Why is this titled "potty training" rather than "housebreaking"? It is titled "potty training" because house training actually means a whole lot more than just teaching a dog where to relieve itself. Even if a dog is "potty trained" he may not necessarily be considered "house trained." After all, there are a LOT more things that a dog can find to do in the house and to your possessions that have nothing to do with relieving himself. Actually, it is much easier to clean up a puddle or mess than it is to put your couch back together after a good chewing workout, or to fish your cooling pot roast back out of the dog's belly, or to keep your dog from competing with the neighbor's stereo and the kid across the street's rock band 24 hours a day. A dog can learn to be a well-mannered house tenant and be innocent of all of the above crimes, but it takes time and it takes maturity. A puppy is very similar to a preschooler in the mental capability of staying out of trouble, unsupervised freedom holds the potential for all sorts of problems from aggravation to true catastrophes.

Now that you are warned as to what to expect out of a puppy, (although if you have children you will already have had lots of practice!) I will tell you the EASIEST way to potty train a puppy and also keep him out of trouble a good portion of the time when you can't supervise him. This method is so easy that you could be tempted to try it on the kids, but the law kind of frowns on these methods being used with children.
The necessary piece of equipment you must have is a CRATE. The best kind of crate to use is the plastic airline crate. Wire crates have the disadvantage of their wires-they are like a big sieve, allowing messes to leave the crate and end up in places that you don't want them, which defeats the reason for using the crate in the first place! The plastic airline crates don't let the messes escape. If you don't want your dog to have to sit in a mess (although if he does have an accident, finding out that it does not go away and that he can't leave it is often a deterrent to having more accidents, in which case he'll work harder to tell you when he needs to go!) you can buy a grate that fits the bottom of the crate, allowing the dog to remain clean.

A crate is not a jail to a dog, it appeals to the instincts of dogs to seek a small safe dark place to use as a den, a safe haven, and sleeping place. I have had dogs come to me WANTING to be put into their crates-so they could get away from the children and have some peace and quiet. Too bad I can't escape the kids that way sometimes! Mothers can use the bathroom as an escape, but then the kids wage World War III just outside the door or even more ominously, in the next room, and screams, crashes, and bangs will drive a mother out of the bathroom quickly. Dead silence can drive a mother out of the bathroom even more quickly. The kids don't have the same interest in driving a dog out of its crate so they tend to let the dog have some peace. The front crate door also makes a great depository for the kids' leftover pizza crust, kinda like a mailbox, push it in and it's gone. You do have to make sure that the younger ones don't try this with crayons, legos, or styrofoam pellets-I did learn that crayons make for interesting colors in a dogs stools and that styrofoam pellets pass through safely. Thankfully, the legos were merely chewed up and not eaten-but these incidents taught me to be well aware that young kids may give the dog things that the dog should not have.

I do like to leave a big Nylabone, Plaque Attacker, or if you have a monster chewer, a Galileo Bone, in the crate for the dog at all times. He will learn to like to chew on his own toy, and later, when he tries out someone else's things, you can take the object and give him his bone, saying "Here's your toy." By having the toy to chew on in the crate, and being offered the toy when he wants to chew outside of the crate, he will learn to prefer his own toy.

To be effective, the crate space for a puppy must be small enough that the puppy can't make a mess and then go to the opposite end of the crate and get away from it. If he can't get away from the mess, then instead of making it, he will make a fuss and let you know that he needs to potty. You then have to hurry and get him outside so he can potty in the place you want him to use for his outhouse. To reduce the space in a large crate temporarily, you can use a cardboard box, cement blocks, wire divider, or other object that takes up enough space, but can be removed again when the puppy grows.

The first time you put your puppy in the crate, it is quite likely that he will throw a major noisy temper tantrum. Give him a drink of water and an opportunity to potty before putting him in the crate so that you can be fairly sure that the temper tantrum is not a legitimate need. If your puppy runs around for what seems like forever, and you are pretty sure he needs to poop, you can use a little method that many obedience trainers use to make sure a dog is empty before competing in the ring. An infant suppository is the most genteel recommendation, but wooden match sticks, twigs of matchstick size (make sure they aren't sharp)or q-tips have been used. Usually one will work but sometimes it can take two. You insert the suppository into the dog's rectum and then walk him around. The suppository will stimulate him to defecate and you give him your choice of potty command and then praise him when he eliminates. Teaching a command will let him know what you want him to do, and may be very handy later if you are traveling with the dog and stop at a wayside, because when you walk him at the wayside, you can give him the command and he will know what you want him to do and will usually at least urinate. For children, I keep a small potty chair in the van for emergencies, but that does not work for dogs. I haven't even tried the chair for dogs, I don't think they could aim well enough! Of course, you try to prevent any species from needing to defecate in the vehicle, potty chair or not, because while it is easy enough to empty urine from the pot and urine does not smell as bad, if something or someone defecates in the vehicle, you will need gas masks, air freshener, and buckets for those with weak stomachs. Letting someone heave out the window doesn't work very well, especially if what goes out one window comes back into the window behind it and showers the unfortunate person sitting there! If you are traveling such a distance that you can't be sure that the puppy can hold himself, putting a thick bed of cedar into the bottom of the crate works well to hide odors and keep a mess from being painted all over the dog and the inside of the crate. When shipping a pup by air, I add cedar on top of the newspapers, because this usually makes a pup arrive smelling fairly clean and decent to the recipient on the other end (no pun intended!)

Generally, a puppy needs to eliminate several times a day, and he can learn to fit into your schedule. If you are on a night schedule, simply take him out later in the morning than most printed schedules recommend, but also give him an opportunity later at night to go before bedtime as well, and move up the other times inbetween correspondingly later during the day. I have known of people who were "graveyard shift" workers whose schedules were pretty much the exact reverse of the typical day schedule. There are a number of printed schedules in books and pamphlets, most work well to give your dog reasonably spaced opportunities to eliminate. To stack the deck in your favor, feed the puppy a high quality non-soy based food so he will be less likely to have sloppy stools, and keep him on a regular deworming schedule for the same reason. Like everyone else, he will need to go to his bathroom as soon as he wakes up in the morning (whatever his morning is in your lifestyle!) and he should not be given any food for a few hours before bedtime. Most advice says not to let him have water for a few hours before bedtime either, but I've found that it is best to let him have a small drink of cold water if he wants it. Otherwise, he will sit in the crate and fuss when you put him to bed, and when you take him out after you are afraid to ignore his fussing anymore and are afraid that he may REALLY need to go, you'll find that instead of needing to potty, he wanted to get a drink.

It can be tough sometimes to determine if a puppy who is fussing in the night needs to go or not. If he has just been out, emptied his bowels and bladder, and has had a small drink of water, you can be fairly sure that he doesn't need to go back out, and can ignore the fussing. If he has been asleep and quiet, and suddenly awakens you a few hours later with his fussing, then he most likely does need to go out in the middle of the night and you should take him out or else face the likelihood of a big mess in the morning, and a puppy who has learned that it is all right to potty in the crate. If he does make a mess in the crate, clean it up as soon as possible. Ignoring the puppy\'92s fussing because you don't want to have to drag yourself out in the rain or the snow or middle of the night or whaterver, or letting him sit in a mess because you don't feel like having to get up and clean it up (or if you don't feel like cleaning it up because you just got home from work and you are tired) will teach him not to care whether he messes in the crate or not. The instinct of his that you are trying to work with is that a dog does not want to soil his own sleeping area, so he fusses when he feels the need to eliminate. If he can't eliminate and go away from it and sleep in a different spot, then he fusses and you can then take him to the spot you want him to use. Once he does go, take him back to the same area, because the scent of his own wastes will remind him of what that spot is for. Then he can go back to bed, or go to play in the house (supervised) for a while.

You can usually give a young puppy about 20 minutes at a time to play in the house between trips to the bathroom, or watch for the signs that he is thinking about eliminating. Very young puppies may not show much warning that they need to go because their bodies are still too immature to give them much warning. A six weeker may just start piddling as he is in the middle of playing, unaware that he needed to go until the urine started coming. The older a pup gets, the more he can show his intent. If the puppy begins sniffing around intently, circles an area, starts walking in THAT particular way (watch him when he gets ready to go outside and you will soon recognize his body language, walk, etc., that signals that he is getting ready to cut loose!) then RUSH him outside. You may be best to pick up a very young puppy to get him outside fast enough, an older puppy should learn to walk outside so he learns the way to the door and to his spot.

Consistency helps to shape reliable potty training, try to take your dog out at the same times every day so his body gets into a routine. Puppies may need to go as frequently as every two to four hours during the day. As their bodies mature they will be able to hold longer. Ideally, an adult dog should have the opportunity to go at least four times a day, although many dogs have lived on schedules that gave them outdoor time just three times a day.

The best way to potty train is to prevent accidents. If your puppy is either crated, outside, or being supervised at all other times, then he has less chance to have accidents. As he gets older, he will get wiser, although I have never been brave enough to let a puppy have unsupervised house time if nobody was home. To test an adult dog that I think can be trusted, I may start by allowing him a few minutes and then check to see what he has or has not done (including chewing, raiding, etc.) If you want the dog loose in the house unsupervised, then you need to go through the house and dogproof it, just as if you were childproofing for a toddler, although consider that the dog has much greater chewing power than a toddler. Remember also, that a dog will consider a loaf of bread sitting on top of a cabinet or any other edible possibilities that he can reach-fair game.

If your dog does have an accident, and you weren't there to catch him in the middle of the deed, then just clean it up and if there is a chance he still needs to eliminate more, or the accident was made a while before you found it, then take him to his spot and give him a chance to go in the right place. If you can catch him in the act of having an accident, shout NO! and then rush him out the door to finish outside (as close to his spot as you have time to get him.) If he has defecated inside, I have also been known to grab a paper towel and scoop up the mess and take the dog and the mess out, put the mess in the right area, and then tell him "Hurry & Go" as he finishes out in the right place, hopefully reinforcing the idea of where the proper place is.

Things that should not be considered accidents are messes beyond the dog's control. The nervous piddling that puppies sometimes do when they are excited (this is a submissive gesture stemming from infancy and the time when the mother cleaned up all the puppy messes) over greeting or petting should be ignored. If you correct a puppy for it, then the puppy will eliminate even more urine-as this kind of wetting is in doggy language, the way a puppy recognizes that his mother is boss and the dog, when corrected, will try harder to let you know that he respects your authority-which means that the nervous wetting will become worse. Most pups outgrow it as they gain confidence and physical maturity.

Problems due to illnesses often can't be helped. Usually, a dog with diarrhea will try his best to tell you he needs to go, but just not have enough time for you to get him out. The dog usually will be most upset because he had an accident, in which case it would be unfair to scold him for something he could not help. Dogs with bladder problems often can't help having accidents either. Treatment of the medical problem is necessary to help the dog be physically able to be clean again.

Pregnancy and a litter will increase a bitch's need to go outside much more frequently. Most bitches will do their best not to have a mess in the whelping pen, and will clearly let it be known that they need to go out. Bitches clean up all the puppy wastes from birth until the pups start eating solid food. A very young puppy does not eliminate until his mother cleans him (although if she doesn't, of course, the puppy can't wait forever-but most mother dogs are very conscientious about cleaning their puppies frequently.) When the mother comes back in from outside, the first thing she often does is walk around and clean all the puppies (and they often protest just as young children do when their mothers wash them!) before settling back down to nurse the pups.

You may have to show a young adolescent male that you won't tolerate him trying to mark YOUR territory. Quite often, the first time a teenage boy dog tries it is when you are bringing him back into the house after being outside. He decides he will lift his leg right in front of you to see if he can get away with it. Give him a good quick jerk on the leash and scolding (in the deeper growling type of voice, the better) and then either hustle him to his crate or back out the door. I also will growl a NO or whatever at any male that tries to hike on the front porch or anywhere too close to the front of the house-those places are MY territory and I am boss of those areas. He can hike anywhere he wants to in the woods, the field, or the distant areas of the yard (although my husband's garden is off limits!) Male Shepherds are usually not obsessed with marking territory like males of some breeds can be. Some male Shepherds may never hike, but continue to squat down to urinate-which is nice because they usually empty the bladder in a couple of squats. Some people feel that it is macho or necessary for the masculinity of a dog to hike-NOT true. There is no difference between the breeding capabilities of males that do or don't hike. Males that hike do often have bad aim when hiking-they may shoot right into their own doghouse door or onto their own front leg. I knew of one male that learned to raise his leg and hike right through the spaces between the wires in a wire crate, shooting the mess into the room so he did not have to sit in it, another reason why airline crates are better than the wire ones! Switching that dog to an airline crate stopped that little trick after he tried it once and found out that solid plastic tends to cause a rebound effect and retention of the mess. He never did it after the first experience in the airline crate.

If you have one of those rare destructive dogs who have learned to chew out of airline crates, then you will have to use a strong wire crate, Central Metal is probably the best brand. The cheaper General Cage or Midwest wire crates are usually too flimsy to hold a GSD escape artist. The only dog I have ever had that chewed out of airline crates was one who learned this trick at the hands of her previous owner, who thought that the dog escape art was funny and did little to prevent it. When something works, the dog learns to do it again and again. She could chew a hole in the plastic large enough to get out through in a very short time (and a large dog can wiggle through some surprising small spaces! When I put her in the wire crate, I was able to set the wire crate inside the bottom half of the damaged airline crate, so that while she could not chew out of the Central Metal crate, I still had the benefit of the plastic bottom to confine such usual messes as shedding hair, dust, etc. It is by far best for a dog to never learn that it can escape, or if it does once, make sure that you secure things well enough that it can't succeed again, because it will try much harder the second time. Dogs that try and don't succeed usually give up after a few tries, and then you don't have to worry so much unless your equipment deteriorates enough. A dog can discover an unlatched crate or a place in a fence that can be crawled through even if there has never been such an opportunity offered in years of time before that! Once it works, he will be sure to try again. I have had to put spring snaps on kennel run doors to defeat some clever individuals who learned how to lift latches (even those that drop down into the little notch that is supposed to make them much harder to open!). On airline crates, the weakest spots are usually the l ittle bolts and screws that hold the crate together. It is true that coating them with fingernail polish will keep them from coming loose for a much longer time than if they aren't coated-this is a trick I had read about and tried and it did work. Over time, the latch on the door of an airline crate may wear out. If this occurs and you don't want to replace the door, or if you have a dog that has learned to escape by using his foot and pulling the door inward(I have heard of a couple of these!) C-clamps will thwart that kind of escape art.

The German Shepherd Dog is one of the easiest breeds to potty train, because the breed wants to be clean and wants to please the people he lives with. German Shepherd Dogs care about what you think and what you want them to do, and as long as you treat the dog fairly, consistently, clearly, and with authority, they will try their best to comply with your wishes.
Potty training dogs, like potty training children, sounds like a tougher task than it really is. I remember, during the toddler toilet training days, reading a comforting statement in one of my books that "relax, all kids are toilet trained by the time they get to high school!"
Having German Shepherd Dogs in many ways, is very similar to raising children, with one exception. You CAN put the DOGS out in a kennel run or in a crate when they get on your nerves!