Puppy cries and whines when outside of home

[brandeeno]

Some background:
Our female puppy Nala is 9 weeks and one day old. We got her on Sat. the 4th, so only had her for barely 4 days. She is currently 21 lbs. Per her first vets visit yesterday, we found out she has coccidia and is on the drug Albon. Her stool is and has always been mostly firm, and no real symptoms of anything wrong. She has some mistakes inside the house #1 and #2, and of course they seem to happen the split second you take your eyes off her. We are trying to be more stringent on her crate time to assist with this. I think her/our mistakes are normal. We are leaning from eachother.

Anyway, when we take her out… she whines a lot. We (me and wife) live in New York City, and have to walk her on the sidewalks. She doesn’t care much to walk away from the apartment entrance. She doesn’t appear to be scared… she just does seem to want to walk forward much. With some puppy talk, she comes and follows to a tree… but there is a decent amount of calling needed to get her to walk and frequently resists. When she resists, we need to pull her a couple times to get her to come. And during all of this, she is whining. She whines before she goes to the bathroom and even after she hoes to the bathroom. As soon as we turn around to head for the apt. she walks in front of me and makes no hesitation to head back home. There is no whining when we head back home.

Is this normal? Have other experienced this? Any ideas what is going on? Is there anything we should be doing to prevent this whining / unwillingness to walk away from the apartment?

You comments, thoughts and questions are appreciated!

[Jack's Dad]

She feels secure inside and not secure outside.

I don't know how often you take her out but at that age at least once every 2hrs.

They don't walk along smoothly at that age. Take some treats and hold them in front of her to keep her moving along. Give her treats as she moves along telling her what a good girl she is , much praise.
It doesn't happen overnight so be patient.

Besides needing to go potty, going outside often will help her feel more secure there (outside). Make going outside fun.

[Dakotasmom23]

Completely normal. I live in the suburbs and my puppy at 9 weeks didn't really want to leave my yard on a walk for a week or two; I imagine NYC is 100 times more scary. She outgrew this with time and consistency. I just paid no attention to the behavior and kept on with the business at hand. As her bond to you grows, she will increase in confidence and will trust you in new situations, or a big, loud city.

[Castlemaid]

This is quite normal for a pup this age. Just continue on with what you are doing, she'll get used to it. You can try and make the outside trips more fun for her by hanging out a bit longer and giving her treats, or bringing a toy and playing a bit before you head back in. I'd use treats to lure her along to the area where she is to go potty, set up a positive association with that. Treat her for going, then hang out a bit and play.

[brandeeno]

Thanks all. And that reminds me... she doesn't care too much for treats! We have tried two different kinds. It helps a little to get her in the crate, but she isn't very treat motivated for it to do much magic. Any thoughts on that?
Also, she doesn't seem very smart when it comes to figuring out by vision that I have treat in my hand. She only knows by smell after wafting it in front of her.

Thanks.

[Jack's Dad]

Originally Posted by brandeeno

Thanks all. And that reminds me... she doesn't care too much for treats! We have tried two different kinds. It helps a little to get her in the crate, but she isn't very treat motivated for it to do much magic. Any thoughts on that?
Also, she doesn't seem very smart when it comes to figuring out by vision that I have treat in my hand. She only knows by smell after wafting it in front of her.

Thanks.

You just have to experiment with treats. they sell rolls of lamb, meat, chiken etc.... at large stores like Petco or Petsmart. You cut them into small pieces. Cheese cut in small pieces works as do cut up hot dogs for some dogs. You'll find something she likes.
Everything you wrote about is very normal puppy.
One other thing is the more accidents you have inside the harder will be the house breaking. Which is another reason for taking them out very often.

[brandeeno]

Thanks Jack's Dad. Will try more treats.

About the house breaking.... she gets distracted outside sometimes, and will not go. even after waiting outside for 30+ min. Then we come inside and she just goes the second we take out eye off her. JUST happened right now! We are limited to only being able to take her out every 3 hours. I think we need to put her straight to the crate when she doesnt go to the bathroom outside (rather than some play time). Does that make sense? But I also worry... will she be more likely to not hold it in her crate since the 3 hour time will double? I am concerned she'll have to sit in her own pee for 3 hours. But I guess that can't be helped. Thoughts?

[Jack's Dad]

Three hours is too long right now. it gets better and she will be able to last longer. I think becaus she is not comfortable outside yet that she is waiting until she is comfortable inside to go.
Unfortunately she is learning the reverse of what you want.
If you put her directly into the crate she will have no other choice than to pee or poop in the crate.
Do you have a place in the apt. where you can use pee pads or something. In other words someplace you can confine her besides her crate that she can go if she has to. It's not the best idea but you may have to do something like that if you can't get her ouside enough.
I have always had a yard so maybe some others who have dealt with this will chime in.
Even a yard doesn't help though if you don't get them out often enough.
They almost always need to go when they wake up and right after meals.

[Jeven's Tyde]

Hi!

I have a feeling you might be hearing some comments about 9 wks being too young to only go outside every 3 hours. Just don't think that is often enough.

I don't understand why she can only be taken outside every 3 hours? And if you put her back in the crate after she doesn't potty, why she will have to wait another 3 hrs before going again?

Why a GSD? I was watching Animal Planet the other night and their Dog 101 was on... there are breeds that are actually way better suited for City life more so than other breeds. I'm just curious, and I'm not downing you. Just wondering. Shepherds need lots of activity, as I'm sure you will hear/read on this site.

I have read/heard that paper/pee pad training puppies is a no no, but maybe you should get one of those pee spots that look like grass so she will at least be able to potty someplace other than your floor and her crate. I can't help but feel sad for her being locked in a crate for so long and not being able to go potty in an appropriate place .

[brandeeno]

I didn't think it important to know why she can only be taken out every three hours, but for full transparency...
My wife and I have taken time off for our new puppy but after that, we are paying a dog walker to come. Three visits is what we have planned by the dog walker, 4 would be ideal, but between between expensive and finding somebody who can make 4 visits in a day is not easy. So right now, we are trying to replicate that as it is a matter of days before she will be forced to be on that schedule.

To be clear... she is NOT having problems holding it for 3 hours. She is holding for up to 4 after water and food... its just this occasional distraction when outside. For example: we live near a school. At 3:30pm, all the kids are running and and screaming around, while school busses are parked and driving all over. Hence, she can't focus on going #1 or #2, and as Jack's Dad make it obvious for me (which i didnt think of before), she goes when she feels comfortable at home.

To answer your other Q on why GSD:
1.) We like the combo of intimidation, affection, and protection
2.) We are runners, and will be running her regularly when old enough. Right now, she is puppy and doesn't need that mental and physcial stimulation
3.) In 6 months we are moving out of the city to the suburbs

These are the top three factors that assisted in our decision of a GSD.