Quiet puppy won't tell me he needs to go out

[caraline]

Hello,

I currently have a 14 month old BC(that we purchased as a puppy) and just purchased a 14 week old puppy. With my first puppy, we got especially lucky and only had two accidents in the house, both of which were directly our fault. He would always come to the door and bark/scratch to be let out. We do have a dog door, but our cat will go out through it and venture the neighborhood, so the door is only open when we are not home and the cat can't get to the door. With my new puppy, if the dog door is open he will go right outside to do his business. If it is closed, he won't do anything to let you know. No scratching, no barking. He will just stand there until he can't hold it and then use the house for a bathroom. This puppy is very quiet in general and I don't really want to encourage him to be boisterous, but he's not picking up on needing to let us know he needs to go out. Furthermore, when he is outside and wants to come in, he just sits there. My other dog will go out and play, come to the door, bark once and wait to be let in. I'm just not sure what to do with this. The puppy is technically potty trained and won't go in his crate and doesn't want to go in the house, but he won't give us any cue that he want to go outside. I understand that a puppy needs all eyes at all times which is why we haven't had many accidents, but the few he has had are because of this. Any advice? Thanks in advance.

 

[Shetlander]

If you just got him, he may become more expressive of his needs with time. He is still quite young. For now, I would take him out frequently so he doesn't have accidents and praise every time he eliminates outside. I wouldn't wait for him to tell me he needs to go out to the point that he can't hold it any more. You could try teaching him to speak and then when you are taking him out (if it doesn't look urgent), ask him to speak before opening the door. That might help him learn to bark to go out. I had a dog who asked to go out maybe twice in the 15 years he lived with me. He didn't have accidents. He just seemed to expect me to anticipate his needs or maybe I took him out often enough that he was content to wait for me to say let's go.

[GoodbyeHalcyonDays]

If it's one thing I learned from the other thread I made, each dog is their own individual self. I may be assuming here, but it sounds like you're comparing the two just a tiny bit, if only subconsciously. Your puppy is still really young-- I think it's really great of him to be able to go out on his own, and at the very least try to hold it as long as he can't when he can't get out. When I first got Caleb, even at 10 months old, he still had accidents in the house occasionally when I first got him because he just didn't know the rules. He doesn't let me know when he needs to go out, but I make sure I put myself in his position, and try to take him out at least 4-5 times a day because he's not a very demanding dog, and that's just the way he is.

 

You could try teaching him to speak, as suggested. Again, Caleb does know to speak, but he doesn't when he needs to go out; I taught him speak for fun, and since learning it, he's become much more vocal in other parts of life. Your pup may or may not bark when he needs to go, even if you teach him to.

 

There's also the option of crate training him. It'll give you some time away from him when you need it and vice versa, teach him to be calm, and give him a place to call his own. Crating was a huge, huge help for me when I was first training Caleb to use the bathroom.

 

The only thing I wouldn't suggest are wee-wee pads. Personally, I feel like they confuse a dog as to where they can and can't do their business, but take my advice with a grain of salt as I am no dog trainer and still have lots to learn.

[BCjetta]

My current dogs are 9 and 3. They will do the same thing as your puppy still...hold it until they burst. They can just hold it for up to 12 hours typically. My young border collie is like yours - very quiet. Doesn't really whine or bark.

My old border collie would paw at the sliding glass door in the first house we lived in when she needed out. After that, if she had to poop, she would go near the door but where she could still see me and stare at me and snap at the air, groan and wag her tail. She would do nothing if she needed to pee, just hold it forever.

[juliepoudrier]

You need to prepare yourself for the possibility that your new dog is not like your older dog and may never be vocal about asking to go out. I don't think I'd try to teach him to speak, but you could try teaching him to ring a bell hanging on the door knob.

 

Also because your pup often has access through the dog door, it may be harder to teach him to ask since there are apparently plenty of times when he DOESN'T need to ask.

 

It's never occurred to me that my dogs should bark to ask to go out or come in. I really don't like a lot of barking, so it's something I've never encouraged. My old dog got in the habit of barking to express a desire to go in or out late in life, but that's about it, and I think there was a direct correlation between her losing her hearing and the onset of barking behavior.

 

When they are puppies, I just take them out regularly at the appropriate times, and when they are adults I just kind of keep an eye on them or just let them out at regular intervals. It's no real bother to me to not have a dog specifically alert me to a need to go out.

 

J.

[geonni banner]

My dog never makes any noise to let me know she needs to go out. My place is small. I can see both doors when I'm sitting at the computer. If it has been too long for her comfort, Sugarfoot will go and sit at the back door and fix me with a gimlet eye. If I notice this, I ask if she needs to go out. If she does, she will spin around a couple of times and then stand there staring at me. If she doesn't, she will indicate what she wants by going to it and staring at it. (Food cupboard - what? it's that time already? The cat - he's up to no good.)

 

It's sort of odd that she chose the back door, as my back yard is really tiny, so I don't usually let her out to pee there. I leash her and take her out front. Otherwise, after two or three pees, the yard smells like a latrine.

 

But I agree - if you are taking the dog our regularly, it shouldn't be an issue. The only time my dog ever goes in the house is when she gets the trots and I'm sleeping. And since cleaning up the mess is no more labor-intensive than getting up, getting dressed, taking her out, cleaning up outside and remembering not to lock myself out (city life) - I don't worry about it. It's only happened twice, and she's almost 6.

[Mom of Mya]

Mya is 8 months old and does not bark to go out. She will go stand at the door but if we don't notice her she will come back to where we are and give us that stare to will us to know she needs something LOL...but it works. Usually if she is out of the room for a period of time I check on her to see if she is standing at the door and I usually will just periodically ask her if she needs to go potty to prevent accidents.

[Mom of Mya]

I do agree with Julie though, since the puppy is used to going out the doggie door maybe you could hook the bell to the doggie door and that way you would know he needed to go out when he bumped into it trying to go out the doggie door.

[mum24dog]

You need to prepare yourself for the possibility that your new dog is not like your older dog and may never be vocal about asking to go out. I don't think I'd try to teach him to speak, but you could try teaching him to ring a bell hanging on the door knob.

Also because your pup often has access through the dog door, it may be harder to teach him to ask since there are apparently plenty of times when he DOESN'T need to ask.

It's never occurred to me that my dogs should bark to ask to go out or come in. I really don't like a lot of barking, so it's something I've never encouraged. My old dog got in the habit of barking to express a desire to go in or out late in life, but that's about it, and I think there was a direct correlation between her losing her hearing and the onset of barking behavior.

When they are puppies, I just take them out regularly at the appropriate times, and when they are adults I just kind of keep an eye on them or just let them out at regular intervals. It's no real bother to me to not have a dog specifically alert me to a need to go out.

J.

 

This. In fact it's not just no real bother, I actually prefer not to be at my dogs' beck and call letting them out when they feel like it instead of my being in control of their comings and goings.

[Alchemist]

One of the stupidest things I ever did was allow Duncan to train me that "if he brings me a toy, I let him outside". (And I KNEW it was a mistake at the time!). I console myself with the fact that it isn't as distracting as having him ring a bell non-stop (because he LOVES to be outside). On the plus side, it forces me to keep all the toys picked up.

 

As others have said, every dog is different. I'm certainly happy that the other dogs don't give especial cues. Spain will let me know if it sounds like there's something exciting going on and she'd like to join in (as when the neighbor's child is out playing - she gives the dogs treats). Ross will utter a genteel "bark" at the back window to let me know he'd like to come back in - I'm good with that as well. But I'd rather be setting the schedule for "outside" time, not the dogs.

 

Plus I'll add that 14 weeks is still awfully young to consider a pup "housebroken". Yes, Duncan was showing signs that he wanted to go outside by that time (he'd stand where he could point his nose at a door, like an arrowhead: "see? here! That's where I need to go!!!"), but if you weren't watching for it, it'd be easy to miss. Ross has never given me that sort of cue - I just watched him like a hawk until he was housebroken, absent any clues as to his needs.

[bcnewe2]

I had a dog that never "told" me but she would quietly stand at the door. I just set up a schedule that I knew would make sure she was outside to go and put a command to it. Worked for us. If I did see her standing at the door I let her out. She was quiet and didn't take advantage of that deal.

Faye the youngest doesn't always know right away that she has to go out, and she's 2. But I've figured out that if she is hyper an won't settle down it's time for her to go potty.

Watch and I bet you'll see some subtle signs that your missing. or just set the potty schedule and things should smooth out.

 

I dislike barkers...for anything. Dew is my barkermissbarkerson. She talks with her barks. I don't scold her if she's not overboard but I sure don't enjoy her barking!

I recently was around someone with a half sister to Dew. She commented about her dog and it's need to bark, at everything. It suggests genetic tendencies to me cause I've known others related to her that are barkers. Faye is quiet and so are most of her sibs.

[RemsMom]

I had a Miniature Schnauzer that would signal me she wanted to go out by hitting the door with her front paws and then spinning around and hitting the door again. She would do this over and over until I let her out. My next Schnauzer never told me she needed to go out. In old age (she lived for almost 13 years) she would still have accidents if we did not let her out. If I was out running errands all day or out of town I would call home every once in a while to make sure someone had let Pepper out or there would be a puddle to clean up.

 

I had a German Shepherd that would pace until you let him out. On the rare occasion he needed out in the night he would wake me up because I would hear the clicking of his nails on the tile. My GSD I have now gives no notice if he needs to go out. He will stare at me and stand by the door, but I can't see a stare in the middle of the night! At least he has the decency to have his accidents on tile when he has tummy trouble in the middle of the night. I wish I could train my dogs to let me know when they need out without being bothersome. I will gladly get out of bed if someone really needs me!

[juliepoudrier]

RemsMom,

FWIW, I have a couple of dogs who don't routinely let me know they need to go out, BUT if they have trouble in the night and want to go out, they will pace and make this little moaning noise. It's not very loud and I think sometimes it takes a bit before they wake me up, but at least during "nonstandard" hours, they do make an attempt....

 

J.

[RemsMom]

RemsMom,

FWIW, I have a couple of dogs who don't routinely let me know they need to go out, BUT if they have trouble in the night and want to go out, they will pace and make this little moaning noise. It's not very loud and I think sometimes it takes a bit before they wake me up, but at least during "nonstandard" hours, they do make an attempt....

 

J.

 

I wish I could get my GSD to be a little louder. There have been times where I hear him pacing in the laundry room (where the back door is located) and have raced to open the door as fast a possible. I will put him in his crate for the remainder of the night because I can hear when he moves around. I have thought about teaching him to ring a bell but was worried that our new puppy would abuse the privilege. I guess the new puppy will be in a crate at night for a while so I shouldn't worry about that?