ok so Leo now only has a few accidents in the house fom time to time and stands by the door when he wants out. The Perfect puppy says you can then teach them how to let you know when they want out. My question is how? if we dont see him standing by the door he just stands there until he cant hold it anymore and pees......how can we get him to do something to let us know he wants out?

Gus will come up to us and give a little bark or sometimes a grunt when he needs to go out.
He used to stand by the door and not say anything when he was small like Leo but to be honest I cant remember how he started to vocally let us know :rolleyes: It just sort of happened :)

Question :) Is it such a good idea to teach a dog to ask to go out ? When my pup was small, I was told that as long an adult dog is give sufficient opportunities to go out - ie walks, then it shouldn't need to go out apart from this. I only let my dogs out in the garden when I choose - they get four good walks a day (in warm weather I leave the back door open). My older dog never 'asks' to go out anyway and if I let the younger one out everytime she stood at the back door, she'd be in and out all day :) This would be a nuisance particularly in wet weather.

Any thoughts

Daisy

Bradley used to push his face against the window and sigh or he would tap  the door with his paw. Or if it was and emergency he used tap dance.  None of this I taught him.  The only thing I would say is on muddy days when bradley tapped the door we where constantly cleaning up mud.  So we praised him when he pushed his face up againt the window. So we had the view of squashed jowls and fat lips. (boxer).

I agree Daisy.  If my dogs asked to go out I'd be forever at their beck and call.  They trust me to let them out or take them out and are therefore able to hang on although that would seldom be neccesary.  With a pup I would get into the habit of taking him out as often as you think he may need to go.  :)
Sally

Oh we have a dog who lets the other dogs out in the garden for us!!!!

Shame he doesn't shut the door yet!!!

I have a 5 month old pup who has taught himself to bang the cat flap open to alter us he needs to go out.  He does try it on a little so we generally only let him out about once during an hour, unless he has just had his tea in which case he gets let out about 30 minutes later.  Funny but our older one learnt the cat flap thing as well.  Dont know how they do it but I think it more them training us than us training them when it comes to this sort of thing. 

Perhaps you could hang a string of small bells on the door and teach him to nose them when he needs to go out. I have used this method successfully with our dogs and they don't tend to ring them now unless they really need to go out.

I've been trying to teach this method but my 6 month old Dane puppy just stands there stupidly, showing absolutely no interest in the bells. How do I get her to put her nose near them? I have tried using a treat and she'll sniff it but as soon as I put the treat near the bells, she gives up.

She also just goes and stands by the door when she wants to go out...as if she thinks that by standing there, I'll magically, telepathically know that she needs to go! :) The only advantage to having a Great Dane and wooden floors is that you can hear wherever they are in the house from their BOOM-BOOM-BOOM footsteps and so even if I'm in another room, I can sort of hear where she is and what she is doing. It does mean that I have to keep an eye/ear out for her though.

I don't have such a problem with her asking to go out for no reason or for play. Maybe it's because she's a Dane and they are such wimps and love their creature comforts plus stick to you like glue - but she values being inside so highly that she'll seldom ask to go out unless she really, really has to and then she always rushes straight back in as quickly as she can! Especially now that winter is starting to arrive in New Zealand! Could also be that she sleeps "outside" in the laundry shed and so indoors, in the house, is very desirable! Not that she is upset outside - once she is out and you make it obvious that you're not letting her back in, she'll wander off to potter around the garden or play with her toys or chew a tree trunk or something...

If Glazby wants to go outside we'll generally notice him pacing from the kitchen to the living room quite a bit - we'll then say "do you want wee-wees"? and if he does he'll do an extra wiggle-bum and will run back to the door ready for us to let him outside!!

LMAO @ Charanda, that sounds so sweet! :-D

Millie used to just stand at the door expecting us to know - not much you can do really!  Then one day she barked and got told what a good girl she was and then each time she did it - so by about 4 months she had learnt that a nice loud bark brings someone running to open the door for her. 

You can buy those little doggie doorbell things that they place their paws on when they want to go out, from pet planet I think, but I have no idea if they are easy to train to use, or if they are any good.

It can take a bit of time until they realise what the bells are for.

Make sure that you 'ding' the bells each time you let her out. She should catch on that bells ringing = door opening.

If you have an insect screen door hang bells on this also. Leave her inside, go out and do something interesting/exciting just outside where she can see you (eg play with a ball, eat an apple, whatever turns her on). With a bit of luck she will want to get to you and will inadvertently ring the bells, whereupon you say 'good ring' and rush and open the door. Do this for several days and she will make the connection.

Some people smear a bit of peanut butter on the bell. I haven't tried this as I wonder if the dog will think the bells are a food item rather than a communication device :-)

My puppy will bark when she needs to poo but if she needs a wee she just stands at the back door untill she wets herself. The only time she will make any noise at the back door is when we wake up in the morning and then she will run full belt at the back door and head but it, i open the door and she wee's on the step with a look of pure contentment on her face :0)

Debbie