How do you house-train a puppy in winter?

[ASH]

Get rid of the real pup and get nintendogs for the ds....

sorry i cant help you... :\ i have never trained a real dog in my life. But I love other peoples trained anmials.

 

[rom90125]

Don't resign yourself to accidents. Make sure they don't happen. Crate her when you're not home. When you are home and she's with you, attach her to your belt with a leash or something, so that she's always with you and you can monitor her behavior. If you don't know where she is or what she's doing, that's when accidents and trouble happen.

Prevention is better than correction, because you want to set her up to succeed, then chance to reward her for being good.

Do not do the newswpaper trick. It doesn't work and will only confuse the pup. I'd actually get a crate that's large enough for her whole life and block a portion off while she's small (you don't want her to have enough room to eliminate in one corner and still feel comfortable). A crate really is your best friend.

Go here www.dogpatch.org and read the articles on crate training and housebreaking. They have lots of good, simple, positive training advice.

Get a good odor neutralizer, like Simple Solution or Nature's Miracle. If accidents do happen, clean the area with those. Vinegar or soap will not remove the scent trace, and dogs will go indoors more if the scent trances say "this is a bathroom" to them.

Finally, ditch the sweater. Take the pup out of the crate, clip on the leash and go right outside. She'll have to go, and she will. If it's too cold for a walk, you can do the sweater for that, but for elimination, she'll go, believe me! GSDs are not so wussy that they can't be outside to do their thing.

Awesome! Thanks for the solid advice.

 

[BroccoliRage]

Don't buy a dog door. Show the dog (not in a painful manner) when they have made a mistake, and stick them outdoors. Praise them whenever they eliminate outdoors, and chide them (again, not painfully) when they do so indoors. Take them for frequent walks and put them outside every day for a few hours. And either put them outside or crate them when you are not home, do not say a long good bye to the dog or greet it excessively when you get home (this gets the dog excited needlessly and leads to alot of confusion and pent-up energy).

Strat teaching them basic obedience tricks as soon as possible, using only positive reenforcement.

 

[Piratecat]

Don't buy a dog door. Show the dog (not in a painful manner) when they have made a mistake, and stick them outdoors. Praise them whenever they eliminate outdoors, and chide them (again, not painfully) when they do so indoors.

Actually, that doesn't work. Only if you find the dog in the actual process of eliminating inside will any kind of reprimand be effective. Showing it to them or punishing them in any way after the fact doesn't have any effect other than confusing the dog.

On a separate note, fencing in our back yard and adding a dog door was the best decision we made. It wouldn't help much with potty training, of course, but for adult dogs it's been a godsend. The first time I heard the dog go out to pee at 5am in the middle of a sleet storm, I knew it was worth the money.

 

[BroccoliRage]

Doesn't work?

I've been doing it for years with success. :/

 

[Pbartender]

Doesn't work?

I've been doing it for years with success. :/

Nope...

The positive praise you've been giving the dog has been working for years,

Showing the dog his mess after the fact, and scolding him for it only confuses him... "Maybe I did it in the wrong part of the house?" the dog might be thinking, or "Maybe he's mad at me playing with that dog toy I was just chewing on?" The poor dog simply can't understand that he's in trouble for something that happened minutes or even hours ago... He's thinking he's trouble for something that he just did or is doing right now.

 

[Merkuri]

My parents just got a puppy after their last child moved out of the house, and they've been using the crate method. Lucy (the dog) has her little travel crate that they put her in when they cannot watch her, and when she's not in there they either have her confined to one room with a gate or have her on a leash. If she shows any signs of having to go, they quickly bring her outside.

Also, they hung a set of bells on a belt by the back door, and they ring them or have Lucy ring them (by physically touching her to the bells) whenever they take her outside. The idea is that once she learns to prefer going outdoors she can signal that she wants to go by ringing the bells.

 

[BroccoliRage]

Dude, I trained dogs for the military. I still do it for extra cash today, and everything has been working fine. My success record isn't eliminated simply because some folks on the internet insist it isn't working. MY dad and grandfather both trained dogs for the military like I did and worked for K-9 uits, and basic obedience is important in both of those venues. Housebreaking is basic obedience.

I'm not sure why folks are so interested in trying to prove me wrong on this, especially when first hand experience on my part dictates otherwise...

 

[Pbartender]

I'm not sure why folks are so interested in trying to prove me wrong on this, especially when first hand experience on my part dictates otherwise...

Because, despite your success, it's bad advise and every other dog trainer and veterinarian in the world will tell you to not rub a dog's nose in it's mess after the fact.

Two notable and creditable sources:

From the Humane Society of the United States:

* When you catch him in the act of eliminating in the house, do something to interrupt him, like make a startling noise (be careful not to scare him). Immediately take him to his bathroom spot, praise him, and give him a treat if he finishes eliminating there.

* Don't punish your puppy for eliminating in the house. If you find a soiled area, it's too late to administer a correction. Just clean it up. Rubbing your puppy's nose in it, taking him to the spot and scolding him, or any other punishment will only make him afraid of you or afraid to eliminate in your presence. In fact, punishment will often do more harm than good.

From the ASPCA:

WHAT NOT TO DO:
- Do not rub the dog’s nose in his elimination.
- Do not scold the dog, unless you catch him in the act of eliminating in an inappropriate place.
- Never, ever physically punish the dog for accidents; that includes hitting with a rolled-up newspaper.

Even the American Kennel Club says the same thing, but you have to buy their book, check it out from the library, or take one of their obedience classes to get the quote.

 

[Piratecat]

BR, I suspect that you'd had great success training dogs despite that, as opposed to because of it. I don't feel particularly militant about it, though.

On a separate note, a quick heads up -- please check your Yahoo account for an email from me on a separate subject. Thanks.