by Laura
(NY)
Hi. We have a 3 month old female rottweiler. She spends most of the day outside and we let her in at night. How often can we bathe her?
Also, she stays outside most of the day because we are having serious problems housebreaking her. She will go outside but the minute we bring her in she goes to the bathroom somewhere. I have tried to rub her nose in it and praise her when she does go outside but none of it seems to work.
We want her to be in the house more because in the winter it gets very cold and snows a lot. We love her dearly and really need some help.
Thank you so much and we hope to hear from you soon. Love your website!!!
Hi Laura
I’ll answer your second question first as I think it’s the crux of the matter….
Housebreaking takes a lot of time, patience and effort (on the part of the pup and the owner!) and keeping her outside is likely making the whole process more difficult because she isn’t getting the continuous training that she needs.
The keys to potty training a pup are using a crate to contain her while you can’t supervise and to help her learn to control her bladder/bowels AND constant supervision and the right type of correction if she does make a mistake… and that will happen, I’ve never had a pup who didn’t mess indoors from time to time during this stage.
Rubbing her nose in it is NOT the way to go! A firm verbal correction and getting her outside right away to finish up is what is needed – and only if you actually catch her in the act (that’s where the constant, and close, supervision comes into play). If you don’t tell her off at the exact moment she’s peeing or pooping she simply won’t understand.
Pups aren’t born knowing that they can’t do their business indoors, our whole houses seem perfectly acceptable toilets to them. It’s up to the owners to show the pup consistently and patiently what’s expected of them. My Housebreaking A Puppy and Puppy Crate Training pages have all the tips, advice and info. you need to train her.
Rotties are very intelligent, and very eager to please, once your little girl fully understands what you want from her she will do her best to comply. It just takes time. Sometimes new owners expect a pup to ‘get it’ within a couple of weeks, and that’s unrealistic I’m afraid. In general, a pup who’s been properly, and consistently, housetrained will be fairly reliable by 6 months of age (without constant supervision), but all pups are different and some are faster to learn, others slower.
I’d recommend using a crate and bringing your girl indoors so that you can get this taken care of now while she’s still young.
As for bathing her, I wouldn’t recommend doing this more than once a month – at most. Rotties tend to be a bit allergy prone and they have sensitive skin. Overbathing can dry it out and cause flaking and irritation. Make sure that you only use a very gentle shampoo (an oatmeal shampoo or hypoallergenic formula is best) and dry her thoroughly.
Once you get the housebreaking under control you will be able to keep her indoors more and she will need less bathing!
I’m happy that you’re enjoying my website and hope this information helps you. Best of luck with your pup 🙂
