Quote Originally Posted by lizbud View Post
LOL Not a full grown GSD, I'l bet. I am glad she didn't have Parvo.
that is a killer disease.

As a foster, are you required to train her in lessons on housetraining?
Most GSDs are easy to train once you gain their trust.
Liz- I am not sure if it were parvo or not. She tested positive, but, have no way of knowing if it were a false positive or not.

See, here is the story on my fostering. I usually only have the pup or puppies (as is usually the case, 2) for a week. Sometimes, it is even as short as 3-4 days. It has been as long as 10. In this case, Gretchen will be with me for 3 full weeks.

I usually work diligently to potty train the pups, teach them anything I can. Couple of things are working against me here. 1) our office moved 25 miles away from my home. It simply isn't possible for me to go home 2-3 times a day to let a puppy in or out any more. On shorter fosters, I would ask neighbors or my mom to help out, so, it has worked reasonably well. And, Gretchen simply would not respond to a stranger at this point. When my mom was over earlier this week, Gretchen wouldn't come out of her little compound.

The more serious issue here is Gretchen's timidness. I have never seen such a thing before like this as it is with her. We make incremental steps each day. Today was the absolute first time she potty'd outside for me (and it was pee). I have had her for nearly 2 weeks (minus the 48 hour ER stay). The very first time....I was floored, and excited and properly enthusiastic about it. LOL.

It is only the last couple of days that she will physically move in the yard with me. She has to be carried to the back yard (or, dragged, I suppose...not my style, though). She then will stand stock still for a few minutes, and I take little steps around, talking softly to her, to get her to move around. I have yet to put a collar on her, she is on a slip, so as to make escapes less likely.

So, no, she is not a full grown shepherd, and yeah, I normally do not paper train them...instead work on the outside stuff. Hah. You should have seen her when there was snow on the ground earlier this week! No movement at all.

I want to begin more outside efforts, and have every confidence that she will transition to an outside pottier yet. But, it might not be on my watch.