My 4 month black lab has done superbly well since we had her at 10 weeks & crate training has worked a dream. Straight after waking/eating she goes outside to the garden for the toilet. However this is as the door is mainly left open all of the day for her to to/fro. Once the door is closed in the evening when it is too cool she hasn't leant how to let us know she wants to go out. I keep a close eye on her and jump up and open the door when I think she is lurking near it but sometimes when preoccupied she does a wee on the hall floor. How do I teach her to call us? First thing in the morning when she wakes in her crate she makes little cries for us to know to go down and let her out but I need her to similar at the door. Will this just come in time or does anyone have any tips/tricks? She is responding really well with reward training for sit/stay/drop ball etc and knows she gets a treat when she does her business outside but I just want to relax in the house when the door is shut knowing that she will ask to go out. Many thanks!
Re: Housetraining Hi there, it sounds as though you are doing great. Some dogs will never make a noise to go out, though many will stand pointedly by the door. As their bladder capacity grows, this isn't a problem provided you let them out at regular intervals. Your pup is behaving normally for 10 weeks, most will take themselves out it the door is open, but forget if it is closed. Once the door is shut in the evenings you need to follow the housetraining 'process' of taking her out at frequent intervals, and supervising closely once her bladder starts to fill
Re: Housetraining Hi and welcome I would take her out into the garden every 30-45 mins and really praise her when she goes. If you see her start to squat, quickly pick her up and take her outside without saying anything, then praise when she goes. What is pups name? What colour lab is she?
Re: Housetraining Welcome to the forum! Personally if it were me I wouldnt have the door open all day at all, or I would put a baby gate or similar there so she didn't have free access to the garden whenever she wants. She won't learn to ask to go out if she always has free access. I would do as Pippa and Naya have both said and once the door is closed start taking her out every 30 minutes or so, so she will start to learn that even though the door is closed, outside is still where she has to go to the toilet. My dog doesn't ever ask to go out so I have to keep a conscious record of how long it was since she last went out. As a young pup I set a timer as she was needing to be taken out every 20 minutes. Your pup still has a little while to go yet before the housetraining thing will click in her mind and until then you can't expect her to ask to go out as she doesn't know. You could start training her now to do something like ring a bell (they sell 'doggie doorbells' just for this but I know members who have improvised with old Christmas decorations etc) but to get her to use it consistently you would probably have to start keeping the door closed during the day.
Re: Housetraining Many thanks for your replies! I've installed the stair gate & hopefully that will help. I agree that having the door open all say & closing it at other times is confusing her. She's an adorable black lab called Meg ! When we take her outside we always take her to the same area and say "be quick" - she pretty much does a wee straight away & gets rewarded for it with a treat. At night she goes from 11pm to 6/7am and wakes us with few moans to be let out. So she's got the idea in the morning when in the crate we just need to work on her asking when the door is closed! Since discovering your website Pippa I've ordered your new book so look forward to reading it! Many thanks for your helpful replies!
Re: Housetraining Sounds like you are doing really well. She is young yet so will definitely get it soon . Love her name Emma and Meg (20 weeks)
Re: Housetraining I had the same issue (no signal from Daisy that she needed to go out) and solved it by hanging a small bell on a ribbon on the door knob at my puppy's chest height. Every time we went out, I waggled the bell near her snout and used my outside word. I'd heard of this but had never tried it and it works! The first few times Daisy rang the bell, I thought it might accidental but I jumped right up and took her out. When she pottied, I praised her to the skies. The only house accident she's had in over 2 weeks was when I closed the bell in-between the inner and outer doors, and she couldn't reach it! She pottied on the tile right in front of the door - she tried but it was my fault. In fact, just now, she rang the bell right before I sat down at the computer, I took her out, and she pottied. I love this method! She'll be 14 weeks on 7/22 and her housebreaking is pretty trustworthy. I've read that I should now be able to take the bell to a new location (e.g. visiting friends), hang it on the door, show it to her, and she should ring it when she needs to go out. Haven't tried that yet - I need a good friend willing to be the guinea pig! She's been going for 8-9 hours overnight since she was 9 weeks old, which amazed me... Try the bell - maybe it'll work for you! Plus, it's kinda fun.
Re: Housetraining I feel your pain! Pongo was exactly the same. We also tried the doggy doorbell, but it didn't work - he just loved playing with it so much it became his favourite toy : I'd love to say that we trained him successfully, but in fact nature takes over - as he has grown older his bladder control has improved and he can now last for several hours without going outside; so it really isn't an issue any more. We may find we need to get back onto some sort of training when winter comes and we aren't leaving the doors open so often. Rosie
