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-   -   House Training (http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=24640)

Wembly March 9th, 2006 11:26 AM

House Training
 
This may sound a stupid question, but I am a first time dog owner, and so don't really know.......... but I am trying to house train my puppy (toy poodle, 16 weeks old). She is doing really well - and she has only had one "accident" in the last three weeks. However, I take her out about every two hours, and that seems to be working. My question is -how do I get her to let me know when she wants to go out, as opposed to me just taking her out when I feel she needs to go?

Does that come as time goes on, or is there something I should be doing? Some kind of thing I should be training her to do - to let me know when she wants to go.

She is great at night - I crate her during the night and she sleeps right through and goes as soon as I take her outside.

Any help/comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

LianneCatherine March 9th, 2006 11:30 AM

That's not a stupid question at all! I can completely relate - I just got a teacup yorkie and am struggling with the housetraining as well. From what I've heard and read, you should be watching for the "signs" your puppy gives you to tell you she's gotta go potty. Once you know what to look for it can be easier to know. At this point, while she's still relatively young, taking her out every couple hours is probably a great idea. As she gets older you can probably ease up a little bit.

Another training method I've heard of is to put a bell on the door that you take her out of, and ring it each time you take her out. She will then associate the bell with potty time, and eventually ring the bell on her own to let you know it's time.

Good luck!! :)

Wembly March 9th, 2006 11:55 AM

House Training
 
Thanks very much for your comments. I will carry on with taking her out every couple of hours. I have heard about the bells, and think that is a great idea. However, we live 6 months in Arizona and 6 months in BC, so we would always have to be carrying bells around with us - in hotels en route etc. Mind you, may be that wouldn't be such a bad thing. May be I will give it a try. Thanks very much.

jesse's mommy March 9th, 2006 12:02 PM

From my experience, I've noticed that all dogs will give you different signs. It's up to you to figure out what your dog is telling you. My old dog would sit at the back door and if you didn't see him, he would let out a bark "saying, uh, hello!". My current dog will sit in front of you and put her paw on your arm, but it took us a while to figure this out because for a while there that was the same sign as can we play? Eventually she realized that she was communicating two different things to us with the same sign. Now she grabs a toy and rolls on top of it if she wants to play, but still puts her paw on our arm when she wants to go outside. Just watch your dog, the "go outside" routine will show.

jessi76 March 9th, 2006 12:43 PM

I found taking my dog out the SAME door every time helped him figure it out... one day he went to THAT door, looked at it, then looked at me. as if he was saying "I always go out this door to pee, so let's go!".

you're doing the right thing by taking him out every couple of hours, when you feel confident he's getting it, start to stretch out that time - go out every 3 hrs instead of 2... hopefully he'll let you know if he needs to go out sooner.

With my own pup, in order to SEE the signs I had to give him the opportunity to SHOW me.

Wembly March 9th, 2006 03:25 PM

House training
 
Thanks very much for the help. Yes, I have been looking for signs and thought I had it figured out. As I am working away on my computer she would go and sit by the door. Not making any noise, just sitting there.......so I took her outside and she did her "business". So I thought that was it, she would always sit by the door.

However, when I go into the living room at night, I thought she would go by the door I usually take her to go outside. No..............when she had the accident she did actually come up to me and sit by my side. She just sat there......I just thought she wanted to be near me. Silly me, I suppose that was her way of telling me she wanted outside. I will have to be very diligent and try to figure it out.

The only trouble is that when we are at our other home (in BC) we will have to train her to use yet another door ha.ha. I am sure she will get the hang of it. It's sometimes hard to concentrate on other things when you have to be so watchful all the time. I am sure I will pick up on her signs though - she is a good little dog.

Thanks again.

jesse's mommy March 9th, 2006 04:52 PM

Didn't you know you were supposed to read their minds???? :D


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