Simple... right????

[wyoung2153]

I have a very well trained 2 y/o GSD, Titan.. and now for the other one... Athena, my Boerboel. She is 3 months and I just got her a little over a week ago. She is doing wonderful in almost every area except Potty training.. Which is where I need some help. Titan was so easy.. peed in the house once, a stern "No!" and put outside.. he was golden.. only a couple accidents and those were my fault for not paying attention or leaving him crated too long.

Miss Athena on the other hand seems to not be understanding this "game." So far this is where we are at. She goes outside everytime she is taken out of the crate and she knows "Go pee pee" and will generally go within minutes of being put out there and I praise the heck out of her. If we are outside and she won't go to the bathroom and I need to leave, or just know that she hasn't been in a while and she is just being stubborn, I put her on a leash and she knows to go to the bathroom then she can get off the leash and play. Seems good. And mostly is. But she has yet to make the connection from the inside to out. Inside I watch her like a hawk. If she just peed, I may be a little less watchful in that sense and not worry about it. but as soon as she starts sniffing I take her out.. and some of the time she will go. But she hasn't gotten the clue.. so far no indicators other than sniffing, which isn't helpful since she is still getting used ot things and sniffing everythign jsut out of curiosity. She will play play play then "oh I gotta go.. sniff and pee."

How can I get her to start letting me know. I know I have only had her a little while and that she might just be normal, haha. but like I said. Titan was super simple in almost every training aspect.. any suggestion on helping this process along? I'm not a fan of puppy pads or paper training at all.. so anything else I will try.

[SamanthaBrynn]

I personally haven't tried it, but I've read about putting a bell on your door.
How To "Potty Bell" Train Your Puppy: Potty Training Dogs

I had all ready potty trained when I found this but thought this would be very neat to do.

[Skribbles]

Originally Posted by SamanthaBrynn

I personally haven't tried it, but I've read about putting a bell on your door.
How To "Potty Bell" Train Your Puppy: Potty Training Dogs

I had all ready potty trained when I found this but thought this would be very neat to do.

I used this method with Chloe (at about 10 weeks). Tied a couple bells to the door knob and then every time we let her out, we'd take her paw and make her touch the bells. Two days later she was ringing it on her own.

[wyoung2153]

Oh cool. I have heard that too. I just hope she doesn't start ringing them for fun, lol. Do you have problems with her ringing it for fun?

[1sttimeforgsd]

My boy caught onto the bells on the door very quickly, but YES he does ding them just to go out and play.
At first he just did the bells to go potty, but as he got older he dinged them to also get to go outside and play around.

[mwiacek10]

We use the bells too. Works great. I had a heck of a time house training Gunny. The main mistake was that I was torn between advise from my trainer and my vet, which only confused the heck out of him. Stick with one method and stay with it, or it will be a long frustrating haul.

[wyoung2153]

So far my method, other than immediately out after sleeping and being in her crate, is... watch her like a hawk and if she sniffs around.. she goes outside. The bells seem like they might be her thing.. though I have a strange feeling Titan will use them for play.. lol he ALWAYS wants outside to play.

[Skribbles]

Originally Posted by wyoung2153

Oh cool. I have heard that too. I just hope she doesn't start ringing them for fun, lol. Do you have problems with her ringing it for fun?

Not really, although it is the dead of winter so she doesn't spend much time out there anyway. She's banged them a couple times then wouldn't go out but I'm just chalking that up to being a stubborn pup who was bored.

I can see in summer that she'll start to do it. But I'd rather have her ring the bells to go out and play instead of destroying stuff in the house or sitting there and bugging me!

[wyoung2153]

Originally Posted by Skribbles

Not really, although it is the dead of winter so she doesn't spend much time out there anyway. She's banged them a couple times then wouldn't go out but I'm just chalking that up to being a stubborn pup who was bored.

I can see in summer that she'll start to do it. But I'd rather have her ring the bells to go out and play instead of destroying stuff in the house or sitting there and bugging me!

This is true. I'm lucky in that Titan doesn't chew ANYTHING unless it's a Marrow bone or a treat. It's been great.. Miss Athena on the other hand likes to chew ANYTHING she can get her mouth on. She knows "No, Ma'am!" very well. lol.