# Training our puppy to stay outside.



## CaraVella (Mar 13, 2013)

Hi All,

We've had our 11 week old for a week, and despite my best efforts, she continues to try to force her way inside when we open the back door.

She stays outside during the day while we are at work. We get up and play with her for half an hour in the morning before we feed her and spend a few hours with her outiside at night. But with winter coming around not long after she finishes her vaccinations, we'd like to be able to bring her inside after our nightly walks.

The problem is, she tries to force her way inside every time we go outside. What I'd like, is for her to wait patiently at the door and let us decide if we are going to come outside or invite her to come inside. She's a smart dog and will fetch a ball and return it (sometimes), sit and go down on command (with and without treats), so I'm pretty sure she understands, she's just being naughty.

I've tried the Cesar Millan "claim the space" energy trick, and it does work for a little while. On Saturday I was able to leave the door open for a couple of hours and she didn't cross the doorway. But then the next morning she was trying to force her way in again. Is this just going to take a few more weeks for the idea to sink in?

Sorry for writing an essay. Although this is probably going to be how most of my posts are. 


Cheers


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## volcano (Jan 14, 2013)

11weeks is too young to enforce rules. Just use treats to encourage behavior at this point. Use treat after treat during a sit while you open the door. say no calmly and stop treat when she gets up.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

What is the difference if you bring her in at night now rather then later? She wants to be with her family and at 11 weeks I don't blame her. I got my dog when she was 12 weeks, she was outside for the first 4 weeks, what a nightmare that was for me to train that out of her. It took a long time


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

an 11 week old puppy should not be left outside alone to their own devices Someone could steal her, she could get out and run off, eat something poisonious, the list goes on.

She's also rather young to have some solid training, they usually have the attention span of a gnat.

The time you are spending with her is not enough. She needs/wants to be with her family as the poster above said, and you need to start getting her used to the house vs later when she's older and has basically never been IN the house.

Why did you get a dog?


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## CaraVella (Mar 13, 2013)

We're just worried that if we give in to her now, it will be hard to control her later.

I tried your suggestion volcano. Similar results to what I got on Saturday, works temporarily, but then later she wants to force her way back in again. I will keep trying it though.

Believe me, we want to bring her in, we just don't want a dog that thinks it owns the place.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

an 11 week old puppy is not going to think it "owns" the place. She wants IN because she doesn't want to be left alone outside,,NOT because she wants to own the place.

Puppies don't think like that,, You will have more problems controlling her later. 

Start crate training her IN the house, attach a leash to you and her IN the house to prevent potty accidents and her getting into things.

Find a good obedience class / puppy class and start taking her NOW.

I see from your 1st post you are a first time GSD owner..starting her off right will payoff in the long run, the way you are doing things now is not going to pay off


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

If you truly want a dog that doesn't think it owns the place, you need to spend time with it and train it. . Leaving an 11 week old puppy outside...dangerous. At that age they eat anything and everything. Rocks, mulch, sticks all kinds of things .. how are you supposed to stop that if the dog is outside alone?
And how do you suppose it will learn to be a well behaved dog that does what you want if it gets no interaction and nobody teaches it anything?


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

JakodaCD OA said:


> an 11 week old puppy is not going to think it "owns" the place. She wants IN because she doesn't want to be left alone outside,,NOT because she wants to own the place.
> 
> Puppies don't think like that,, You will have more problems controlling her later.
> 
> ...


:thumbup: She's just a baby, you _should_ be letting her come in the house, it's not going to make her think she's running the show if you do. That doesn't mean you can't also teach her good door manners. My dogs go in and out numerous times a day, and they have to sit and look at me or I don't open the door. If they try to rush through it before being released, I simply close it and wait for them to sit again. This is very easy to train, but you can start by doing it with her on leash at first. Do it both going in and out of the house so it becomes a default behavior.


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## andreaB (Nov 6, 2011)

Agree with everybody!! If you let pup in you have far better chance to train him how to act inside, get him potty trained and well manered in house. And like all say leaving him out can be dangeres. My pup did eat about 20 good size marble stones and i let him by him self just 5min. (stupid me) He was sick for couple days and vet bill was not fun.


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## Pattycakes (Sep 8, 2010)

I agree with the others. She should be allowed in the house now. She will definitely be easier to train and teach manners too when in the house already.


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## Fkennedy (Jan 10, 2013)

CaraVella said:


> Hi All,
> 
> We've had our 11 week old for a week, and despite my best efforts, she continues to try to force her way inside when we open the back door.
> 
> ...


My 11 weeks old loves to be outside. Just recently that he did better on potty training that I sometime left the backdoor (which is a glass door) open just enough for him to go through as he please. From what I saw, he would rather be outside playing with his toy and laying on the grass than being inside even if he has to be alone out there. I do have a camera where I can monitor him though. 

HOWEVER, I use the yard as a timeout area when he bites me. In that case, when I force him to be outside, he does not like it. He will sit by the glassdoor with the begging face to come in. And as soon as I open the door he will rush in to the house. I actually have a picture of him doing that :blush:


I'm not an expert by any mean. I'm sharing experience that maybe if you don't force your puppy to stay outside, she probably would enjoy being outside more and won't always try to force her way in. Just a thought.


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## CaraVella (Mar 13, 2013)

Hi all,

Thanks so much for your responses. We've been bringing her inside for the last two days. So far so good. 









We will still be keeping her outside while we are at work, but my little brother is going to come over and play with her or walk her during the day. He's a vet nurse and is great with animals, so it'll be fun for both of them I think. 

I just need to buy her a soft dog bed or soft crate now. Still not sure which one to go with. 


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## Littlelady4 (Feb 7, 2013)

Why so much negativity on outside dogs? I had outside dogs for many years as a teenager, they were loved and protective and good, good dogs. I understand the opinions of having your dog inside, but just because a dog spends the majority of its time outside does not mean its not loved or cared for...just an opinion









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## Galathiel (Nov 30, 2012)

Growing up, my GSD wasn't allowed to stay in the house, only come in for visits. Even though there was another dog out there (elderly family dog poodle mix), she still was starved for human interaction and attention. No matter how much time you spend outside, it's not enough for a GSD that loves to be with people. Maybe a more independent personality wouldn't mind it...but none of mine ever did. Even if they are just in the room with you, that's enough for them. Being separated from their family is stressful, particularly when they know people are home.


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## Annie's Mom (Mar 19, 2013)

Annie is 5 1/2 months. From the day she came home with me, she has preferred outside to inside. But it's always her choice. I do love a dog to live with me though. In any given day, it seems I must open that door 20 times a day in order to let her go outside ... and she comes back inside for some bonding and interaction. I think this dog would live outside in a cave if she could convince me to do so.

But I was hoping i could throw out a question about "door courtesy". Annie is trained to bells that hang on door knobs, front and back doors, inside and outside knobs. From day one, I would touch her nose to the bell and take her outside for potty breaks. When she was tiny, the bells hung down low. It was no time that she was a master of those bells.

Lately she has gotten more enthusiastic and now lunges at the door from the outside. As I don't want the door damaged by her claws and there is glass in the top, I am concerned. When I hear it happen, I shout NO from the inside ... then I squeeze out the door, put her in a sit position and encourage her to use her nose to the bell again. 

I am unsure that the problem is being reversed though. It's been going on for about 10 days and I would guess that half of the time, she is lunging with both front paws on the door. 

Any suggestions?


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## FlyAway (Jul 17, 2012)

I would like to add, *forget the Cesar Milan stuff*. That is not the way to properly train a dog.


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## Capone22 (Sep 16, 2012)

Your skipping a lot of steps. Your going form wanting her to sit and wait to be invited inside to wanting to be able to leave the door open for hours and her not cross it. Your expecting too much too soon with a puppy that is too young. For now you can work on her having to sit nicely before getting to come in and out. Dont forget praise or treats. When she is older you can work on leaving the door open for longer periods. 


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## Capone22 (Sep 16, 2012)

FlyAway said:


> I would like to add, *forget the Cesar Milan stuff*. That is not the way to properly train a dog.


And Cesar is NOT a trainer. What people don't see is that daddy was trained in protection. He worked with another trainer. And believe me he wasn't trained with shhhht and pokes. There was lots of praise and reward and repetition. Cesar is good to remind people to exercise and discipline their dogs. But don't follow a 1 hr tv show for how to train your puppy. 


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

you can love a dog when it's outside but you're not really
caring for it when it's outside and you can't train the dog
when it's outside.



Littlelady4 said:


> Why so much negativity on outside dogs? I had outside dogs for many years as a teenager, they were loved and protective and good, good dogs. I understand the opinions of having your dog inside, but just because a dog spends the majority of its time outside
> 
> >>> does not mean its not loved or cared for...<<<
> 
> ...


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

to the OP: is it possible your dog can dig out of the yard or
climb out?


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Littlelady4 said:


> just because a dog spends the majority of its time outside does not mean its not loved or cared for...just an opinion


We're talking about an 11 week old PUPPY here, and a breed whose instincts and drives are to work with humans, to be with humans. You don't just throw a 10 week old GSD pup outside alone, and expect it to be happy about that. 

I'm not against outside dogs either, but we're not talking about sled dogs, or hunting hounds, or livestock guardians. The GSD was bred to bond and work closely with its human, and everything in that puppy's mind drives it to do so. Being shut out of the human family is the worst possible thing you can do to a GSD pup, and you're likely to see more behavior problems as a result of that, than you would if you brought the pup in with the family and TRAINED for the behavior you want.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I'm not against them being outside either, to each his own, what I do object to is an 11 week old puppy being left outside to their own devices, not healthy.


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## CaraVella (Mar 13, 2013)

doggiedad said:


> to the OP: is it possible your dog can dig out of the yard or
> climb out?


There is absolutely no way she can climb or dig her way out. We have fake grass in the back and fences that are well over 6 feet tall.

She now lives and sleeps with us in the house (her crate is in our room). Unfortunately she still needs to be outside during work hours when nobody is home, but she has plenty of toys and space to run around. There is absolutely nothing in the backyard that she can hurt herself with. Just her kennel, toys and a couple of old couches.

She will also sit at the door and wait to be let in now. Now that she is used to being inside, she knows that it's nothing special. :smirk:

Thanks for all of the advice guys.


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## RidgeWalker (Feb 28, 2013)

Our pup is 10 weeks old. She stays in a crate in the kitchen, and doing fairly well with it. Just in the last few days we've started to let her be outside int he backyard for periods of time in the morning and afternoon, generally only an hour or so at a time. We also have an older dog outside that tolerates this new youngin, so she's not totally alone. After a bit she just curls up on the step and sleeps till we let her back inside. It gives her a place to play when our young children are up. 

The few weeks in the third and fourth months of life are crucial to training. Key traits will be established that will stay for the rest of the dogs life. She needs to be around people, as many as possible, and around other dogs. Crating gives her a den where she feels safe, and a place where she is kept safe, even from her own mischief. My backyard is fenced in and puppy proofed, but she could still get hung up in the fence or something. Until she is four months plus I won't be letting her be outside for more than a couple hours at a time, and even then I'm poking my head out there periodically just to check on her.


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