Puppy house training: when will they 'ask' to go out?

[foofooyeah]

I have a 3 month old puppy. On the whole he is pretty good. He has stopped messing in the night, and as long as I keep a close eye on him is clean during the day. However this is mainly as I watch him and can judge when he needs to go out ... And of course there is the usual .... First thing, after a sleep, after food etc.
However the others in the house (DP and son) are not so in tune with the dog so if I'm not about there are accidents.

Do dogs naturally start going to the door when they need to go out? I'm sure all the dogs I grew up with did. Is there a way of encouraging it?
Or is it DP and son who need the training :-)

DP and son need the training

3 months is pretty young to expect the puppies to ask to go out.

I find that mine don't need to ask as they are given enough opportunities to go out - they then learn to hold it until the opportunity arises.

If they are poorly or caught short - which is not very often they just come and give me "the look" to be let out.

No in my experience they dont go to a door like a cat might.
With puppy training i used to take outside every 30 mins to start with, and then they know they only tiddle outside.

Thanks. Yes puppy is being taken about once an hour, and this seems to work, although he isn't keen on this cold weather.

DP and DS training it is then!

Hi. My pup is 6 months old and pees outside, but it is still me initiating it every time. I too thought that he would ask by now to be let out, but evidently not! I am going to have a session with a behaviourist to work on how to encourage him to let me know that he needs out. I agree that 3 months is still very young to expect this.

My pup is almost 6 months old and has just started asking to be let out. He does it by sticking his nose through the cat flap in the back door so we usually hear the flap rattling & know pup wants out.

We still get the occasional accident inside if we don't hear him or if we forget to take him out often enough.

My 4 year old never asks to go out, he just gets let out regularly.

If you want a dog that indicates you could find you become doorman to a pup and have tv shows and showers interupted because dog wants to go out and eat grass/chase leaves/bark at the moon.

At 12 weeks, pup should bhe going out he wakes up, after playing, after eating and every 20 minutes in between when they are awake.

but would your dog do his toilet indoors Lil, if not prompted by you? That's what I'm hoping to avoid, and don't mind a bit of inconvenience in the meantime!
My pup definitely associates the garden with toilet time only - too cold and miserable here at the moment for anything else

Mine started telling me at about 5 - 6 months old, her sign is to go and sit at the door and stare at us and if upstairs she stands at the top of the stairs and stares at us. We didn't train her to do it she just started doing it.

I let my 9 month old out regularly so she rarely needs to ask and for a time I did wonder if she ever would ask, but now she lets me know by doing a special speedy trot from me to the door and back again accompanied by a meaningful look. So far she hasn't abused the letting-out system in order to have a sneaky playtime.

I thought my pup would never ask to be let out but when she was about 5 months she started going to the back door and tapping it with her paw. Yours is still very young, just make sure you're letting her out a few times a day and she'll start telling you in time

Mine has just started sitting at the back door to indicate he wants to go out for the toilet and he's 4 months

Isn't there an MNer that taught her dog to ring a bell when it wanted to go out? The bell was one of those hotel bells where you tap the button on the top and it dings.

He had about 2 accidents in the house as a pup and has never had one since. i let him out regularly so their is no scope for weeing in the house. I also never used puppy pads or newspaper either....

You're very lucky. Daily indoor accidents have been the bane of my life since bringing our pup home 4 months ago. He is taken outside multiple times a day (think every hour at minimum), yet still does it. Behaviourist coming on Thursday. First and last pup I tell you, first and last!

Yes you can train them to use a bell - there's some instructions on the internet somewhere which I can find for you.

Mine stands by the back door, silently waiting until you come and let him out. He holds it if you're not there to see him but has only recently stopped having the odd accident (he's 6 months) if I've forgotten to let him out often enough. But then he goes and wees on the floor in the wet room so it's not the end of the world.

When he was that little though, I had to take him out every hour.

Should be going out every 20 minutes....

Not sure if it would make a difference if underlying issues there (I strongly suspect it's in part separation anxiety related), and he is taken out on average every half hour I'd say.

Some stare just at the door and some stare with a slight cocked to the side head stare at you - unwavering and unblinking.
Mine does that staring when she wants more water in her empty bowl. Another dog would rattle her water bowl and call me with one bark from another room
All were adults. Pups cannot control their bladders like adults do, but it will come. The same with the bowels.

I have 3 dogs, terrier X diva will ask to go out, this is what "staff" are for ! Shih Tzu 1 will just take himself out cat flap, Shih Tzu 2 is a bit of a weed and wouldn't dare ask. I take them out regularly, DH and son have to be reminded !

Our springer started asking to go out about 6-8 months, she jumps up and rattles the keys in the patio door.