hi my 14 week old westie is doing brilliant in the house breaking dept.
i did the take puppy out and waitand treat routine and he has mastered doing his business outside. he has taken himself one step further for the past week or so if i leave my back door open all the time he totters out whenever to relieve himself
he is doing brilliantly i am so proud of him i think he has mastered it so quickly.
the problem is.. which is my fault alone if i forget to keep the door open e.g gale force wind, rain frost he tooters up to the door and does his business there clearly because he cant get outside.
how do i go about training him so he can give me a sign so i know to open the door for him e.i scratching at the door or something.
he is doing so well its just me at times forgetting and letting him down.

Toddysboss, So glad you asked this question and hope someone can help you as well as me. I have a 15 week old female Yorkie and she has been trained to go outside from day one. My problem is the same, she gives no sign as to when she needs to go out. She knows she is suppose to go outside to do her "business", but if I don't take her out every hour or so, she will go in the house. Out of the 6 weeks I have had her, she has sat at the door to go out maybe 5 times. But if someone is not in the kitchen, then you don't know she needs to go out. Just tonight I took her out and she weed, then 1/2 hour latter she poos on the carpet!! Just when I think I've got it licked, she proves me wrong. It is very frustrating at times. Again, I hope someone can help us!! Shirl :D :-(

This can be difficult, because we all have busy lives, but this is a time when our lives go on hold. Your pups will be giving you signals that they want to go out, but, as with all of us, you're doing something else and not giving them 100% of your attention.

Can you take a fortnight off work (or whatever), and when your pup is awake, watch it? (You can relax and do other stuff when it is having a nap). Always keep at least half an eye on what it's doing . I'm assuming you're female and can multi-task - oops, sorry, chaps! :)

One of you says, "if you're not in the kitchen, you don't know she needs to go out." Why aren't you with her, watching her? Then you will know. Yes, it's bl**dy hard work, but it's worth it in the end, to have a clean reliable dog.

My older dog had the patio door open most of the time so taught me that standing there meant he wanted to go out, even if it was out the back door. My pup goes to the back door but rushes in and out the lounge if we're not in the kitchen. As she's a border collie there's a lot of rushing around anyway so it's not always easy to spot the difference, but I'm learning! ;)
LynnT

morning all!!
our dobe rattles the keys in the door with his nose to go out ,I know a yorkie can't reach the keys ;)
My friend has a long string a bit like a windchime hung on her door and every time she opened the door she rattled the chime pretty soon the dog was doing it too !
hth
liz

Thank you all for you replys, even though I didn't post the question I appreciate the replys. Shirl :D

a bell would be a good idea i had not thought of that.
he is doing so well he is my first puppy and i know i am really lucky my youngest son has started school full time so i am one of the lucky ones that i have all day to devote to my westie i think that is why he is doing so well with his training and learning in phases being left on his own for period of times.
i just want to say this website has been a god send i dont think i would have done things so quickly with toddy if it had not been for all the advice you all give
thankyou

Some of us have to watch our dogs very carefully to know if they are asking to go out as some don't appear to ask.

I have one who will stand behind me with her back to me - does not matter where we are at the time. If I then ask her if she wants to go out she will spin in circles, others if I ask them if they want to go out will go to the door but never seems to let me know otherwise. I do ask them if they want to go out every few hours though so they might not have reached the stage of having to "ask".

Your pup IS "asking" by going to the back door and as he gets older and more able to control himself may just sit and wait there but if you can teach him to ring a bell or similar it could make life easier for you

Christine

Mine are the same Christine. My back door is usually open in the warmer weather, butat other times they just wait for me to let them out from time to time. If someone has a dicky tummy then I sometimes have them sit and starte at me, and then run to the door when I look up!

My Anna gives me the "Hard Stare" It is not something we teach our dogs, rather something they teach us. They find something which works and keep using it.

Regards, John

PS. Scratching doors is not a good idea, it plays havoc with the paintwork!

I've got a door scratcher - Holly. Harvey just stands by the door with his head turned round staring at us. Goldy & Lucky will wander around and won't settle. Weird how they all have different ways of telling us.

Helen

I have heard that you can hang bells on the door. Whenever the pup touches or noses the bell, say "outside?" and take them outside whether they wanted to go out or not. Eventually they will associate touching the bells with going outside, but in the beginning, you'll probably be going outside a lot even when you don't have to!

ToddysBoss, get your dog a frog! :-)

Techology saved me! I bought one of those motion-sensor frogs that croaks when something passes in front of it, and sat it by the door. Now, when Missy wants to go out she passes in front of the frog and sits there quietly. The frog calls me for her! Ribbit! RiBBit! Let Missy OUT!!!! Happily it "sees" through the glass and it RiBBiTs when she wants to come inside. Double duty.

Works like a champ.

What a great idea! :D

If you dont mind spending a bit of money they do a doggy bell that they step on and thats pretty good i got one and after treating him every time he used it he cottond on also i used to see him stand at the door and ask him what he wanted (i know they cant understand) but he used to bark and as he barked i said outside so the doorbell went and he barks to go out now he is only 5 months old but gets the hang of things pretty quickly:) sorry pet planet is where to buy the doorbell