Difficulty potty training my 10wk old gsp

Remi

Remi

New member
I have been crate training my female gsp for a couple weeks now, and I cant seem to get her on a schedule. She will pee outside a couple times, then pee in the house 5 min later. She will also go out every 2 hrs during the night and still pee in her crate. Is this a difficult breed to housebreak and do any of you have any recommendations with this breed and potty training. I have owned many large dogs and have had no issues potty training, but this girl doesnt seem to get it the slightest bit. Thanks:confused:
 
How old is she?
I'm sure she'll get it eventually. It'll just take some extra patience and repetition. It seemed like my female GWP took forever to house break/ crate train.
 
If she is peeing in the crate, the crate is to big. needs to be only big enough to curl up and not stand up. Once it starts you need to clean the area of damage, including the crate, to make sure the smell is gone. Also, and this may be an issue, certain puppy foods with certain protien sources, and high protein formulas, have been demonstrated to slow down development of kidneys, and bladder in female pups. Try a change of diet to a different brand, gradually, see if that is an issue. I realize this sounds goofy, but I have seen this work. I suspect that because of the go out pee, and then come in and pee 5 minutes later. Other possibility is a slight bladder infection, common in young female pups. All these a easily managed, and fairly common, outcomes almost always positive. I've been through it myself. I'm sure you will persevere.
 
I have raised 4 dogs, 2 male and 2 female. With my dogs, the females were way slower in becoming house broken. One of the girls did the same thing. I would take her on a 20 minute walk and she would pee the second we got bak in the house. She eventually outgrew it.
 
Thanks everyone. I am going to try a smaller crate, because the one I have is to big for her. She is currently being treated for a bladder infection just in case. She is on proplan large breed puppy for kibble.
 
If she is having to pee every two hours at night the chances are that a bladder infection is contributing to your problem. Even a young pup should be able to hold it longer than that.

I question why you are feeding your GSP a "large breed formula"? I don't think a GSP would be classified as a "large breed". That formula of dog food have different nutrients than the regular formula. Maybe someone else can chime in on this, but my opinion is the regular formula would be better for your GSP.
 
LOL!!! I have had the same problem with a couple. I tried everything talked about here. Even urine test for a bladder problem. Nothing worked. It is simply time and paitence. These dogs were still doing this at one year old. I got rid of one because I just got tired of the dirty bugger. Some are just destined for a out side kennel. It does not mean it will not be a fine gun dog though. I never tried a diet change however. I never had trouble with other dogs and the same food.:confused:
 
Dakotazeb said:
If she is having to pee every two hours at night the chances are that a bladder infection is contributing to your problem. Even a young pup should be able to hold it longer than that.

I question why you are feeding your GSP a "large breed formula"? I don't think a GSP would be classified as a "large breed". That formula of dog food have different nutrients than the regular formula. Maybe someone else can chime in on this, but my opinion is the regular formula would be better for your GSP.
Click to expand...

Actually Zeb, ProPlan recommends the large breed formula for pups who will reach 50lbs or more at maturity. The differences between the large breed formula and say their small breed or toy breed formula is the protein amount with the large breed having slightly less. The large breed also contains Glucosomine/Chondroitin for extra joint support. To be honest a premium adult formula would probably be fine. The biggest risk is letting puppy become to fat or plump at a young age as this could present joint issues down the line in a larger dog. Keep pup a little on the thin side is what most breeders recommend.
 
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Potty training...

Greetings:

I would echo the crate size...make it as small as possible. Hopefully you have a crate liner that is removable so you can clean the mess.

I'm in the middle of this now - 7mo. Golden...he's doing OK, but has a very small bladder and seems to pee often. I don't offer any water inside the crate and remove the water at 6:30 in the evening. This instructions from the breeder; seems to work.

He's outside now (thank God for kennels) and we are getting along much better. this is my 5th dog and at 73 I don't have the patience as I did with the previous four!! Good luck, it only gets better...
 
birdshooter said:
Actually Zeb, ProPlan recommends the large breed formula for pups who will reach 50lbs or more at maturity. The differences between the large breed formula and say their small breed or toy breed formula is the protein amount with the large breed having slightly less. The large breed also contains Glucosomine/Chondroitin for extra joint support. To be honest a premium adult formula would probably be fine. The biggest risk is letting puppy become to fat or plump at a young age as this could present joint issues down the line in a larger dog. Keep pup a little on the thin side is what most breeders recommend.
Click to expand...

My bad! Guess I never looked to see what size dog they classify as "Large", I just assumed. I feed NutriSource and they say the same. Even an ol' guy can learn something new each day. :)
 
Mojo at 10 months had finally stopped peeing in the crate a few months ago, but he sprained his knee so he has been on house arrest for 2 weeks now. I dialed back his exercise and pretty soon he stopped holding it while I was gone to work. I can't help you with the house training but I can tell you a tired puppy / dog isn't going to pee in the crate nearly as much when you're gone as one with some energy - the tired one is going to be sleeping

just a thought to add

Chuck
 
Chuckles said:
Mojo at 10 months had finally stopped peeing in the crate a few months ago, but he sprained his knee so he has been on house arrest for 2 weeks now. I dialed back his exercise and pretty soon he stopped holding it while I was gone to work. I can't help you with the house training but I can tell you a tired puppy / dog isn't going to pee in the crate nearly as much when you're gone as one with some energy - the tired one is going to be sleeping

just a thought to add

Chuck
Click to expand...

Def good advice! Ive been running her everynight to help with her sleeping longer. Thanks
 
Right on Birdshooter! I feed nothing but Purina Proplan large breed puppy food to the lab puppies I've raised and also to Gunther our GSP. The Glucosomine/Chondroitin for the joint support is a great benefit (in my opinion). I guess we started feeding it because they are going to be larger than 50 lbs at maturity. I love Proplan!
 
It sounds like your crate is to big. I placed a large cardboard box, taped shut, into the crate to reduce the room available to the pup. Most pups will not mess where they sleep and if the room they have is small, they have to sleep in that area and will whine to go out.
After she was trained and sleeping through the night, we had a short period were she started to whine to go out every two hours. To fix it, we set the alarm for every hour and a half, woke her up to go outside, and put her back in the box. It took 3 days and she was sleeping through the night again.
 
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