[rooney]

I have an 18 week old dachshund/chihuahua mix. Sometimes, he'll go to the door or bark to ask me to take him outside, but sometimes, he'll race to a corner and go there, before I even get the chance to notice he's gone. Why does he do this? Why doesn't he just always ask? He's had a couple of incidents already where he's done this, but I want him to always be asking.

Also, since the first couple of weeks that I've had him, I've gotten into a routine of taking him out about every hour when I'm home. However, this past week, sometimes when I take him out, he'll just look at me and he won't go. Does this mean I should start elongated the time between trips outside, because he doesn't need to go every hour? It seems that every two hours is more like it now, but I don't want him to have accidents inside, and he's not as reliable for asking to go out to pee as he is to ask to poop.

 

[Amaryllis]

He's only 18 weeks old. Dogs don't start to get full bladder control until about 6 months old, and I wouldn't expect complete housetraining for at least another couple of months after that. He may not realize he has to go sometimes, and that's why you're not getting a warning.

If he's only going every 2 or 3 hours, go ahead and take him out ever 2 or 3 hours, but shorten the time if that increases accidents. Praise successful potties outside to the heavens (complete with treats), ignore accidents inside. (Clean them with an enzymatic cleaner. If you use soap and water, he'll still be able to smell it and think that's an okay place to go.) Take him outside and wait 5 - 15 minutes. If he doesn't go, go back inside, no playtime outside. This is potty time, not play time. If he goes, you can have some playtime, but you want to communicate that potty comes first.

Above all, have patience. You weren't house trained in a day, either!

 

[doxiemommy]

I agree. If he didn't realize he needed to go til it was too late, he may have just bolted for the corner, like BOOM, I gotta go NOW!
One of my nieces used to do that, strangely enough. If no one was paying attention, and asking her if she needed to go potty, she'd get carried away with playing, and then, boom, she'd squat and go. I guess it was too much of a bother to leave her playtime and actually walk to the bathroom!

 

[Hambonez]

It's nice when Hamilton asks to go out, but it is still the peoples' responsibility that he gets out often enough. There are definitely more and less "safe" situations in the house - when he's just gone outside, he gets way more freedom to roam around. When he's getting due to go out he has to hang closer. When he looks like he's straying from where we are with no objective (not going to get a toy or a drink), then he goes out, assuming he was wandering off to find a place to go.