[Tlacrone]

Hello! I am in need of some help. I have a 10 month old shitzu that REFUSES to let me know when he has to go potty. When I take him out he goes, but if I forget he pees or poops by the door or behind our table. I’ve tried using a bell and he doesn’t get that either. I love my pups but it’s driving me nuts. We also have a 2 year old dog that will not let us know when he has to go either, but he holds it for the most part. But now is having more accidents also. It’s just gross! Please help!

 

[NadiaK]

I have a 16 month old bichon that also does not tell us when she needs to go. From the time she was a baby we limited where she was allowed in the house. Initially she was only allowed where there was flooring. First just a very small gated off area of the kitchen that included her crate. Then eventually she got the whole kitchen. She now is allowed to be in the kitchen, family room and front foyer as she loves to sit and watch everything looking through the storm door.

The other thing we do is keep a daily log of her potty and eating habits. We keep a steno pad on the center island in the kitchen. We have done this since she was a baby as well. By doing this, we soon figured out her schedule and how long is reasonable before she needs to be let out again. This is also super helpful if we are in and out of the house and return home. We can easily check when the dog was let out by the spouse.

On occasion I find that our pup will come to us and whine or will go sit by the door as a signal she needs to go out. But this is not consistent. Taking her out every few hours on schedule has worked great for us. She has not had an accident in the house now for 8 months. Good luck.

 

[parus]

My big dog lets me know he has to go out by headbutting me. It's really annoying. A friend of mine trained her husky to ring a bell when he needed to go out. Well, you can imagine that the bell was ringing every two seconds, because he naturally connected the bell to going outside, rather than the bell just to needing to relieve himself. I think sometimes signals are more trouble than they're worth.

My late dog didn't really have an "outside" signal other than looking antsy, so I just fed her on a schedule (so her digestion was more predictable) and let her outside on a schedule, and it worked fine. Maybe put a ringer alert in your phone if you tend to forget?