[mindyintx]

Hi All!

Logan is a very smart, 4 month old Shepherd, and he is fully housetrained now. He even knows to go to the door and bump the bell-on-a-rope hanging from the doorknob to let us know he needs to go outside. Yeah! We're very happy about that!

However, he won't go potty if we're not within sight. He doesn't want to be left alone. Our backyard isn't a scary place. We play with him back there with his balls and frisbee and he has a great time. He enjoys lounging around back there when we're back there with him. But, when I take him outside and tell him to go potty, he'll go to his area, but if he sees that I didn't follow him, he'll run back towards the door to find me.

So, I would like to be able to open the backdoor when he needs to go potty and he would just go outside on his own and then come back to the door when he's ready to come in, and let us know. Our backdoor opens right out of the living room area, so we would hear and see him. I'd like to not have to go with him every time he needs to go potty.

Advice?

 

[TooneyDogs]

At 4 months old, the world is still a scary place and going potty puts him in a very vulnerable position. As he gets older, he'll be ready to take care of himself. In the meantime, keep working on the confidence building and guiding him into the world.

 

[mindyintx]

Thanks Tooney!

Since I posted, we have had a breakthrough! We took Logan with us to New Mexico last week to visit my inlaws. They live out in the country, so Logan got to really investigate things and run around unrestricted. I think that really helped with his confidence.

We have a doggy door in our back door that the previous owners of our house installed. Logan wouldn't use it at before. But, this Sunday, Dh decided to teach Logan how to go through it and it only took a a few minutes and he got it! He was so cute, running through it outside, sitting there looking at us through the window, then running back inside all excited as if to say, "look what I did!!". All day long he was doing this.

Then finally, that evening he went outside then ran to the backyard. Dh & I ran to the bedroom window facing the backyard to watch. Sure enough, he was going potty! Then he ran around the yard a bit and then ran back into the house! We were so excited to see him go on his own! I laughed and said to Dh, "look at our baby! He's growing up!" lol It really was kind of like when a child finally goes potty himself or takes his first step all on his own. We were so proud!

So, now he goes outside and potty's all by himself or just goes outside to check things out, whenever he wants. Dh or I go in the backyard at the end of the day and pick up any poop. We weren't very successful in getting him to go in one area. But, oh well. We're happy.