WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW

Bringing your German Shepherd Puppy puppy home is one of the most exciting moments. There is a new bundle of furry joy that enters your family and settles in for a long and nurturing bond between dog and human. However, this joy can quickly disperse as the role of housebreaking comes along and you start to become frustrated.

First, the new German Shepherd Puppy owner must realize that not all dogs are the same. One puppy may be easily trained by the time it is 12 weeks old, while another puppy could be 5 months old before being fully housebroken. Each puppy is different and must be trained according to what fits for that particular puppy.
 
What is housebreaking?

Housebreaking is the act of getting your puppy to soil where you want. Usually this is outside of the home but some owners of smaller breed dogs choose to litter train their puppies instead. For German Shepherd Puppies, litter training is not an option so we must assume that the German Shepherd Puppy will be trained to pee and poop outside of the home.
Importance of Schedules

Schedules are one of the most important aspects of housebreaking your puppy. The first thing any new or expecting family should do is create a bathroom schedule for their new puppy.

Puppies around 8-16 weeks old will usually need to go to the bathroom every 3 hours. Therefore, you should schedule bathroom breaks every couple of hours, even if your puppy does not show signs of having to go to the bathroom. If you keep to a 3-hour schedule, your puppy will catch on quickly and start to begin to hold from going to the bathroom indoors until that scheduled potty break. As your puppy gets older, this 3-hour schedule can be extended an hour at a time, until your puppy can finally wait up to 8 hours or more. Please note that this is a gradual process and will take several weeks to months before being able to wait that long as a puppy’s bladder is underdeveloped when young and cannot physically wait that long without having the urge.