Training our puppy to stay outside.

[CaraVella]

Hi All,

We've had our 11 week old for a week, and despite my best efforts, she continues to try to force her way inside when we open the back door.

She stays outside during the day while we are at work. We get up and play with her for half an hour in the morning before we feed her and spend a few hours with her outiside at night. But with winter coming around not long after she finishes her vaccinations, we'd like to be able to bring her inside after our nightly walks.

The problem is, she tries to force her way inside every time we go outside. What I'd like, is for her to wait patiently at the door and let us decide if we are going to come outside or invite her to come inside. She's a smart dog and will fetch a ball and return it (sometimes), sit and go down on command (with and without treats), so I'm pretty sure she understands, she's just being naughty.

I've tried the Cesar Millan "claim the space" energy trick, and it does work for a little while. On Saturday I was able to leave the door open for a couple of hours and she didn't cross the doorway. But then the next morning she was trying to force her way in again. Is this just going to take a few more weeks for the idea to sink in?

Sorry for writing an essay. Although this is probably going to be how most of my posts are.


Cheers

[volcano]

11weeks is too young to enforce rules. Just use treats to encourage behavior at this point. Use treat after treat during a sit while you open the door. say no calmly and stop treat when she gets up.

[llombardo]

What is the difference if you bring her in at night now rather then later? She wants to be with her family and at 11 weeks I don't blame her. I got my dog when she was 12 weeks, she was outside for the first 4 weeks, what a nightmare that was for me to train that out of her. It took a long time

[JakodaCD OA]

an 11 week old puppy should not be left outside alone to their own devices Someone could steal her, she could get out and run off, eat something poisonious, the list goes on.

She's also rather young to have some solid training, they usually have the attention span of a gnat.

The time you are spending with her is not enough. She needs/wants to be with her family as the poster above said, and you need to start getting her used to the house vs later when she's older and has basically never been IN the house.

Why did you get a dog?

[CaraVella]

We're just worried that if we give in to her now, it will be hard to control her later.

I tried your suggestion volcano. Similar results to what I got on Saturday, works temporarily, but then later she wants to force her way back in again. I will keep trying it though.

Believe me, we want to bring her in, we just don't want a dog that thinks it owns the place.

[JakodaCD OA]

an 11 week old puppy is not going to think it "owns" the place. She wants IN because she doesn't want to be left alone outside,,NOT because she wants to own the place.

Puppies don't think like that,, You will have more problems controlling her later.

Start crate training her IN the house, attach a leash to you and her IN the house to prevent potty accidents and her getting into things.

Find a good obedience class / puppy class and start taking her NOW.

I see from your 1st post you are a first time GSD owner..starting her off right will payoff in the long run, the way you are doing things now is not going to pay off

[Sunflowers]

If you truly want a dog that doesn't think it owns the place, you need to spend time with it and train it. . Leaving an 11 week old puppy outside...dangerous. At that age they eat anything and everything. Rocks, mulch, sticks all kinds of things .. how are you supposed to stop that if the dog is outside alone?
And how do you suppose it will learn to be a well behaved dog that does what you want if it gets no interaction and nobody teaches it anything?

[Cassidy's Mom]

Originally Posted by JakodaCD OA

an 11 week old puppy is not going to think it "owns" the place. She wants IN because she doesn't want to be left alone outside,,NOT because she wants to own the place.

Puppies don't think like that,, You will have more problems controlling her later.

Start crate training her IN the house, attach a leash to you and her IN the house to prevent potty accidents and her getting into things.

Find a good obedience class / puppy class and start taking her NOW.

I see from your 1st post you are a first time GSD owner..starting her off right will payoff in the long run, the way you are doing things now is not going to pay off

She's just a baby, you should be letting her come in the house, it's not going to make her think she's running the show if you do. That doesn't mean you can't also teach her good door manners. My dogs go in and out numerous times a day, and they have to sit and look at me or I don't open the door. If they try to rush through it before being released, I simply close it and wait for them to sit again. This is very easy to train, but you can start by doing it with her on leash at first. Do it both going in and out of the house so it becomes a default behavior.

[andreaB]

Agree with everybody!! If you let pup in you have far better chance to train him how to act inside, get him potty trained and well manered in house. And like all say leaving him out can be dangeres. My pup did eat about 20 good size marble stones and i let him by him self just 5min. (stupid me) He was sick for couple days and vet bill was not fun.

[Pattycakes]

I agree with the others. She should be allowed in the house now. She will definitely be easier to train and teach manners too when in the house already.