Hi, I have a 15 week old yellow beauty. She comes to my whistle, sits and lays down. What she doesn't do is signal me at all when she needs to go out. Sometimes she will hold it until she gets in after a long time outside. What to do? My vet says that she is still young for this however I have no idea how long. I praise her plenty when she does go outside. What am I doing wrong?
You're not doing anything wrong, she is still very young and simply hasn't learnt yet. You need to take her out every half hour or so. If she doesn't go, bring her back in and pop her in a crate - or keep a very close eye on her - and take her out again after 5 minutes. Lots of praise and treats for going outside, clear up any accidents inside without any fuss. If she is struggling to focus on the job in hand outside, use a small outdoor pen (I used a guinea pig pen) and her reward for going can be a play in the garden. She'll get the hang of it. Once she understands that outside is the place to go, she will start to signal that she wants to go out, but it may not be obvious to you at first. Some puppies will bark or whine, but others will just go to the door, or stare at you. If you don't catch it, you get a puddle, so you need to start watching to see if she has a signal like this. It's a tiresome stage, but she will get through it. Some puppies just take longer than others. My most recent was a sloooooooooow learner!
My girl will go to the back door and just sit there, no noise. If I'm not in the room it's difficult to know that she is there. My living room backs onto our garden so generally I'm in the same room as her. If I'm in the kitchen and she wanders off, after a minute or two I will check in the living room to see if she's sat by the door.
