Toilet Training

Alfie is just over 4 months old now and his toilet training is going very well, always goes into the garden, except for yesterday, the weather wasn't too good and we had the back door shut ( it's generally open for him to have free run), he did wee in the house.
I was wondering as the weather starts to decline and the door is closed more and more can you train them to let you know when they want to go out, barking etc or will they just do it naturally.

Suki will paw or knock on the door to be let in and out. We didn't teach her she just kind of learned on her own.

Bailey will go and sit at the back door and cry to get out then comes straight back in lol! He also just learned it himself really.

I am having a problem with Cyril, he has been taught to toilet on pads by his previous owners, I have to teach him again to toilet outside but as it is too hot to have the doors closed I am waiting until the weather gets colder.

Like Alfie he does toilet outside most of the time but to Cyril there is no boundary to tell him were he can't toilet because the doors are open. Once the doors will be closed he will learn the boundaries of not toileting inside.

Cyril won't go out in the rain so I have to make him when I think he needs to toilet. As Alfie is 4 months old I would take him out every 45 minutes to toilet, stay out with him so I can make sure he has gone or not. If he doesn't go withing 5 minutes I come back in again then take him out 10 minutes later. When he does go lots and lots of praise.

Rocky will go and sit in front of the back door when he needs to go out for a widdle. The door is open during the day for him to come and go as he pleases.

He has only once done a widdle inside and that was when we first got him home, the first few days he was a bit unsure of things as to be expected. He has not done anything inside since then, we didnt make a fuss when he did it just took him outside and gave him lots of praise when he did widdled outside.

In my experience, I think its something they learn over time.

Zeus has had his fair share of accidents since I've had him but for the past couple of weeks, whenever he needs to go for a pee or poo, he'll go the back door and just look at the handle and then look at me.

I've taught him the 'speak' command so what I do now is tell him to 'speak' before I let him out. Hopefully soon enough, he'll realise that I want him to bark so that I know he wants to go out!

If you clicker train, you could teach him to ring a bell

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1171

Ralph looks up at the door handle and makes this grumbling whiney noise. He just did that on his own one day. He even did it when we were at puppy training the other day in the hall where it's held! Lots of praise!

You have to remember that he's still just a baby! It's a work in progress. Up until about 5 or 6 months old pups don't have full control over their bladders/bowels. They will have the odd accident. If you watch his body language, you'll start to pick up on when he wants to go out - he might go and sit by the door, or he might run backwards & forwards...just take notice of what he's doing & you'll catch little signals!

It's never a good idea to let a pup have free run to go out for the toilet because they don't learn as quickly to hold it and can get confused about what they need to do when the door is shut.

I would keep the door closed now and keep an eye on him. Chances are he will go to the back door when he needs to go and sit there and wait. That's fine, because at least he isn't doing it in the house. If he does go to do it in the house, a firm no and straight outside should reinforce the outside only rule.

They do learn ways of letting you know. SInce the age of about six months, Charlie always sits in front of me and put his head on my knee if he needs to go out. Alfie will eventually learn to let you know - you just need to keep an eye on him in the meantime.

It is better not to say anything if your pup goes in the house, dogs don't understand what the word "No" means, we use it for a lot of things which is confusing for a dog. A dog jumps up at us, we say "No", they toilet in the house, we sahy "No", they chew the leg of a dining chair, we say "No", and many more, so confusing for a dog.

I used to run a pre-school playgroup, we took children from 3 years old to going into school, many of them didn't understand what "No" meant because of its many uses, what chance does a dog have if our children get confused.

This isn't an attack on anyone, just trying to help a dog make sense of our confusing language.

Cyril baby wrote:It is better not to say anything if your pup goes in the house, dogs don't understand what the word "No" means, we use it for a lot of things which is confusing for a dog. A dog jumps up at us, we say "No", they toilet in the house, we sahy "No", they chew the leg of a dining chair, we say "No", and many more, so confusing for a dog.

I used to run a pre-school playgroup, we took children from 3 years old to going into school, many of them didn't understand what "No" meant because of its many uses, what chance does a dog have if our children get confused.

This isn't an attack on anyone, just trying to help a dog make sense of our confusing language.

It doesn't have to be 'No', it could be 'Ah Ah' or something similar. I know a dog doesn't understand what we mean, and there is absolutely no point saying anything after the fact because it just won't have a clue, but if you catch a dog in the act of doing it's business in the house, a 'no' or 'ah ah' followed by a swift removal to the garden should help reinforce the message.

You could say the same for a command like 'leave it', they get told to leave if they pick something up they shouldn't, if they are sniffing at something they shouldn't, if you walk in and they are chewing something they shouldn't be. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Dogs will always learn over time to let you know some how what he wants. you just gotta be patient and understand your dog and his/her body language, youll soon pick up certain traits that your dog does.

Good luck
-Stokester