House breaking you German shepherd puppy can be
an easy process or difficult depending on the method you use. Prior to
bringing home a new puppy you should have everything necessary to make house
breaking easy and successful.
- Purchase a small crate with a latching door (one crate per puppy).
The crate will be used to limit the puppy when not (training) house
breaking.
- Buy a bag of small biscuits that can be broken into tiny bites (the
size of an M&M peanut candy). Place inside a plastic bag or in a basket.
- Have plenty of Dog Urine and Stain removing liquid. Liquid Enzyme
products like Natures Miracle do not work at removing the marking scent
left in a puppies urine accidents. It does remove stains on carpet
thanks to the Isopropyl alcohol it uses. Something you can buy at the
store for pennies. Make certain you use a product containing bacteria or
active enzymes that are bacteria in a friendly name. Like Life's Great
Products, Bad Pup’pee Scent Retraining Aide.
- Place a ding-ding (Christmas type) bell on a rope hanging from the
door knob of the door where the puppy will use to go outside.
- Make certain you have a long leash to attach to the puppies collar.
- Have a Walkman style radio for you to listen to music while waiting
for the puppy to go potty. Warm clothes, gloves, umbrella ready if
necessary.
- Decide on command words for the puppy. Single words to represent: Go
Potty, and praise.
The following house breaking approach will house break most puppies (5-9
weeks old) in three to four days. You must be diligent for this method to
work. Using the steps for a few hours and skipping a day or two will not
lead to a house-broken puppy in a short period of time. The age of the puppy
and breed can also alter the time necessary to house break a puppy.
Do not attempt to paper train a puppy. This approach confuses a puppy
when it is time to outside train. From the moment the puppy comes home
you have to begin the outside training process. Select a door where the
puppy will go to be let outside. This door must be where someone in the
family will hear the dog. A door far from where the family spends its
time will not work. You have to hear the dog request to go outside.
Whether using a bell or the dog scratching you must be able to hear the
puppy. Place the crate in a location where the dog will sleep at night.
A warm location where it will not see you when not being cared for. It
is your choice to place a pillow or towel inside the crate. Normally
puppies’ will not soil their sleeping area. But this is not always the
case. A chew toy may be the best thing to place inside a crate and
nothing else to save on clean up of messes.
Immediately upon bringing a puppy home, you take the dog on a leash
to its spot to go potty. Never carry a puppy to its potty spot. When the
puppy has reached the location where it is to go potty, use the command
word selected and do not say any other word. Say, (example) "Poop! ."
Then wait for the puppy to do something. Either urinate or fecate. This
may take sometime. Wear the Walkman and listen to music while waiting.
Immediately upon seeing the puppy complete its dropping or urinating,
bend down and give the puppy a biscuit treat. Say a word selected for
praise, (example) "Excellent!" Then wait for the puppy to complete the
other half of its droppings and praise again with a treat. Only one
treat per dropping and single word praise.
When finished, on its leash lead the puppy into the house through the
door it will use to go in and outside. Do Not carry the puppy. Only use
the leash. Inside the house play with the puppy for no more then five or
ten minutes. Walk the puppy to its water and food dish. Allow the puppy
to drink water. Play with the puppy for a few minutes and begin the
house breaking method: Take the puppy on the leash to the door with the
bell or door where the dog will scratch. Lean over and lift the puppies
front paws to the bell or door and scratch the paws against the bell to
ring or make a scratching sound. Praise the dog with its one word,
"excellent!" Give the puppy a single treat and open the door. On its
leash take the puppy to its potty spot and wait for it to urinate. After
it does good, give the puppy a treat with its one word praise and
walking the puppy, take back inside the house. Repeat this process for
the next two to three hours. Placing the puppy in the crate after an
outside inside play session is okay if the puppy must be left
temporarily until you can complete the process. Never leave the puppy to
roam the house when not engaged in house breaking. Always place the
puppy in the crate without water or food when not house breaking. A chew
toy is okay in the crate.
Immediately after removing the puppy from the crate, attach the leash
and walk to the door. Lift its paws and use a one word praise, give
treat and walk outside. If the puppy has an accident on the way to the
door do not discipline. Take the puppy back to the crate and clean up
the mess with Bad Pup’pee Retraining Spray. Never let the puppy see you
clean up its mess, and this means never. Do not scold the puppy for
having an accident. Do not use a newspaper to discipline or another
punishment tool. Make certain everyone in the household and any friends
or guests understand not to punish the puppy for an accident. Just place
the puppy in the crate away from the accident. If the accident were
inside the crate, then place the puppy in a bathroom while you clean up
the mess inside the crate. Follow the directions on the bottle of liquid
products. Do not wipe up immediately after applying as this will prevent
the liquid from removing all traces of urine and pheromone’s left in an
accident.
The steps again are: Take puppy outside after being in crate. Wait
for potty then give treat and praise. Bring inside house to drink water
and play for a few minutes. Take to door and repeat process. Do this non
stop for the entire day. Do not get bored with process. Three to four
days will likely have a house broken puppy. This will save you many
dollars in urine and stain removing liquids and the mental anguish
associated with house breaking a puppy.
Puppies have to fecate approximately twenty minutes after eating
solid food or drinking water. Time your outside trips around this
knowledge. Do not feed your puppy and take right to door and outside
spot. Give them time to digest and process food. Play with them right
before taking outside after eating. Always do repetitive treat-praise at
the door. Ringing the bell with paws and using single word praise. Wait
outside while they do their potty. Do not leave the puppy alone outside.
Wait for them and observe that they have completed their steps. Give
them a treat and word praise.
This process should take place for the entire next three to four days
after bringing home a new puppy. At night right before going to bed, you
take the puppy out for the last time. Inside the house place the puppy
inside the crate without food or water. Close the crate door and go to
bed. Do not let the puppy train you with moans and whimpering at night.
Leave the puppy to adjust to its new environment. In the morning, go to
the puppy and put the leash on the collar. Walk the puppy to the door
quickly and begin the house breaking process again. Following all the
before mentioned steps. If the puppy soiled its crate, cleanup the mess
without bringing attention to the puppy that it had an accident.
Remember to place the puppy someplace where it cannot see you clean up
its mess. Ignore all accidents by getting frustrated yourself. Never
scold the puppy for accidents. Just remember to remove the puppy from
the area of the accident so it does not see you clean up the mess.
After a month or more when the puppy always goes to the door to go
outside, begin to wean the puppy off treats. Skipping a treat every once
in awhile. When the puppy is completely house broken you can wean them
off the treats completely.
This approach violates many preconceived ideas of house breaking
puppies’. Long time approaches to house breaking have proven to take
weeks or months and even years to completely house break a new puppy. We
have proven that this approach worked in just days or a week depending
on the age and body development of the puppy. Some small puppies have
bladders that cannot hold liquid for a long period. You have to gauge
the right time for your new puppy to go potty. Twenty minutes may not be
the right time to wait. Your puppy may go potty in twenty-seven minutes
or fifteen. Work out in time what works best. Just remember to not give
up on training the new puppy to follow a set procedure to let you know
it wants to go outside. Do not use dog doors until the puppy knows its
proper spot to go potty and not to go inside. If the puppy marks the
inside of the house with accidents that are not cleaned up completely,
it will use the pheromone in these accidents as the indicator of where
it should leave its droppings. A puppy from birth use its mother’s
pheromone scent in her urine as a method of finding its way home and the
correct spot to go potty. Pheromone’s are like sticky mucous. Very
difficult to remove and impossible to see. You have to use products
specially developed to remove this sticky substance. Nearly all the
stain and odor products sold in pet stores, grocery stores and
janitorial companies do not remove the pheromone’s left in the puppies
accident. Most of these products do a poor job permanently removing the
urine and odors left in the carpet and floor after an accident.
You can use a Black light to find old urine accidents. This will at
least give you the opportunity to find the source of smells inside the
carpet. Remember even after a carpet cleaning by professional carpet
cleaners, the pheromone’s are still in the carpet pad and flooring and
on the back of the carpet. Carpet cleaning top treats carpet.
Pheromone’s are like chewing gum in hair, and it sticks really well.
Removing it is a specialized process. Puppies’ smell the pheromone’s
left after a carpet cleaning and will go potty when they smell the
scent.
Be diligent and your new puppy will be house broken in a short period
of time.
