# going backwards not forwards with potty training...kinda long



## laniefly (May 25, 2012)

So I have posted a few questions regarding potty/crate training but now I am having some major issues. My Luna is a little over 9 weeks old and we have had her since she was 7 weeks. The beginning was actually pretty good....no poop accidents in the house at all and just a few pee ones. My husband and I work opposite shifts ( he is at night 12pm - 12am and I only work 2 days/week 7am - 7pm and try to schedule my days when he is off so someone is home with her most of the time).

We were letting her sleep on the couch at night with one of us, while the other one was in bed trying to get some rest. This seemed to work okay ( although probably a bad habit) because she would fuss and wake us up in the night when she had to go out. Well, we made the choice about 2 days ago to start crate training because I felt she is getting used to us sleeping in the living room with her and at some point I would like to go back to my bed!! 1st and Second nights in the crate were sucessful, she woke up about 4 times each night to go out and had minimal whining. Crate was in the living room and I slept in my bed for the 1st time in 2.5 weeks!! 

The problem is during the day. She is having more frequent pee accidents. When I am home with her I set a timer every 15 minutes she goes out. Sometimes she pees/poops sometimes she lays down and doesnt try. I say "go pee! " but she ignores me. So after about 10 minutes I bring her inside and then within a few seconds she is peeing all over the carpet. I catch her in the act, say "oh no we dont pee here" firmly and take her outside....to which she doesnt have to go anymore. We repeat this process over and over each day and it is starting to get fustrating. I feel we are getting WORSE than when she first got here. She gives no sign that she intends to go before she does it. I have tried staying outside longer to see if maybe I am not giving her enough time, but she just finds a shady spot and lays there.

My husband thinks she doesnt like going out during the day b/c we are in SC and it is HOT here. I also let her have free range with the water dish. Should I be monitoring how much she drinks? Again anytime she eats or drinks I give her about 5 -10 minutes before taking her out...then sometimes she goes, sometimes not. We are about 50/50 on peeing outside now. I am tired....getting up 4 times a night takes a toll after a while and then being home with her all the time taking her out every 15 minutes. I think if I saw her improving, I would feel better about it, but right now I am wondering what I am doing wrong.

On the bright side she has only has 1 poop accident in the house ever and she does really well at night ( even though she still doesnt like her crate very much). My carpet is starting to smell like puppy pee even though I clean it with simple solution odor and stain remover ( which doesnt seem to be working). She does not have one specific spot she pees...just wherever she feels like it. I am to the point I have considered drop cloths on the living room to help save my carpet!

As far as crating during the day, I put her in if I go somewhere, take a shower, or do something I cant watch her. I try not to use it too much in the day because I want her to get exercise and stimulation. Am I wrong with that? Maybe crating more in the day would help with the accidents? Or at least help with a potty schedule?

Thank you for reading. Guess I am just overall tired. Its been many years since I had a puppy and I feel like I am doing something wrong.


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## hchorney1 (Mar 5, 2012)

Oxy clean will get that smell out of your carpet. Soak it with solution (directions are on container), then shampoo. 

Are you throwing her a party when she is going potty outside? If not, generous praise and the occasional treat work wonders with getting pups to use the yard instead of the carpet. 

Good luck.


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## TimberGSD2 (Nov 8, 2011)

Oh the first couple weeks are fun aren't they! I don't even remember sleeping more than an hour or two at a time and I was a walking zombie. When I brought Milla home she did not have an accident the first week she was home. I was so happy. It had been quite a while since I'd had a puppy and I thought I was doing great! Then the second week hit and I swear I didn't remember a puppy who could pee that much! It just takes time, patience, and consistency. As HC said when she does go in the yard you throw a PARTY! YAY GOOD PUPPY! and a treat if you want. Just keep at it. It WILL get better.


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## diezel (May 1, 2012)

what i did with diezel if he wouldn't go when i told him and he layed down i would pick him up and put him back into a standing position. if you do it enough times the dog will get annoyed with it and just do what you want. be more persistent than the dog it'll work. or if they don't go put then right back into the crate for a few minutes then take them back out till they go


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## stealthq (May 1, 2011)

When you bring her back inside and she has not pottied (at all - even a drop of pee counts as a successful trip), put her back in her crate for a short amount of time, say 10min, then take her right back outside. Rinse and repeat until she goes. Throw a party for her, as hchorney1 said. Then you can let her loose in the house for a while. 30min worked best for me, but pick what works for your pup. You want an amount of time that doesn't allow for accidents, but also doesn't run her out when she really doesn't have anything in her bladder.

She will begin to understand that she needs to potty every time she goes out. You'll know when it's clicked because she'll start trying to pee even when it's clear she doesn't need to go. When you see that, you can start making the time between trips outside longer.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

15 min. is really too frequent to have her go outside. I'd say hourly but not every 15 min.
That's about all I got, the others covered a lot of it


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## chloesmama2 (Feb 18, 2012)

We struggled with our puppy on potty training as well. I have had many puppies and never had such a hard time as this one with my first GSP. I think they are very strong willed- My little girl definetly is. We finally started taking her out each time after she act- got up from a nap- got up in the morning ( whatever time that may be) and also let her out every hour. We also have another puppy so he was also showing her you go to the door and scratch and get to go outside- so that helped a little.
We did like everyone else has said have a party for her when she went potty outside and we gave her a treat. She loved to go outside then because she wanted that treat. The treat would be given immediatly after she went potty- so she knew the treat was for going potty not for coming in the house. They have to know what they are being rewarded for.
It is a struggle and it takes work. They are very smart and consistancy works. When you get tired sometimes you slack on some of the duties and ruin all the work. My husband would not want to get up at 3am when she would start stirring in the morning and want me to put her up in bed to cuddle, and then as soon as finally he got up (10 minutes later) he would be taking her out and she would have an accident. 
Dont make too big of a deal about the accidents either. It does not do any good to punish and only makes them scared. Reward, praise and rewarding again and again gets you the success and a happy puppy.
Goodluck.


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## laniefly (May 25, 2012)

Thank you! I knew it would be a lot of work, but I guess it is more disppointing she was doing so well at first and then changed. I do tell her how good she is after she goes, but I have yet to find a treat she likes ( I have tried 3 kinds). A co-worker suggested tiny piece of hotdog, but is that ok for them? I dont eat hotdogs, nor do my kids, but my husband loves them (yuck). I guess I just need to make some tweeks in my plan and settle in. More than anything I need some reassurance it will pass haha! I have not tried oxy clean, but I guess at this point anything is worth a go  thank you.


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## chloesmama2 (Feb 18, 2012)

My puppy loves cheese, and then they have a jerkystick treat that have cheese in it at the store that she absolutely loves too- they are small so it makes it perfect for this purpose. I also found some treats from ceasar that are good they come in a small bag which are are also very little- perfect for good girl treats. Yeah I am the same with hot dogs because I do not like them, so we dont have them in the house either, so I cant comment on that one. Just my info on what I did with my puppy very recently- she is 19 weeks and we have had her since she was 4 weeks. She is very strong willed. I guess most female German Shepard pups are. So worth it though. She is such a joy.:laugh:


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## Rocky's mum (Apr 12, 2012)

For what it's worth......Rocky has been doing very well in this department, and the few accidents he did have between 9-11 weeks old were our fault, not his. However, we found that until we used a cleaner with the "enzyme" remover (very expensive in UK but worth it) in it, no matter how much you scrub, he could smell it and it makes them want to go in that place. I'm sure you probably have this anyway, but that's all I've got. I also bought a video baby monitor so I could leave him downstairs and would see and hear him whimper at the back door from my own bed! I spent weeks 8-10 almost entirely in my kitchen with him!!

Good luck and stick with it. Rocky been clean since 11.5 weeks now and going a good 8hours at 17 weeks


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Simple Solution should work, I always keep some in my house. You can actually by the simple solution that goes into a carpet shampooer and clean the whole carpet. My golden made these little piddles all over...I walked around with a spray bottle but he was actually completely potty trained by 12 weeks. Then the GSD puppy came along, when she had an accident I thought "my god how much pee can be in that little body?" She was more difficult to train, but I think that once you put them on a schedule, it becomes routine and their bodies get used to it. The middle of the night trips should slowly dwindle. During the day I would try every hour at first, if the puppy don't go, back in the crate it goes. Then after a few days increase it to every two hours, then every three hours. I did limit my pup's water while she was potty training, but now its out for her whenever she wants it.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

The good part is that this goes by very fast and they toilet train/sleep through the night much quicker than humans


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## Blanketback (Apr 27, 2012)

As far as taking her out goes, I think that waiting 10 min. might be too long. If she doesn't go right away (first few minutes) bring her back inside. I know it's frustrating when they just come back in and pee (I know this _very_ well!) but she has to learn that she's there for a reason and giving her enough time to find a comfy spot to lie down at this age will confuse her.

I brought my puppy home in January (up north, freezing temps) and he didn't want to go out in that either. I froze my butt off, picking him up mid-stream and letting him finish outside. I didn't say anything inside but outside he got TONS of praise. His little puppy bladder couldn't hold much at all, so every 1/2 hour he had to go. If he was playing he was taken out every 15 min. or there would be an accident inside.

He slowly figured that he needed to be on the yard to pee. Looking back, it's funny - first he peed on the carpet (learned that I removed him from it, good boy, stopped peeing there) moved to peeing on the laminate (again, he did learn, he was removed from it) so then he started peeing over the air vents of all places! He was a little pee machine and I was discouraged, wondering how I was failing, but it was just him not having bladder control yet. 

I also used the special enzyme cleaner. My carpeting is beige and after blotting it all up I used the cleaner in a spray bottle over the area. I also have a carpet cleaner and you'd never guess to look at it that it had been peed on dozens of times - no smell, no stains...yippee!


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