Hello all,
I am new to the board, and though I have looked around I cannot seem to find an answer to this. My 8 1/2 week old pup is progressing beautifully with crate training / housebreaking. So far so good. However, we are now going on walks and to the park, and although I take scooping materials with me, prepared for cleanup, he will not eliminate a stool anywhere but our yard. The puppy will actually get very distressed about needing to poo and not being in the right place for it. Today I was in my neighbor's yard (talking to the neighbor) with Gus on leash, and the boy gradually got whinier and whinier, pulling on the leash and generally getting amped up to level 9. I was ignoring this behavior, because I think he is way too young for corrections (after all - he was trying to tell ME something, I was the dummy who couldn't understand). Finally, I let go of the leash to see where he would go (I am still plenty fast enough at this point to catch up to the end of the leash if he goes in a dangerous direction) and he went like a shot, straight to our yard, where he squatted and did his business. Then he was all smiles and back to calmly hanging out w/ my neighbor and I.
I am not trying to train the dog to poop in other peoples yards, but I would like him to be comfortable letting it go anywhere outdoors instead of putting himself into a frenzy because he has to go, and "outside" is only a 300 sq ft. plot of the whole wide world to him. While at the park, on our morning walks, and other times I have tried to let him know that it is OK to go, but other than saying "outside" I am not sure how to tell a dog to let 'er rip. I am thrilled that he is so focused on doing it outside, but he seems to cause himself distress because outside is so small to him.
Will this go away w/ time? Is it normal? Am I being a neurotic new puppy owner? Sorry for the long post - I would appreciate some advice, though.

Thanks,
-Jeff

Hey Jeff,

I know people who are the same way, always refusing to use a public restroom. :rolleyes: I would say that he is uncomfortable going anywhere else other than his yard. I’m quite sure he will grow out of this as he matures, especially when they want to mark everything. But just incase it may be a good idea to give your pee and poop behaviors a command. Give the command quietly while the dog is in the act until the dog associates it, and presto your dog will go when you want it to. So if you ever get mad at anyone, you can have your dog piss on his or her tires.
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I know I'm going to catch slack for this one... but here's another llama turned dog training tip.

When I used to have llamas, they wouldn't go anywhere outside of their "comfort zone". Depending on the animal, they could really get quite stressed about this. So, when traveling, we had to bring along some poo from home. That did the trick every time.

My dogs enjoy going near (or on) a place that has been previously used, but they don't care who used the spot as long as its been broken in. Your puppy just has his own comfort zone. If your inclined to give it a try, next time your on a walk, take two doggie bags, 1 empty, 1 full and hopefully you'll end up scooping 2. But maybe try not to let the neighbors see... you don't want them to think you are planting land mines in their yard.

Thanks for the advice. Actually, this is working itself out pretty quickly. I took him to the park today and basically waited him out (2+ hours), and he finally gave up and let it go. I let him know that was a good thing to do, and we happily made our way home.