We have a shelter dog that joined our family this past summer. She was a stray - shepherd/husky mix, about a year and half old. We have followed Leerburg training advice in introducing her to our older dominant male shepherd/lab shelter dog. They are fairly comfortable with each other now. We followed the training advise for housebreaking. We crated her or had her leashed to one of us at all times for quite a while. We praised her for going "outside". She is at the point where we will let her out in the morning and she will go potty right away, either look at us or come back to the door and then go poop, and then come back to eat breakfast. Things have been going well for quite a long time and she has been able to roam free with us as long as we regularly take her out. A couple of days ago she started urinating on the carpet again. There will be a ton of people around and she won't even go up to them to tell them she has to go out. She never has "told" us when she has to go, except if we see her heading downstairs, we go put her out. Is there anyway to train her to tell us she has to go out? Our other dog will bark once at the door to let us know if he has to go, and other dogs in the past have come right to us. For the time being we have her crated and leashed again and of course we continue to praise when she does the right thing. Any advice, can she be trained to,"let us know"? Thank you- Carolmartine

Carolmartine,

This topic has been discussed on the site before. Use the search engine for more information.

But so that I am not rude, yes you can teach it... there are people who use bells on the door knob.

For me I just keep it simple, I use the same door... a sliding door to the back yard for everytime I take Jackie outside to go "Outside". I praise her, "Good Outside" when she goes. If I even see her look like she has to go, I let her out. Soon they associate this behavior, like a child with potty training... they have to go, they need to go where taught to go. If your dog starts to pee in the house, give a firm "No" and physically take your dog outside and then give it a praise for outside. If the dog doesn't go... back to the crate. It takes time, too bad sometimes you do have an "accident" Be firm, Be consistant. Soon the dog will let you know. Mine now goes to the door and sits by it until I let her out. I have had some that will whine, some that will sit in front of you and look at you until you get up... I am sure there are other methods, but this worked for me.

we have one of those decrotive strips of "sleigh bells" that are sold around Christmas time,that are for hanging on the door knob. all our dogs know to go to it,and nudge it,making it ring,to tell us they want out. we didn't train them to do this-they figured it out on their own!

other than that,its a matter of understanding what they are telling you,and listening. for instance,Mullen,my greyhound,comes to me,and will stand beside my chair,and keep looking over his shoulder in the direction of the kitchen door,then looking at me. Tagg,our son's collie service dog,is similar,but more vocal!

Michael and Gail, Thank you for taking time to answer. I had searched for a similar problem on the board before I inquired and I found one back in 2003 which mentioned bells also, and a man, Old Earth Dog, said with puppies he had actually barked at the door, would this work with an adult dog? She has learned to do a funny speaking thing when we ask if she wants a treat. She always goes out the back door when she goes "outside". We have had her since this summer and she still doesn't "tell" us when she has to go- I will keep using Leerburgs advice and the advice you two gave me, I wonder if we could teach her to bark to go out, I am leary about the bells with all the action we have at our home with two dogs and many children going in and out. Thank you again for answering- Carolmartine. P.S. Something interesting just happened- as I was writing this, Indy, who is leashed to me, got up and nuzzeled against me to get my attention. She doesn't have to go out, she just came in, but when I got up with her, she headed toward the bedroom- she wants to go to bed... if she can do this, there has got to be hope for training her to "tell" us when she has to go. She has NEVER tried to get my attention this way before...

.....my MinPin does that too! when i get up from the keyboard,late at night,two things happen-Flicka and Mullen ask to go out by dancing ahead of me to the door,and when they come in,Flicka tries to lead me to the bedroom,walking very slowly ahead of me,looking over her shoulder! <G>