My 1 yr old GSD just got back from 2 weeks of board-and-train, and one of the things I asked the trainer to work on was house training, which he did, and he said he did well at his house. He told me to keep him on a leash at all times at home or in the crate, and take him out for bathroom breaks on a leash. I told him I did that when I trained him (ineffectively) as a puppy, but he refused to go to the bathroom on a leash. I have never, in the year we’ve had him, seen him poop. He goes at the side of our house, or in the house where I can’t see him if he gets half a chance, but never on a leash or in the yard if I’m outside with him. He will occasionally pee when I’m outside, but not on a leash. He has never peed or pooped on a walk, and he gets walked almost every day, sometimes several miles. Anyway, the trainer said he peed and pooped on leash for him.
So, we brought him home yesterday around 6 pm. He drank a full bowl of water (he drools a lot in the car) as soon as he came inside. Though I took him outside 3 times, about 10 minutes each time, starting around 9, he never peed or pooped. Then, after I’d gone to sleep, in the middle of the night, he started barking and scratching at his crate, so I let him out in the yard, off leash because I was in pajamas with no shoes on. He peed. Then, it took me a good 15 minutes to catch him again, because he refused to come inside as long as I was holding the leash. Anyway, to make a long story short, it is now almost 8:00 here, and, though he has had plenty of water and 2 meals, he has not pooped, and the only time he peed was when I wasn’t home and my husband let him out of the crate off leash and he ran upstairs and peed in a back bedroom.
What should I do? I don’t want to let him outside off leash, because I refuse to chase him all around trying to get the leash back on. I have been taking him to the spot at the side of the house where he likes to go, but no luck. We walk around, we stop and I take a few steps back, and he follows or just stands there and looks at me. I wait a couple of minutes, walk around the yard with him again, repeat.
Next I’m planning to try putting him on a lunge line (for exercising horses), which is 30 meters long (I think?) so he can wander in the yard farther from me, but I can hopefully still reel him back in. Maybe he’ll go if I’m farther away.
So, we brought him home yesterday around 6 pm. He drank a full bowl of water (he drools a lot in the car) as soon as he came inside. Though I took him outside 3 times, about 10 minutes each time, starting around 9, he never peed or pooped. Then, after I’d gone to sleep, in the middle of the night, he started barking and scratching at his crate, so I let him out in the yard, off leash because I was in pajamas with no shoes on. He peed. Then, it took me a good 15 minutes to catch him again, because he refused to come inside as long as I was holding the leash. Anyway, to make a long story short, it is now almost 8:00 here, and, though he has had plenty of water and 2 meals, he has not pooped, and the only time he peed was when I wasn’t home and my husband let him out of the crate off leash and he ran upstairs and peed in a back bedroom.
What should I do? I don’t want to let him outside off leash, because I refuse to chase him all around trying to get the leash back on. I have been taking him to the spot at the side of the house where he likes to go, but no luck. We walk around, we stop and I take a few steps back, and he follows or just stands there and looks at me. I wait a couple of minutes, walk around the yard with him again, repeat.
Next I’m planning to try putting him on a lunge line (for exercising horses), which is 30 meters long (I think?) so he can wander in the yard farther from me, but I can hopefully still reel him back in. Maybe he’ll go if I’m farther away.