Going Outside To Toilet On Their Own

[Nushie]

Hi all,

Brandy is about 5 months old and we have had a lot of success with toilet training so far and she tells us when she needs to go outside to toilet. This is usually done by, going in and out the dog door a few times and stopping inside to look at us, circling the lounge and then going back out the dog door again, and repeat. In which case we get up and take her out and treat and praise her for going outside. However as this has been happening for quite a while now we thought we might see what she would do if we don't go outside with her. And sure enough she went on the carpet just inside the dog door (failed experiment). She is watched constantly and taken outside regularly and treated and praised each time etc.

So how do you transition from having us outside with her when she needs to go? As soon as we go outside with her, she races off down to the grass and waits for us. She wont go until we are standing there with her. We have tried to go out and just stand on the deck and see if she goes but she just comes back and stands with us or dances around until we take her down to the grass. Our yard is small. Deck is about 2m wide from the back door. 2 steps down to pavers and then 1.5m of pavers to the grass.

I assume the answer will be to just continue on with taking her out and praising, which we will do, but maybe there are some hints to encourage her to go out alone?

She goes outside on her own for other things. She goes out through the dog door to grab sticks or bark to chew on. She goes out just to sniff around. She goes out to chase birds. We watch her each time to see if she will go to the toilet, always ready to give her a huge mountain of treats but nothing as yet.

We have some fake turf that we use in her pen to toilet on. I was thinking maybe we can put a square of that on the deck to get her going out on her own, but will that just encourage her to pee on the deck in the long run??

Should we be praising her every time she goes outside alone? Even if it is just to sniff around or sit in the sun? Will that encouragement of alone time help?

She is still really young and I am not concerned, just would be nice to not have to watch her like a hawk all the time.

[Airedaler]

I have to say I've been very spoilt. Spice is now 8 months old but she has never - not once messed inside. I guess that makes it easier but our toilet routine from when she came a 8 weeks was to take her out every 30-45 minutes and wait until she toileted, praise her and back inside. We don't have a doggy door so it was a matter of us taking her out not letting her go by herself. I will also say she is not inside all day so has plenty of opportunity to toilet by herself while out.

I wonder by letting Brandy go through the routine which seems to go on for a while and then you get up to take her out whether you have inadvertently taught her to wait for you to take her out to toilet.

[sunny1shine]

baby steps and break down the behaviours you want.

If you haven't already started something like this you could try; take her out when she motions she wants to go, don't talk to her just stand and watch her go toilet, then come inside - make her come inside using the dog door

then praise her once she's come in through the dog door

graduate to opening the door- waiting for her to pee- once you see the pee motion, shut the door and be ready with the treats and praise when she comes in using the dog door

next step is getting up and opening the dog door flap and waiting inside for her to go out and return through it before praise.

edited to add my oldest will still sometimes bark to be observed peeing to con a treat. she will also make eye contact whilst peeing if im outside at the same time to try the telepathic 'give me a treat for this' trick

Edited May 22, 2015 by sunny1shine

[Nushie]

I have to say I've been very spoilt. Spice is now 8 months old but she has never - not once messed inside. I guess that makes it easier but our toilet routine from when she came a 8 weeks was to take her out every 30-45 minutes and wait until she toileted, praise her and back inside. We don't have a doggy door so it was a matter of us taking her out not letting her go by herself. I will also say she is not inside all day so has plenty of opportunity to toilet by herself while out.

I wonder by letting Brandy go through the routine which seems to go on for a while and then you get up to take her out whether you have inadvertently taught her to wait for you to take her out to toilet.

When we first got her at 8weeks we would take her out every hour no matter what. And even now. If it has been some time since she has gone to the toilet I will still take her out to encourage her to go.

I should also mention, that generally as soon as she goes out the dog door I am already up and making my way to the door. She doesn't always go through the whole in/out/circles routine. That only happens if we are distracted with cooking dinner or something.

[Nushie]

baby steps and break down the behaviours you want.

If you haven't already started something like this you could try; take her out when she motions she wants to go, don't talk to her just stand and watch her go toilet, then come inside - make her come inside using the dog door

then praise her once she's come in through the dog door

graduate to opening the door- waiting for her to pee- once you see the pee motion, shut the door and be ready with the treats and praise when she comes in using the dog door

next step is getting up and opening the dog door flap and waiting inside for her to go out and return through it before praise.

edited to add my oldest will still sometimes bark to be observed peeing to con a treat. she will also make eye contact whilst peeing if im outside at the same time to try the telepathic 'give me a treat for this' trick

That's a good idea. We have been treating straight after she goes. Which is literally, she swats, finishes, takes a step towards us and treats get stuffed into her mouth.

She is old enough to not need to go every hour on the hour anymore, so taking her out isn't an issue yet. I just don't want to get to her being a year old and still having to escort her outside to toile :)

[Nushie]

Just an update on this. We tried going out with her and slowly being further and further away from her when she goes. But she would still do her inside / outside dance and if we were standing at the bottom of the stairs she would go on the concrete instead of going off to the grass to go. So we ended up putting a square of fake turf on the deck. She now goes out and pee's on that and then races back inside for a treat (which she gets). She doesn't do the dance anymore except when she needs to poop but if we ignore her she goes out to the real grass on her own to go and then races inside for a treat. So she is slowly learning that she doesn't need to tell us anymore.

I am hoping that once that is in place for awhile (it has been for about 2 weeks now) we can slowly move the turf out a little further and further until we no longer need it. Its nice not to have to watch her all the time anymore. And even nicer that I don't need to escort her outside in the freezing cold.

[sunny1shine]

ahh you moved the mountain to Mohammed! nice idea, I'll have to remember that as it's something I only think of for cats.