When will pup start asking to go out?

the mama · 02-04-2008, 11:11 AM

Holly (golden retriever/boxer mix) is 15 weeks, now. She's a darn smart girl, too! We seldom need to do clean-up in the house, lately (mostly because we humans are now trained!). She holds it longer, and poo's less frequently.

But, she never lets us know she needs to go out. If we dont' think to take her when she is at her usual limit, she'll just squat. She doesn't do much searching or sniffing, first. She's playing, she's doing her thing, and then she squats.

I'm not impatient. I'm not upset. She's a remarkable puppy! I'm just curious when she'll let us know she needs to potty.

Our big girl (8 years old) never lets us know when she wants to go out. She just sits patiently by the door and waits for someone to notice her (NEVER messes--just holds it while she waits). She doesn't bark, scratch, whine, anything. Just sits quietly and patiently--which means Holly isn't going to learn the cueing from her.

So... how does this work?

Thanks!

BoxMeIn21 · 02-04-2008, 11:51 AM

At 15 weeks I would say you are asking a little bit too much.

Rowdy just started letting me know and he's two. In fact, some dogs never let their owners know that they need to go out. So that being said, it's up to you to provide an open door when you think it's time for her to go.

the mama · 02-04-2008, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoxMeIn21

At 15 weeks I would say you are asking a little bit too much.

Oh... I'm not asking her to do it now! Just wondering if I should be adding some sort of training to the potty training.

My cousins had a cat that would ring a bell they hung on the door to ask to get out!

That was pretty cool. If I hung a bell on the door, Holly would eat it.

briteday · 02-04-2008, 12:50 PM

Some dogs never do. You may just have to have a set schedule when they know you will let them out.

TibetanFan · 02-04-2008, 08:12 PM

Your older dog actually IS letting you know she needs to go out! Her cue is she sits quietly by the door! My dog does the same.

RonE · 02-04-2008, 09:08 PM

Once I'm familiar with my dogs' schedule, I'd rather I determine when I let them out and it's up to me to make sure that the intervals are reasonable.

Unless they are suffering from some kind of gastric event, I'd rather they not bark, whine, scratch at the door or ring a little bell. Dogs get accustomed to doing that for attention and they pick the absolute most inopportune times.

Don't make me provide examples.

the mama · 02-04-2008, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonE

Don't make me provide examples.

LOL!! Although I'd enjoy hearing them, I'm sure, I won't ask! I think I can imagine....

StevePax · 02-05-2008, 09:45 AM

Leo sits quietly at the door. We basically taught him that - as he was potty training, any time he sat by the big glass sliding door to look out the window, we would quickly jump up and open it for him. Didn't take him long to realize that sitting there was the way to get it to open. Now that he's fully housetrained, we probably aren't as quick to jump up for him (Leo, you want to go out AGAIN!!??), but he just sits there and waits for us to open it. If a couple of minutes go by, and he doesn't really have to go that bad, he just wanders off to play and tries again later.

wvasko · 02-05-2008, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonE

Once I'm familiar with my dogs' schedule, I'd rather I determine when I let them out and it's up to me to make sure that the intervals are reasonable.

Unless they are suffering from some kind of gastric event, I'd rather they not bark, whine, scratch at the door or ring a little bell. Dogs get accustomed to doing that for attention and they pick the absolute most inopportune times.

Don't make me provide examples.

RonE
Once I'm familiar with my dogs' schedule, I'd rather I determine when I let them out and it's up to me to make sure that the intervals are reasonable.

My opinion is, that is the correct answer. There is a problem though, the older dog has raised expectations that the young dog can't fullfill.

blackrose · 02-05-2008, 06:37 PM

Sadie never would let us know when she needed to go out unless she had to poop. Then she would come over to us, whine, and jump into our laps. A quick, "Do you have to go outside?" would result in her rushing to the door and prancing.

Chloe does the same thing, only instead of coming to us she'll normally seek out a window or door and pace in front of it while whining. Again, that is only when she really has to go poop. If I don't take her out every two hours or so and she is running loose she'll pee on the floor.

Blackie and Rose just hold it until I let them out, although Blackie will bark when he desperately needs out and Rose will scratch the door.

AkiraleShiba · 02-05-2008, 06:46 PM

If you always let the dog out to potty by the same door it should eventually catch on. Praise the dog when he goes outside by that door. My dog started at 8 weeks to do it and our cairn began at 8 weeks but it took him until about 16 weeks to be fully trained to go out.

kongs mama · 02-05-2008, 07:07 PM

King is 6 months old now and he has never been a barker or a whiner he just paces around and breathes really heavy and that so far is the only way I ever know he has to go. BUTTTTT he sometimes does that then goes outside for 30 minutes comes back in gets his cookie waits for me to get all snuggled back in bed and boom starts the heavy breathing panting and all that fun stuff all over again. He is quite the character personally I think it is all for the cookies, I do not watch to see if he pees at 3:00am I just assume that after 30 minutes he has gone, see what happens when we assume lol

Poly · 02-05-2008, 07:34 PM

I prefer to give my dogs their potty breaks on a schedule rather than teach them to signal me when they want to go out.

That's a preference and I understand other people like it different. Let me explain.

With puppies, you must have them on a feeding and potty schedule anyway until they are at least 16 weeks old - maybe longer. Simply keeping them on a schedule after they are housetrained doesn't disturb them in the least.

Of course, you adjust the schedule according to the age and size of the dog.

After a while, dogs will have their schedule pretty much figured out and they will remind you if you aren't sticking to it.

RonE · 02-05-2008, 07:40 PM

Quote:

the older dog has raised expectations that the young dog can't fullfill.

If I have two dogs that have different frequency needs (like I did for several months,) we accommodate the one that needs to go more frequently.

This means that Esther was going out twice during the night for a while with the pup - not because she had to but because they eat, sleep, pee and poop together.

Besides, if I'm getting up, so is she.

If I am lucky, and we have Esther well into her senior years, she may need to go out more frequently again and Molly's goin' with her.

echo8287 · 02-06-2008, 01:56 AM

I have 2 Schnauzers and one of them started to come and paw me at about 8 months. This was her signal that she wanted to go out. She still does it at almost 10 months now. The only problem is sometimes when she needs to use the room she will go straight to a place and go. The next time it was just a ploy to go look for squirrels. I can usually tell when she gets to the door. We have a little ritual where we stop at the open door, I say ok and we go out. As soon as we are outside if she goes on point and then starts acting bonkers, I know we are hunting squirrels. The other one doesn't let you know and will hide sometimes and poop in the house. David