How to get puppy asking to go out?

[Tulipvase]

My puppy is 12 weeks and happily goes to the toilet outside and on occasion will whine at the door to go out but is still weeing in the house fairly regularly. How do I go about getting her to ‘ask’ to go out? Or is that wishful thinking.........

I read that training bells on the door handle help..puppy rings the bell when they want out.
However, we have bells and our pup just ignores then so far and sits by the back door staring out

Thanks - I’ve heard of these, perhaps I’ll give them a try. She’s pretty good and seems to understand the command to wee but seems happy to go inside.

I dunno, mine just started yipping by the back door when he wanted to go out. We knew we had turned a toilet training corner then! Probably around 16 weeks he started.

We just watched her like hawks and got her outside every time it looked like a poo or pee squat was starting, as well as chucking her out after every meal, sleep, etc.
We still sometimes get fooled by her wanting to go out because there's food smells in the kitchen, or she just feels like going in the run with the big dogs.

She’s not ready yet. You need to keep taking her out regularly, rewarding her for toileting outside and watching for the signs that she needs to go (circling, sniffing). Be patient & consistent, she will get there. If she is having lots of accidents indoors then go back a step, reduce the time between trips outside and very slowly increase it until she’s confident. It’s as much about you recognising her cues as it is about her knowing what do.

Don’t use puppy pads indoors (it’ll confuse her). Don’t bother with the bells. Eventually, you want her to go outside on your terms, not hers, aside from the odd ‘really need to go’ moment when she can’t wait until her next walk or you are available.

And yes! Toilet immediately after food, drink, sleep or anything exciting (all will stimulate her urge).

Thanks everyone.

Will hope it just happens naturally at some point?

Don’t punish any accidents. Just remove her from the area and clean them up quietly, no matter how frustrating it is.

Sorry for repeat posting

Cross post with @BalladOfBarryAndFreda.

I thought perhaps she was just too young but didn’t want to be missing something obvious. She does pretty much wee on command so will just keep taking her out for now.

It is much better to get them to go 'on command' rather than teaching them to 'ask'. We paired the words 'wee wee' to our dog doing a wee. Toilet training can take a while but very frequent trips outside, no mats inside, praise (but no treats) for going to the toilet outside, silent clean ups for inside, and lots of patience!

He will go to the door to 'ask' to go out if we get distracted and forget to take him out but this is infrequent.

She won’t potty train herself without guidance and as she grows up and her bladder capacity increases she’ll go longer between wees, you’ll also get to know her body language and preempt the signs but honestly, I’d start at square one with the training again. Every 15 minutes outside for a wee, slowly increasing the gap until she’s dry indoors.

She’s not too young for potty training but she’s young to be completely accident free. It’s not impossible for a 12wk old pup to be completely housetrained but they are the exception rather than the rule!

If you see her by the back door lift her paw and tap the door for her. That's how we taught ours.

We just took puppy out every hour (during the day, he was crated at night and always stayed dry) and rewarded and repeated and repeated and rewarded until one day it all just clicked and no more wees or poos inside and he just went and stood by the door looking sad to indicate when he needed to go out.

I can't remember how long it took tbh, but 12 weeks sounds a bit optimistic to me??

Thanks everyone.

I think I just wanted to know thats it not unusual to be fully trained at 12 weeks.

We are regularly going outside and praising. She can already go for longer in between so hopefully we are on the right track.

My dog is 10 and he doesn’t ask to go out , occasionally he will hang around by the door but otherwise he just waits until he gets let out / taken out for whatever reason and goes then . I was never keen on teaching him to ask as I reckon he would be ‘asking ‘ whenever he just fancied a stroll about or everytime he saw a bird or squirrel .

That’s a good point about asking go out!

What really helped our puppy was to keep him in a confined area all day (he hurt his leg, so had to be kept either in our arms or in a carte or on a leash indoors). As awful as it was, it REALLY helped his toilet training that he wasn't allowed to roam the house and have sneaky accidents. When he was in the crate or on the sofa with us or in our arms, he would start whining and we would take him outside. After a rocky start, he really was completely dry by 12 weeks (touch wood not to jinx it as I've heard he could regress as a teenager). It also helped that he stopped having soft stools, so needed the toilet much less.

Mine stands and stares intently at the door.
Which is okay if you happen to be in the same room as him, but not so good if he's gone to stare intently at the back door.
Consequently I tend to keep room doors shut so that I can see him.
Which is fine in winter but not so great in summer (although when it's nice in summer I tend to leave the back door open anyway so he will be in and out of he pleases.

Ours was 5 months old before he started reliably asking to go out.
Our last dog used to bark at the back door. Current dog gives you the 'stare' until you move then runs to the back door to get out.

Mine rattles the keys in the back door when he wants out, my older dog yips. Generally it's best to watch their behaviour, your pup will give signs they need our, even if they're not immediately obvious to you right now. Otherwise it's a matter of letting the pup out regularly