How do you get a dog to tell you when they need to go outside to the bathroom?

Answer 1

Just for some background, I am a former AKC kennel owner (until I got a divorce :P), professional obedience, tracking, and protection trainer, and show handler with multiple AKC obedience titles to my dogs' credit. I am a founding member, certified Canine Behaviorist, and former Chairman of the National Association of Professional Canine Trainers and Handlers (NAPCaTH). I'm not just spouting something I heard from Uncle Jake or saw on "The Dog Whisperer". (shudder) The time it takes to housebreak a puppy (older than 6 weeks) in my home is 2-5 days. If it's taking longer than that then YOU are doing something wrong.

I'm going to use the term "poo" to cover both urine and feces.

Here is the recipe for success:

#1 Get on a schedule. - Bring him outside often (about every 2-4 hours) for the first week or so. If you can't dedicate yourself to going outside with your puppy for 15 minutes every 4 hours for a few days then please take the puppy to a shelter and get a cat.

#2 Praise early, praise often. - Make a BIG pleasant deal about what a wonderful thing it is that he has done his business outside **as soon** as he has done so. If you wait until a puppy wanders up to you to praise him, then he thinks you are praising him for coming to you and has forgotten all about the big stinky load he dropped a few minutes before. Your praise to correction ratio should be about 20:1. That means that you should be telling him that he is good for doing all kinds of little things about 20 times more often than you are scolding him for doing something wrong. This will teach him very quickly the boundaries of what is acceptable behavior and what is not.

#3 DO NOT RUB THE DOG'S NOSE IN POO! A dog has no way of getting the poo off of his nose except by licking it off. If he does this then before you know it, you have a poo eating dog on your hands b/c he has developed a taste for it! Instead, remember that a dog's nose is at least 150 times more powerful than your own (depending upon the breed) and use that to your advantage. Make the dog down-stay (lay down and stay there) in position for 1 minute per month of age very near but not in the poo. If your dog is 3 months old, then he stays with his nose next to the poo for 3 minutes while you clean it up. He will very soon associate pooing in the house with having to lay still for (what seems like to a puppy) a VERY long time and will instead wait for his next regularly scheduled potty break.

#4 Be consistent. The pup needs to know that if he poos in the house that there are consequences and, more importantly, that if he does it outside that there will be praise.

#5 NEVER call a dog to you for punishment. When you find the dog has dropped a load, go get him, pull him carefully but firmly to the site of the poo, and then scold him. If you call a dog to you for punishment then you are, in the dog's mind, punishing him for coming to you when you call him b/c that's the last thing he did before you lit into him with your loud, scolding mommy (or daddy) voice. If the dog's nose is filled with the aroma of his own poo, then it's pretty clear to him what you are bent out of shape about. If I had a dollar for every time someone has called me up and can't figure out why their dog doesn't come when he's called but yet they call the dog before they punish him, I'd be a VERY rich man. :D

The most important thing to remember with canine behavior:
Dogs LOVE praise. They LIVE for praise. If your pup knows that he will be praised for good behavior then he will do absolutely ANYTHING that will earn him "luvins".

Good luck and please feel free to email me if you have any further questions.

Torin

Answer 2

My dog sits in front of the door and barks when he needs to go outside.

Whenever you feed the dog, take him outside about 30 minutes after eating. Praise him a lot. Keep doing that over & over again until it becomes habit for him to go outside after eating. Use the same words and commands each time. Whatever words you choose to associate his "going outside".

Then take him outside to "go" on whatever schedule you make up and can deal with. If he's just a puppy, it has to be pretty frequently, an older dog can wait for a few hours.

Answer 3

All dogs tell you in a 'different' way. Some dogs move around a lot and a fidjity or will hang around the door sratching it. You should take puppies outside every 2-4 hours as they have very weak bladders and often need to go 'do their business' quiet often. Setting up a routine is very good as dogs need consistancy and routine.

Answer 4

What i could do is once you do take her exterior and he or she is going potty, carry her decrease back interior and compliment her because of the fact she did properly. provide her a cope with to coach her that she did some thing sturdy. The cope with will make her prefer to pass exterior back the subsequent time and pass potty like a sturdy woman. This worked for my 8 3 hundred and sixty 5 days previous poodle and now each and every time she needs to pass she stands by ability of the door and wags her little stub, and each now and then even playfully scratches on the door! a ten month previous domestic dog will maximum possibly carry it till somebody isn't around for an prolonged time to demonstrate screen her pass. She is conscious that she shouldn't do it yet no one is around to enable her out. to sidestep this from taking place once you leave the abode, feed your canine half-hour in the previous you leave, and once you're approximately to leave, positioned her exterior and WATCH her pass potty from the window. in the previous she is obtainable in, positioned her foodstuff someplace that she would have the ability to't get it so she does not consume on an identical time as your long previous. sturdy luck!

Answer 5

Well, here'll tell you how to train your dog ring the bell every time he/she wants to go potty. ( I actually read about this from Puppy for Dummies by Sarah Hodgson and train it on my dog for about 3 weeks until she perfect it).
First of all like every one said you need to make a schedule for your dog. If your dog is still a puppy then they need to do business more often. If they r older then they can hold the bladder better, you don't have to take them out as frequent. Here I work in restaurant business so I'm away a lot. I take my dog out after I feed her breakfast, then 1 during lunch break (mine is 3 pm) and when I get home at night and before i go to bed.
Everytime you take your dog out, the 1st thing you do is for his/her to do business, walking come later. Don't let his/her roam during this time. Therefore she/he will understand that they r go out is to do potty. When they are doing it, you can say potty or do your business. After a month or so he/she will do it on clue. It's work like a charm on my dog. You should tighten the leash beforeand during the period when they go potty and cheer for him/her or give a treat when they done. It may take a bit patience but totally worth it.
I hang a bell by my door, about the dog's nose level. Everytime I take her out, I ring the bell and say "Outside". after the 1st few time my puppy started to get curious and hit the bell too. Ok, so they can play with the bell and not for going potty. But everytime they ring, you take her/him out anyway and repeat the potty training step. After a while they gonna get the hang of this and ring the bell when they want to go out.

Answer 6

When I was training my dog I would ask him if he wanted to go to the bathroom and then walk to the door and ring the sleigh bells on the door. After a couple of weeks we would hear the sleigh bells ring and we knew that he wanted to go out to the bathroom.

Answer 7

You can take a lot of stress out of house training your dog if you install a dogie door and get him to go in and out of it a few times with a lot of praise and lovin. (dogie treats don't hurt either.) I haven't seen a dog that wouldn't go through a dogie door for the first time within an half an hour. If you just want him to ask to go out side, it can be done and is all the time but it's going to take time. try to make a game out of it where he'll want to paw your leg or dance in circles at the door to go out side, do his business and maybe a short game of tug o war or ball fetch ? hope this helps you. :)

Answer 8

to start training them say "(dogs name) do you want to go outside" with excitement in your voice. they will think that going outside is a lot of fun and eventually they will either start to bark when they want to go outside or they will sit by the door or do something along those lines. this is the technique that we have been using for years. my pug gets so excited but pugs arent always the smartest dogs anyway which just makes them even more funny.

Answer 9

best get help from dog trainer or read on it. got t to train them. its not a one time process.

Housetraining
Specific advice for puppies.

see site below for all of these !

A Classic Winter Puppy Housetraining Problem (BehavioRx: 1/97)
When Puppies Pee: Submissive Wetting (BehavioRx: 5/98)
Housetraining Your Young Puppy by G. Bohnenkamp
Housebreaking the New Puppy by A. Bunn
Beating Your Pup at His Own Game (Canines in Training)
Housetraining Your Puppy by W. Dreyer
How To Housebreak Your Puppy by E. Frawley
Housebreaking Your Puppy by M. Smith, DVM & R. Foster, DVM
Puppy Housetraining (Part 1) & (Part 2) by W. L. Hunthausen, DVM & G. M. Landsberg, DVM
Housetraining Your Puppy by G. Jones
How to Successfully Housetrain Your Puppy by R. Kovary
Tips For Housetraining Your Pet by C. C. McLay
Puppy Poop (or The Happiness of Housetraining) & Advanced Puppy Poop by B. J. Oliver, MA
Housetraining Your Puppy by M. Smith, DVM
House Training Puppies by M. Weston
You may also wish to examine Housetraining & Submissive Urination.
Socialization

Answer 10

My sister trained both of hers by hanging a small bell just high enough off the floor on the door knob for them to push with their nose.Every time they went outside she rang the bell..It only took her 2 weeks to teach them both.Now whenever they need to go out they ring the bell..Good Luck