Here is the scoop, my wife & I have 2 German Short Haired Pointers..... we've had them since they were 6 weeks old, brother & sister.... they come from 5 generations of pure bread champions, both in the field hunting & in agility training. they are about 15 months old & have the run of our 2 acre yard.

The female, Elsa, is a dream dog....she is very petite for a pointer, very intelligent, inside or outside she comes when called, sits, lays down, rolls over, she will even poop & pee on command. she only plays with her own toys & generally wont fight with her brother too much. she is very good on leash & off....

then there is her brother Otto....the problem child...he is about 65lbs of pure muscle & beauty....he is super smart, but does not listen too well when he is outside & usually does not like being leashed..... inside the house he is usually pretty good, he knows all his commands & obeys them...but once he gets outside..........forget it.... he'll start eating leaves & rocks, he will not come when called, as each day goes by he is taking longer & longer to goto the potty...... it took me about 20 minutes to get him in the house last night & I was ready to kill him when he finally came back.

My question is, what do I do? what type of training? shock collar? rolled up news paper? bull whip? (kidding, but you can sense my frustration) always leash him? clip him to a lead in the yard & leave him outside for a while? put him outside in his kennel? Pleas help!!

Leash him to go potty.

When starts to go, give him a command such as "go potty" (that's what we use) , hurry-up, Yabba dabba dookie etc.

When he's done praise him and take him back into to the house. Don't step in the doo doo.

When you're both inside give him a cookie to reinforce the behavior.

Try to repeat this as often as possible until he starts dragging you back to the house after he goes.

Later you can subtitute a belly rub for a cookie.

After a while you should be able to let him out to go and give him the command without having to leave the doorway.

Good luck

I'm not the obedience expert but everyone needs to have a dog steeped in positive reinforcement "Recall" training. If you Google "recall training" and "dog" you'll find a lot of info. Here's one link that popped up and seems a good start:

http://www.dogtrainersearch.com/articles/bea/recall.php

You are fortunate to have such a large area in which to train.

Here's a 30' training leash from White Pine Outfitters (where I get Gidget's harnesses and collars). Silky soft so easy on the hands. 40' is the longest, they also offer shorter and thicker (1").

http://www.whitepineoutfitters.com/catalog_page_detail.cfm?queries_index=index10&recordno=4&Product_CatalogID=143&ProductNumber=JFA0930&ProductCode=16&ProductSubCodeID=143&NewProduct=0&title_bar2=Soft%20Web%3Csup%3Etm%3C%2Fsup%3E%20Lon g%20Lines&title_bar=9%2F16%22%20X%2030%27%20SOFT%20WEB%3Csup %3Etm%3C%2Fsup%3E%20LONG%20LINE (http://www.whitepineoutfitters.com/catalog_page_detail.cfm?queries_index=index10&recordno=4&Product_CatalogID=143&ProductNumber=JFA0930&ProductCode=16&ProductSubCodeID=143&NewProduct=0&title_bar2=Soft%20Web%3Csup%3Etm%3C%2Fsup%3E%20Lon g%20Lines&title_bar=9%2F16%22%20X%2030%27%20SOFT%20WEB%3Csup %3Etm%3C%2Fsup%3E%20LONG%20LINE)



Unfortunately, it is easier to teach young pups but older ones are still trainable. Gidget learned "Hurry! Hurry!" (to pee) when she was a baby. She doesn't poop on command, though. That's at her own pace (usually after one or two blocks of walking).

I'd emphasize the recall training and separately (and positively) reinforce the "Hurry! Hurry! Good boy!" (in a cheerful, enthusiastic tone) whenever he is peeing or pooping.

Good luck!!!

:)

:)

I knew we would eventually get around to this topic! Over the years my wife and I have had a few confrontations over potty training the various dogs we have owned. Not over the technique - the previous posters are spot on (excuse the pun) in terms of their advice. The choice of words for the command is important, however.

Make sure that whatever verbal command you choose to use pick one that you can live with (i.e. it will not embarrass you or others when repeated in public). It AMAZES me the infantile or other language that people will use when issuing commands to their dogs!

"hurry up" I like that one!
"Yabba dabba dookie" :D?!! If you are comfortable repeating THAT in public more power to you.

I will NOT repeat some of the commands my wife has come up with in the past. :rolleyes:

Eating rocks :shock: make sure he has no blockage making it difficult to poop

Eating rocks :shock: make sure he has no blockage making it difficult to poop

very good catch, de!

That is very common for a dog with a blockage, or bloat.

I am glad this topic has come up.....my golden has been doing the same thing to me lately.....I take him out at 5am and he wants to play before he does his business....Some mornings im am out im my bathrobe for 30 minutes before anything happens.

very good catch, de!

That is very common for a dog with a blockage, or bloat.

.....I miss typed that part....He'll load a few into his mouth & try to sneak them into the house.......He always gets caught, becasue he behaves perfectly when he is trying to smuggle contraband.... as far as the leaves, this is new, we have had a few wind storms & branches & stuff are all over the yard........guess they are just "new" toys for him.

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/files/981207_nlo4i/ottoelsa.jpg

here is a pic of the dynamic duo.....taken about 6 months ago...otto is on the left....elsa on the right......she is about 2/3 his size, don't let the photo fool you....hahahaa

I agree with Brawsie, leash him for pottie and use the same words but I learned "Movement creates Movement" so walk a little for movement for him to go.

My dog started to realize that if he took longer it just gave him more time outside to fool around, but that's a signal as well. When you get home from work he might need more time outside to sniff and play.

Good luck ......

I bet when winter comes he won't take so long out there, yuk yuk yuk yuk and a hearty laugh....:-D

jurn

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/files/981207_nlo4i/ottoelsa.jpg

here is a pic of the dynamic duo.....taken about 6 months ago...otto is on the left....elsa on the right......she is about 2/3 his size, don't let the photo fool you....hahahaa

goosler, they are beautiful.

*I'm jealous that you can post photos*

I have a shock collar for Cooper. I am sure that there are many here that disagree with that. He's 2 and when he was about 8 mos old my dad bought him the collar for Christmas (uh, nice hint dad, thanks). I would say in the last year I have actually shocked him one time, otherwise there is a 'good tone' and a 'bad tone' feature. He reacts to the good and bad tones very well, therefore I don't have to shock him.
When we are camping or anywhere he could take off for a long distance run I always have it on him. He's a beagle-mix and when his nose is working, his ears aren't.
This past weekend he was even able to be off leash at the campsite for a bit while wearing the collar.
I use a lot of positive reinforcement too obviously.
Maybe once Otto got used to responding to you again, then you could gradually reduce the amount of time he uses the collar.
Good luck Goosler...being a dog-daddy is hard work huh? :)

gisele, thank you very much...


jurn, your absolutely right, in winter he is rocket fast...maybe I should add an hour of play time to his current schedule....

Stella, yes it is very hard.....I swear, after 2 years of marraige the only thing we have fought about is the damn dogs...hahaha....but your right about the nose on, ears off thing.... maybe the collar will be the way to go with him...... german block head....


the only issue I have with leashing him is that he gets so excited about the leash, he'll sprinkle....and of course we only have 1 room in the house with carpet & its the one that leads to the yard....

Luna is my trouble maker out of the three dogs. She is the smartest but only if it is on her terms. If I tell them to go to bed, Briley jumps up and runs off to bed, Sunny looks at me like he has no idea then will go and Luna stretches, walks a few feet, stretches, stops for some water, etc. She also is famous for not coming inside during 3am potty breaks. I do sometimes put her on the 30 foot leash when it is late and I don't want to fight with her. She is very obedient on the leash but it doesn't transfer over to the times she is off of it. So good luck!

then there is her brother Otto....he is super smart, but does not listen too well when he is outside & usually does not like being leashed..... inside the house he is usually pretty good, he knows all his commands & obeys them...but once he gets outside..........forget it.... he'll start eating leaves & rocks, he will not come when called, as each day goes by he is taking longer & longer to goto the potty...... it took me about 20 minutes to get him in the house last night & I was ready to kill him when he finally came back.

My question is, what do I do? what type of training? shock collar? rolled up news paper? bull whip? (kidding, but you can sense my frustration) always leash him? clip him to a lead in the yard & leave him outside for a while? put him outside in his kennel? Pleas help!!

Hey, Goosler . . . beautiful babies!

Some things to consider: most of us work more on teaching our dogs in the house. But to dogs, that knowledge doesn't automatically translate into them knowing the same things outside! It's amazing, isn't it? But so true. If there are things that we want them to do outdoors, we have to teach it to them outdoors.

Also on the indoor/outdoor thing . . . there are a lot of distractions when you change from inside to outside. Inside maybe there's the tile floor and the refrig and the toaster. :-) Outside there's grass and good smells and cars going by and butterflies . . . and . . . and . . . and . . . you name it! That is why the dog needs to learn to focus on you. It's easy for that to happen inside, but, again, you have to teach them to do the same with distractions. And that has to be a gradual process, working from lower to higher and higher distractions -- they have to master a little bit of distraction before you can move up the distraction ladder with success.

On the recall . . . it doesn't matter if you're out there in the rain wearing your jammies and calling him for 30 minutes -- when he finally does come to you, you have to reward the heck out of him for coming. If you show anger, it will only take him loner to come to you the next time. As others have suggested, for both potty and recall, leashing him is recommended. Give him a signal of your choosing that means to go potty. When he does go, treat the heck out of him as soon as he's done. Don't wait until coming inside. Since it's clear that he wants to be out, once he does potty, let him stay out for a bit. If he pees and you take him straight in, he'll just stall and hold it longer the next time because he has figured out that once he goes, he's headed inside. (You're taking away his reward.)

Teach him "leave it" and "drop it" so that the rock-and-leaf thing doesn't turn into a battle (he might even think it's a game by this time).

Put yourselves in the best position for success, reward the good, ignore the bad, and HAVE FUN!

--Kellie

Kellie (& everyone else, really!)
Thanks so much for your insightful advice.......believe it or not, my pups are both fairly well trained & do all of the things you mentioned.......but for some reason, Ottos brain seems to have gone on holiday........last night he was back to normal, acted like an angel all night & did all his business right away..... this morning was back to being a head ache...until my wife went outside & leashed him up.......... he comes right over to her when she has the leash, so I'm beginning to think that he has a domination issue with me..... great.:neutral:


oh, & stella......training collars are on there way.......

I posted this topic on a GS pointer forum & they were all pretty amazed that we have come this far without them....

exercise (scheduled) and obedience training (intended) are both perhaps lacking.

obedience training has been completed & workouts are done daily....thanks.

Just remember Goosler, we really don't own them - they own us!:D

jurn

you got that Jurn.........well after about a week of training collar use, my little boy Otto has once again turned into a gentleman...and his sister Elsa has also gotten with the program.......thanks to everyone who voiced there opinion/methods with similar situations...... Pat

you got that Jurn.........well after about a week of training collar use, my little boy Otto has once again turned into a gentleman...and his sister Elsa has also gotten with the program.......thanks to everyone who voiced there opinion/methods with similar situations...... Pat

Just watch out for squirrels on your walks, my border collie/newfie mix about pulls my arm out of socket when they(the squirrels, or rabbits for that matter) get to close.