# Need a little help potty training an 11 month old



## MyPalBullitt (Apr 3, 2012)

Hey everyone. A couple days ago I brought home an 11 month old German Shepherd from a breeder. Its actually a sad story, he was there his whole life locked in a kennel because nobody wanted him because he has one floppy ear, which personally, I think gives him character and uniqueness. Any way, we brought him home and found out he is a very submissive dog, he cowers when I go to pet him and has a case of submissive peeing. This is the first house he has lived in, he had no idea how to even use stairs and we really want an indoor dog, id hate to leave him outside, but even though he goes on an hour long walk each night and goes out to go to the bathroom every couple hours, we cannot get him to relieve himself outside, he will come in and go on the floor minutes after being outside. He went ONCE outside and I gave him all the praise and affection any dog could receive but will not go outside again. I certainly will never give up on him but am wondering if there are any methods to get him to relieve himself outside? We have tried cardboard and he simply tears it up. He's a great dog, very sweet and is learning to sit already so I know he can learn this too. Also, he's currently not fixed and is going in today to get that taken care of, will this help? We have an 8 month old chow female that is potty trained and thought it would rub off on him but sadly is not. Any suggestions? Would 2 weeks in a crate help? Thanks.


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## Clyde (Feb 13, 2011)

I would really recommend crate training for him. When you take him out of his crate go outside and do not come in until he has pee'd (this could be an hour if he doesn't go he goes back in the crate and try again in 30 minutes). I do not recommend going for a walk while you wait for him to pee. I would just wait in the yard with him on a 6' leash until he goes. I like dogs to learn that they pee before we go for a car ride or walk you don't want a dog who only pees after you walk for 30 minutes

Potty training will not be learned through another dog in the house. You need to treat him like a puppy. He also may not be able to hold it for very long if he was in a run so the crate will start to teach him to hold it. When he is loose in the house have him attached to someone on leash so you can interrupt him if he is going to have an accident. Do not get mad when you interrupt him or he will be scared to pee in front of you later when you take him outside. Get a good reward system going for when he does pee outside I like to give a treat for the first few weeks or until the dog is no longer having accidents in the house.

Anticipate his needs to reduce accidents in the house. If an accident does occur think of it as how could you have prevented it not that it was his fault.

Also if he cowers when you pet him praise and affection are probably not a good reward choice for him after he goes outside. If he likes treats give a treat otherwise saying nothing at all but heading out on a walk right after he goes might be best.


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## MyPalBullitt (Apr 3, 2012)

Thanks! Ill get started on that as soon as he's back from the vet. Also, can the other dog roam freely when he's in the crate? Its basically showing him everyday life in the household, right?


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

You can also tether him to you so that when he starts to go you can rush him outside. Be sure to keep everything positive but low key, since he is a submissive peer. 

And be sure to set him up for success to help him gain confidence. 

Avoid petting him on the head but instead pet him under his chin, in the neck area. Again, keep it low key until he understands that this is a good thing. 

And, if you don't already have them, get some really yummy treats for rewards. 

Good luck to you with two, big puppies!


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## Bismarck (Oct 10, 2009)

MyPalBullitt said:


> Thanks! Ill get started on that as soon as he's back from the vet. Also, can the other dog roam freely when he's in the crate? Its basically showing him everyday life in the household, right?


my foster dog spent a month in the crate (unless he was out on a leash), he had time to adjust and see my dogs daily routine.
for the most part, just ignore the dog when he's in the crate unless he's doing something wrong that will get him hurt.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Even though he is a big puppy, treat him as a puppy. Try to get him used to praise so he knows what it means when it comes from you. When you are in the house and he comes to you (even on his own) say in a quiet voice, "What a good boy! Good boy!" You can use any verbage that you are used to, but use that tone. Try to find any reason what so ever to praise him. If you glance over at him and he looks at you, praise him. You don't have to be loud and throw a party if that causes him to shy off. 

This will be a good time for you to get him used to the crate since he's coming home from the vet and needs to be quiet for a few days. Remember, EVERY time you take him out of the crate, take him directly outside. Keep him on a leash. Walk slowly around (to discourage him from sitting down and waiting on you) and you can say to him in a light tone, "Go potty!" When he goes, let him get started first, then say, "Good potty!" Using the same quiet, happy tone you use for praise. 

I have a very food driven puppy, I can't use food to potty train. He would start to potty then finish as he jumped on me looking for his treat! Praise works for him for the potty deed. 

Thanks for taking a GSD that nobody wanted! Good luck to you!


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## MyPalBullitt (Apr 3, 2012)

Thanks everyone. I will definitely take every piece of advice into account. Ill tell ya one thing though, he will be hard to ignore, he has one of those faces that just makes you want to love him


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## Courtney (Feb 12, 2010)

I want to give him a hug...look at that face:wub:


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Aww bless his heart. 
I don't even get why a breeder would stick a dog in a kennel and let him grow up there instead of treating him like a family pet until he was sold/adopted/whatever. 
It sounds as if he's undersocialized.

I would do the two week shut down to an extent, yes.

Also - you may have overwhelmed him with the happy party when he pottied outside.
A simple "good boy" would probably suffice.
I think this dog is going to be overwhelmed by many many things and you'll have to gradually work up to any exuberance at all with him.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

msvette2u said:


> .
> 
> Also - you may have overwhelmed him with the happy party when he pottied outside.
> A simple "good boy" would probably suffice..


And a thumbnail-sized bit of hotdog or cheese. 

I agree with the others. Take a book, smartphone, handheld game, etc outside with you because you'll have to wait a while. It's helpful to take him places other dogs have gone potty, even more helpful if he can see the other dog going potty. He stays outside with you until he goes potty. Then he gets praise (not overwhelming) and a small tasty food snack. If you're not directly supervising him, he goes in the crate.


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## MyPalBullitt (Apr 3, 2012)

Maybe ill just put him in the crate for a week or so and see how his potty duty comes along. I strongly believe he's an intelligent dog and can figure it out. As for socialized, the breeder said he grew up with children and it seems true when walking past them on the street, he's not afraid of them petting him nor shows any aggression.


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## MyPalBullitt (Apr 3, 2012)

A little update. After close to a month of crate training we are still battling him. Seems for every two steps forward we take one back. He goes outside right away in the morning, if he does his business then he gets free time in the house to play with the other dog or whatever, and if not he goes back in the crate. He's getting better at going to the bathroom when we take him out and even has gotten comfortable enough to relieve himself on walks which he never did before. But....even after relieving outside he will still find more to go inside. Like the other day he peed outside and he came and played for a few minutes then squatted, we saw him and got him right outside the door and he runs back in when we grab his leash and pooped on the our floor And when he goes inside he goes right back in the crate where he knows he did wrong because he puts his ears down. He knows praise too because after going outside I say good boy excitedly and he prances around like he's the best dog in the world. Eventually I want to be able to trust him out of his crate all day and night. Any other tips to break his habit of going inside? We give him a tiny training treat each time he goes outside, I just don't know what else to do to show him that outside is his toilet. Is there a cleaner that I can use to mop the hardwood floors to eliminate any possible odors that are throwing him off?


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## Knave (Apr 29, 2012)

Crate training is supposed to be a positive thing. Sending him back into it as punishment really doesn't seem to be the best way to go around doing that. His crate should be seen as a safe and calm space, not somewhere he gets shut off to.

Instead, if you catch him going inside, as soon as he squats, scare him with a loud noise. Then, lead him outside (as quick as you can), let him do his thing, and throw him a party.

Once he's already pooped/peeded inside and you've missed the squat, you've missed the moment to correct him. Since he's already shy, I don't think shutting him away in a crate is really going to help him learn. 

A few others here have suggested tethering and I'd recommend that as well. Keeping him near you will give you a chance to bond and you'll be able to read his body language to figure out when he has to go. It would also prevent an accident like the one you described above. If he's always tethered to you by a leash (at least until he's 100% housebroken), he can't take the opportunity to run back inside and make a mistake.

You mentioned using a training treat. Perhaps find a 'high value' treat instead, something he will climb walls for to get. Hot dogs, steak bits, etc. It adds to the positive reinforcement of going outside.

As far as cleaners go, I've had good results with Nature's Miracle.

Good luck!


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## OriginalWacky (Dec 21, 2011)

I'm a little late here, but I do have an article I saved a long time ago that may or may not help. I've had success with this method in the past for adult dogs that need to start with the bare basics.

*The Rules of Prevention:*
-do not give the dog any opportunity to go in the house at all.
-this means... if the dog can not be watched by you, the dog is in a crate, gated off in the room with you or attached to you by a leash at all times.
-He is taken immediately taken outside at key times...after he wakes up, after let out of his crate, after a play session, after mealtime.
-If you see him start to circle or making moves like he has to go, follow the potty rules immediately.

*The Rules of Potty:*
-Grab some high-end treats like Cheese or liver.
-Tell him "Let's go outside for potty"
-Get him excited at the door and work him up, talk to him in a high pitch noise, try to get him to make some noise. Direct his attention and yours at the door to the potty world. If you can even get him to scratch at the door. (I personally would use the bells method here)
-This must be the same door every time.
-Leash him up and take him directly to THE spot you want him to go.
-Stand there and don't move, don't pay attention to him, and wait...bring a book if you need to but don't move around at all! Just hold that leash and don't give him any interactions.
-As he is ‘going’ say “Go Potty” or whatever other word you want to use. (I actually use "Water The Lawn" for peeing and "Do Your Business" for poo. I figured telling a GSD to "Make Tinkles" would look kinda silly. Hee.)
-After he goes potty and is completely done... tell him "Good Potty" in a neutral voice and give him THREE treats. High end treats like Cheese or liver. Be warned he gets nothing for pretending to potty.

*The Rules of Mistakes:*
-If you catch him going potty in the house, stop him in his tracks and pick him up if you have to lifting his butt in the air and scooping him up like a baby belly up. Take him immediately outside. Then follow the Rules of Potty.
-If you miss him going in the house... YOU messed up and YOU missed an opportunity to TEACH him where to go. Pick up a newspaper and roll it up and give yourself a whap on the head.
-Do not scream and yell at him over an accident. You can give him a "no" correction, but don't freak out on him over it. If you do this... this is a very dangerous track you can go down. It will actually teach the dog to be afraid to relieve themselves in front of you.

*Additional Rules:*
-He never gets a walk until he has gone potty in his spot.
-If you plan to take him for a walk... he can't get one till after he goes potty in his spot.
-A walk and out to potty are TWO separate things. A walk is also a reward for potty in his spot, if you plan to take him for a walk... tell him "Let's go for a walk" after he goes. This helps cue him that these are two separate things.
-If he goes potty in the house after making noise at THE door... You can't do anything about it... YOU REALLY made a HUGE training error.

This must be followed completely for a minimum of 1 week. After one week of this, you then give him a little more freedom. A LITTLE... if you are using the leash attachment, take that off, give him a little more room to show you, have him hanging out with you more without using the crate. (If you are using a two week shut down, then follow this for the full two weeks before starting to give any freedom.)

Then next step give him two rooms, then maybe a whole area, then the entire house. If you have any mistakes along the way, YOU must immediately take a step back in the training. Then do that for 3 days, then move forward again with his freedom. If he has any accident along the way YOU moved too fast and need to move back a step (to the place where you are winning) before moving forward again.

No matter what you MUST give his praise then THREE HIGH-END treats after he does a potty in his spot EVERY TIME! After 1 week of perfect no mistakes, him going to the door and telling you he needs to go out, then you can start to make the treats random. Always give praise, but now start to give the treats only here and there, sometimes one treat, sometimes two, sometimes none, but always preceding with praise. And you can ONLY do this after he has graduated to full freedom for one week straight and for one
week straight he is giving you the cues that he needs to go out.

*Why this works:*
_The Confinement and Maintenance -_
Dogs only give us so many chances to teach them where to relieve themselves. You must ensure that every time they go YOU don't miss the opportunity to show them where to go. If the dog goes in the house, you have just missed a training opportunity.
_The Treats -_
Dogs need to relieve themselves and this in itself is a reward. You need to give him a reason (hence the three treats) why it is that much better to relieve themselves outside in their spot. Even if you yell and scream at them for going potty inside, too bad, they still got a reward in relief. The treats also make the dog WANT to do everything they can to get the extra reward of the treats after they go potty. If you had to go potty and if every time you went to a certain bathroom you got $1,000 wouldn't you do what you
could to try and hold it and get to that bathroom?
_The Walk vs.. The Potty Spot -_
The reason you must differentiate the two for the dog, is this speeds up the training process. This helps you to communicate the difference. If you don't differentiate, the dog will try to signal more often at the door, because they want the walk. They need to understand that the purpose of the scratching and humming at the door means they need to potty not they need to sniff the grass. When you stand there and don't pay attention, you are telling the dog we are here for the business at hand. If you start walking around and paying attention to them, you are not giving them a clear signal of why they are there.
_The Reduction of Treats and more on the Treats-_
You must be consistent and persistent about the THREE treats until they are totally clear about this process for one week straight. You must always precede the treat giving with praise. This makes the praise much more valuable, because in their mind, they think "hey, that praise is pretty cool... it usually means I get a treat!" The praise becomes the cue that they did the right thing, so that you can eventually reduce the treat giving. But you can only reduce the treat giving once you have perfect ONE week of perfect
signaling to go out and potty in his spot. You still must occasionally insert treats after the praise, so that it keeps their interest in the program... they just never know when a treat is going to follow that praise, so it's worth doing.

*Shaping the potty process -*
The one week is to reassure to him that this is that great to do and makes it habit. Now, after that you gradually take away the treats... At first when you start to make them intermittent, you only give him the treats when he goes immediately after you say, "go potty." If he goes out and you say, "go potty" and he wanders a bit first then he only gets a "good boy." He will then look and say no treat? Then next time he goes right away.. now he gets a treat. Now he starts to learn, okay I only get the treat if I go right away. Then he will start to go immediately every time you take him to his spot. Now you have shaped his behavior and taught him to go to his spot on command. Really nice when it's pouring rain. Now after you get this
change the rewards. Always say "good boy" after he has gone to his spot and potties on command, but now... after all this is SOLID in his mind... CONGRATULATIONS! You have effectively communicated to him what you want. Now you are going to keep his interest...change the rewards.
Every time he does this he still gets the reward of a good boy, but now sometimes he get a walk as a reward, sometimes he gets one treat, sometimes he gets three treats, sometimes one, sometimes nothing. To him it still makes it worthwhile to go to his spot. This is a lot like the slot machines for humans. We play the game and sometimes we get nothing and sometimes we get $5.00 and sometimes we hit it big time and win $1,000.

You must follow this in its entirety, be consistent and play it out. Not only will you have a housebroken dog, but you will have a dog eager to go to one spot and eager to hurry up and potty immediately on command.

Good luck.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

MyPalBullitt said:


> Thanks everyone. I will definitely take every piece of advice into account. Ill tell ya one thing though, he will be hard to ignore, he has one of those faces that just makes you want to love him
> View attachment 16254


He is very handsome I got mine when she was 3 months, prior to this she was outside for most of her life(3 months compared to your 11 months is a big difference) and I had a heck of a time potty training her, she was very much confused between inside and outside. After a month in the crate on a solid schedule(no playing games) and limited water I was able to let her sleep with me at night(she was 4 months). Knock on wood she is almost 8 months and hasn't had an accident for over a month. She spent alot of time in the crate and just always remember that if there is an accident it sets potty training back to square ONE...do whatever you can for the dog to succeed And remember once he gets it, he won't have to be in a crate anymore, so its well worth it to get it done now. Good Luck.


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## hytekjosh (Jun 13, 2012)

MyPalBullitt said:


> A little update. After close to a month of crate training we are still battling him. Seems for every two steps forward we take one back. He goes outside right away in the morning, if he does his business then he gets free time in the house to play with the other dog or whatever, and if not he goes back in the crate. He's getting better at going to the bathroom when we take him out and even has gotten comfortable enough to relieve himself on walks which he never did before. But....even after relieving outside he will still find more to go inside. Like the other day he peed outside and he came and played for a few minutes then squatted, we saw him and got him right outside the door and he runs back in when we grab his leash and pooped on the our floor And when he goes inside he goes right back in the crate where he knows he did wrong because he puts his ears down. He knows praise too because after going outside I say good boy excitedly and he prances around like he's the best dog in the world. Eventually I want to be able to trust him out of his crate all day and night. Any other tips to break his habit of going inside? We give him a tiny training treat each time he goes outside, I just don't know what else to do to show him that outside is his toilet. Is there a cleaner that I can use to mop the hardwood floors to eliminate any possible odors that are throwing him off?


Any updates? I'm having some trouble with a dog I adopted about a month ago. Our best guess he is 2.5 years old. I didn't start him in a crate but at this point I do not see any other choice. Also, what do you keep in his crate while you are gone during the day? Just a water bowl? Do you use a doggy bed?


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## katdog5911 (Sep 24, 2011)

Don't have anything to add as far as potty training. Just wanted to say your boy is soooo handsome.


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