Toilet training

[CleverQuacks]

My dog is twelve weeks old and we are still in the process of toilet training. I have been taking her in the garden every twenty minutes and now, if I leave the back door open, she will take herself out to the toilet. She hasn’t had any accidents in the house for three days. However if I close the back door she will just toilet anyway. How do I transition to her telling me she needs to go out?

I have joined a Facebook group recommended on here and asked this same question and they have said that if I continue to leave the back door open she won’t toilet train but I don’t really understand why not. She is doing all her toileting outside with the back door open so I feel like we are on the right track.

[BiteyShark]

She clearly sees toileting outside as where to go IF that is accessible. What you need to work on is to get her to indicate to you that she needs to be let out.

What I would do is to get some training bells and hang them by the door and bash them and let her out when you think she needs to toilet. Then slowly encourage her to bash them by holding treats near the bells. This worked for my puppy very quickly as he didn't have a good indicator. Once he worked out bashing the bells meant he was let out we slowly took them away and now he paws at the door or barks if we don't hear him.

[Brakebackcyclebot]

We have a puppy too - 14 weeks. We've done exactly the same as you. Last night (5 mins after coming in from weeing) at bedtime he sat by the back door and whimpered. I opened it again, he went out & did a big poo. That was the first time he's communicated that he needed to go out.

We have done A LOT of huge praising for any wees & poos outside, and he definitely knows he's meant to go outside, but has only just started to communicate rather than going inside

[CleverQuacks]

Thanks guys. You have reassured me that I haven’t completely screwed up her toilet training. I will look into getting some bella

[StillMedusa]

Snap... my pup is coming up for 12 weeks and exactly the same. She trots out to the garden (I follow and praise and say 'Wee wee!' or 'Poo!' when she goes. We've only had 3 indoor wees..and that was when she followed me upstairs (she is being kept downstairs as we have very annoyed cats) and obviously didn't realise carpet isn't grass!

The FB group doesn't advise bells tho..for the simple reason that they only work if you are there to hear them. I'm just working on going out regularly...now my Pup has had all her vaccinations and is a week clear, we ae going out for short walks (well sniff and mooch) and she is peeing and pooing there too which is fab. I figure as long as we get outside enough she will eventually tell me when she needs to go.

We had to go out in the car for 1.5 hours today and despite a lot of farts, she hung on and when we got in she dashed out to the garden for a poo, so I guess she is getting the idea!!!

(however it;s midnight and she's crashed out having not peed since about 9... sigh..)

[BiteyShark]

The FB group doesn't advise bells tho..for the simple reason that they only work if you are there to hear them.

Depends on why you are missing the indication. My dogs indication was so subtle you missed it if your back was turned. The bells taught him a different indication and that was noise. We went many weeks struggling with this and the bells turned it around in days. Once mastered we phased them out and he now escalates his indication if we are in the house and we don't hear him but when out he holds it so the bells didn't cause any toileting issues and helped us a lot.

This is one of the reasons I always say if you are struggling with things maybe that approach isn't the right one for you as there are many ways to train a puppy.