't come in till the dog pees or poops. Reward the dog and then this will help the dog realize what you want.

Do NOT scold her after the act. A dog will not understand what you're trying to do if you don't catch them in the act. I would use the crate to your advantage when it comes to housebreaking. Crate her at night and like someone suggested, bring her outside first thing in the morning.
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The idea with crate training, once you have the dog recognizing that as her "den" and her safe place, is to lock her in whenever you're not watching her... then when you do let her out, take her STRAIGHT outside. If she doesn't do her business, put her right back in the crate and lock her in again.

Dogs by nature will not want to soil their beds, so if she's in there, she'll want to hold it in... thus you simply don't give her the opportunity to mess indoors, but make it so the first opportunity she has to do it, is outdoors.

And as noted, heap the praise on when she does go outside.

She's very comfy in her crate and voluntarily goes in there. When I finally closed the door last night and locked her in, she pooped in her bed. Maybe the crate's too big or that she's just use to filth (her old kennel was a large run and poo was everywhere).

As to waiting her out, I'm outside for a few hours with her, but with the chilly weather the past few days, it's tough to last her out.

A crate should be just big enough for the dog to stand up and turn around in.

umbilical cord her, take a rope and tie her to your so she goes wherever u go. if ur in the shower, keep her in the bathroom. that way u can catch her. I kept my pup in the same room all the time when I got him. When I was away I crated him. Took 8 months to house train lol.

first time he started peeing I picked him up and brought him to the backdoor... of course he still was peeing when im flying with him through the house getting piss everywhere.... ya i never did that again.

when i first got my dog she went on the carpet and we would quickly bring her back to the area as shes walking away and scold her. the next few times when she did it, she prob knew she did smthg wrong and hid under the chair/table but we would drag her back to the crime scene and scold her again. when we start taking her out for walks she went on grass and soon nuff every time she needs to go she would either go to the door and whine or go up to a family member and start whining.

Yeah, I don't know what Selanne is talking about....My dog took a piss on the carpet once, I took him to it. Scolded him, told him "wrong" which is what I do every time he does something wrong...He never did his business in the house ever again....

Thanks for all the input. I can't really 'scold' her as she's pretty submissive and shy already. I did that in the beginning when she went to pee on the rug and ever since then she's been really hesitant to do her business around me. I waited her out and she finally went. Whew.

I have worked with a few rescues and unfortunately they have learned to potty in their living space, as that is the only place. So the crate training doesn't always work well to help potty train them. I find by waiting them out I can have them pretty well accidentless in two weeks. It is hard in the bad weather, but if you can patiently wait them out then then you will succeed. By having success the dog will only want to do the same thing again.

There could be many other factors why your dog never did it again. It is generally been accepted that scolding a dog after the fact will not work and by setting the dog for success and praising it afterwards is much better. But hey, if it worked for you, it's a good thing right?
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You bet. Maybe my dog is just really smart.:D

^ LOL i guess mine too :thumbsup:

which lake is this, looks really familiar

I drag my dog by the head and use his face to mop up the pee if he pee's inside. He knows right away to never do that again.

That is inhumane, ineffective, and useless.

Pushing a dog's nose in their own feces is a poor training technique. It often frightens them more than trains them. When we get puppies they are similar to human babies, so would you rub your baby's nose in feces?

Edit: You DRAG your dog by the head? You should be fucking ashamed of yourself.

it sounds more inhumane than it probably is. you have to realize dogs are pack animals, and you have to assert you are alpha dog if u already have a dog that is an alpha dominant dog. sometimes that means as simple as putting a hold on the back of the neck to force the dog to sit down or calm down. you should see how vicious dogs are if there are multiple dominant alpha dogs in the same area! my past dog would try to assert himself with every other dog in the area to show he is the boss. sometimes he lets it get to his head and forgets when at home, he doesnt have have say. however sometimes his instincts still pop out once and again trying to herd us to and from the garage, hahaha, sheperd breeds for ya!

current dog is soooooooooo not alpha, not beta, not even gamma, he lets us do anything to him, include just throw clothes onto him while he lays on the ground. not a whimper, not a murmur, he's sooooo comfortable around ppl, its night and day compared to our previous dog. but then, he was never as smart as our previous dog...

so in your household, assert urself as alpha, and with the pee and poo, seriously try the treat trick, so they associate peeing and pooing outside is a good thing! if you want them to pee and poo always on the same spot in ur yard, you may need to get them to sniff the area u want them to pee and poo in, then treats, then repeat, several times. Titan does his business on walks, but if he has to go, he will go in the same spot in our backyard. i just keep throwing sand at it.

No, I'm pretty sure wiping your best friend's face in his feces does not sound more inhumane than it probably is...There are far better, more effective, humane alternatives, and this is probably just an easy way out for the lazy motherfucking owner and, really, probably only scares the dog from doing his thing in your vicinity.

you hold the dogs head still so they are forced to smell the scent of where they did their business. you do not rub their face in the poop. i would actually pick up their business, and move it to a place where you would want them to do their business there.

Groucho turns around and sniffs his poop after he's done it anyway, so I don't think holding his nose by it would really do much :)

Does "use his face to mop up the pee" sound the same as "forced to smell the scent?"

And yeah, they don't give 2 shits (edit: no pun intended) about the scent and most of them even turn around and take a couple whiffs of it anyway.