My puppy, a German Shepherd mix, is 9 weeks old. She is doing well for the most part with potty training; we take her out very often. She has "cues" that let us know she has to poop. But, sometimes she will run and pee on her potty pad (yay), and then run in her crate and poop all over her blankets.
She, for some reason, thinks this is what she is supposed to do. If I catch her in time, I bring her out and she goes outside, but that does not always happen. And, she is in the crate for about 45 minutes to 1 hour after I leave the house in the morning and before my fiance gets home from his job. She always messes in the crate in that time. It doesn't seem to matter if she poops before I leave or not.
Some people have mentioned using part of her crate for a potty and part for sleeping. Her crate is big enough, but right now we have the divider to make it small. Any suggestions appreciated!
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Try using a clicker and small treat when she does perform outside on a walk. When she associates the two - click, treat and pooping outside, use the same method inside when she wets the pad. No notice or reward or scolding when she poops inside, unless of course it happens to be on the pad! If you could keep a pad inside her crate this might speed things a little.
Is there a blanket in the crate? if so is it the same colour as the potty tray? or does it have the same feel or thickness?
I was never a believer in potty pad so I think it teaches the dog to go potty in the house.
Try tons of praise when she goes potty outside.
Be sure after she drinks she goes outside within half hour and withhold all water after 6 PM.
You can also try take her outside of her crate in the morning put her outside to go potty if she doesn't go potty put her back in the cage try it again 15 minutes later.
A reward would be freedom so when she does go potty outside she gets to play in the house.
Also sometimes people a cage that's too large so the dog can actually get away from an accident they might have in the cage. Dogs are very clean by nature and don't want to be in a cage with poop.
I think most people make potty training more difficult than it needs to be. At nine weeks the dog should be taken outside every hour and as it gets older you increased the time. If you think the puppy needs to go outside You can started by asking the dog "want to go potty outside" in a very happy upbeat voice. Then take the puppy outside and keep saying go potty go potty very happily until the dog does and then give a treat as soon as the dog has finished and say excitedly good potty good potty. NO potty NO treat. In a short time your dog should run to the door when you ask "potty outside". This is not to say that a young puppy won't have accidents every now and then. I have housebroken many dogs this way. The last was my Min Pin which I potty trained in a month but he was already 8 mos when I got him and very un housebroken.
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