We got Nexus, our GS pup back in mid-December. It has unfortunately been a very trying number of months. Glimmers of hope quickly overshadowed by serious setbacks.
First big issue is crate training. He was doing good for a little big only having some occasional accidents. But as time is progressing it's getting worse and worse. It's typical now for him to have one to two poop accidents and one to three pee accidents in a day. It's gotten to the point that he does not even bark a lot of times when he does go pee in his crate and he ends up lying in it. And there is just no way that I can afford to take him out every 30 minutes and spend 15 minutes with him outside. We are a busy family, I work two jobs. It's just not practical.
And it's not like he does not know how to hold it in. There have been more than a few occasions where he will hold it overnight, or when we are at work. I am just not getting why he is so inconsistently bad at potty training.
Which rolls into the second issue. It's very difficult to have him spend much time outside his crate. He is constantly jumping on furniture, on people. While i correct him (we are using a pin collar for his training) he does not seem to learn from that. He is constantly eating and nipping at everything. Unless I am literally doing nothing, which means me sitting in a chair in the living room, lead on with collar, I cannot keep him calm enough to relax. It's so frustrating because I want him to spend far more time out his crate, but he acts up when he is out and there is not much I can do.
I am just so frustrated with this. As a kid growing up I had 3 GS (all 1 year old or more) so I never had to deal with the early puppy stage issues. It's is a massive challenge while also being a dad to two kids, and IT Manager, a DJ, and trying to deal with the day to days of everything.
I am up for any ideas here.
First big issue is crate training. He was doing good for a little big only having some occasional accidents. But as time is progressing it's getting worse and worse. It's typical now for him to have one to two poop accidents and one to three pee accidents in a day. It's gotten to the point that he does not even bark a lot of times when he does go pee in his crate and he ends up lying in it. And there is just no way that I can afford to take him out every 30 minutes and spend 15 minutes with him outside. We are a busy family, I work two jobs. It's just not practical.
And it's not like he does not know how to hold it in. There have been more than a few occasions where he will hold it overnight, or when we are at work. I am just not getting why he is so inconsistently bad at potty training.
Which rolls into the second issue. It's very difficult to have him spend much time outside his crate. He is constantly jumping on furniture, on people. While i correct him (we are using a pin collar for his training) he does not seem to learn from that. He is constantly eating and nipping at everything. Unless I am literally doing nothing, which means me sitting in a chair in the living room, lead on with collar, I cannot keep him calm enough to relax. It's so frustrating because I want him to spend far more time out his crate, but he acts up when he is out and there is not much I can do.
I am just so frustrated with this. As a kid growing up I had 3 GS (all 1 year old or more) so I never had to deal with the early puppy stage issues. It's is a massive challenge while also being a dad to two kids, and IT Manager, a DJ, and trying to deal with the day to days of everything.
I am up for any ideas here.