whining/potty training

[Scout]

My mini goldendoodle is 8 weeks and is very good about going potty outside. He has very few accidents inside. He tells me by sniffing or going to the patio door, and waits until I put his leash on before going out (with me) to potty.

He has discovered his voice and started whining loudly at night though, when he has to pee.
I try to wait it out until he stops whining before going to him but I know he needs to go outside and just has no other way of telling me. Is the best way to handle this to get a bell by the door that he can use to indicate to me he needs to go out, or to push the waiting longer and allow for some accidents while he whines?

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

I might be missing something- but why make him wait if you know he has to pee? I think that it is great that he is letting you know what he needs. Pups are like post-menopausal women my age- "when you gotta go, you gotta go! "  :-)  Now if he was whinning in the middle of the night to get out of his kennel so that he can play, that would be another story.

We use bells at our patio door, but I didn't give Winnie access to them during the night while we were house training. She stayed in her kennel, and she would let me know if she had to go by whinning a little. We rang them on our way out so that she started to learn that the bells needed to be rung before the door would open.

[Scout]

Thank you! You are not missing anything. I was unsure because of the things I'm reading about whining and separate things about potty training. Having a dog/puppy is new to me so I'm learning about this stuff while I'm trying to implement a routine for us. Do you have advice on good sources for info on things like this? (Books, blogs, YouTube, etc)

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Sounds like you are doing very good if he has only had a few accidents. That is awesome! As far as resources- I did a LOT of reading on this site- there is a wealth of information here. But I also had the advantage of having raised a pup many years ago. On UTube I like Zak George, Kikopup and Doggy Dan videos. Doggy Dan also has a website where you can have free access to his site for a few days- very useful!

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

To offer a different view, my breeder advised that we never, ever open the crate on an actively whining puppy. She said she would rather them have an accident than learn that whining gets them out. They will only whine louder the next time, or bark. Every time. I asked our trainer also and he agreed but said even if it is a second or so of quiet, I can release then. Just not while he is whining. It is a slippery slope. Fortunately because Rippley is crated at night in our room, I was able to react very quickly, before the whining ramped up. Also, when you do take him out to pee (is this in the missile of the night? Ugh. ) make it all business. No talking, nothing fun. Just pee and return. I hope you are able to work it out. Be careful what you teach. Search classical conditioning, it so applies here! Good luck! Ps some people like the bells but my trainer said they will just learn to ring when they see a squirrel or want to play, any reason to go out...

[Scout]

Thank you. All the insight no matter what angle is helpful. I love reading questions on here for help too. I started an Instagram account for him if you want to see him. I can't figure out how to change my picture on here (that's not him in the pic)

[Scout]

It's Brewster.Santa.Severus.Bronson

[Melanie, Wookie and Dr. Watson]

If you feel pretty confident he's whining because he has to go vs. trying to get attention, definitely just take him - especially in the middle of the night when it's obvious he was sound asleep till he was woken up by needing to go.  Telling you he has to go potty is a GOOD thing, so don't ignore that.  Taking him out during that kind of whining doesn't lead to general whining for attention from our experience.  All of the trainers and blogs and advice out there are great, but when your common sense tells you to break a "rule" you're almost never wrong. 

[Scout]

Awesome advice. Thank you. He's teaching me as much as I'm teaching him ☺

[Melanie, Wookie and Dr. Watson]

Speaking of him teaching you - here is a little trick that worked with our first puppy as she got older.  When she really understood the phrase "go potty" - when we could tell that she knew what we were asking her to do when we said "go potty" - was around the same time she would come to us and look at us if she needed something and then we would end up in this guessing game.  Was it love?food?water?potty? So we actually asked her.  With words she recognized, she would tilt her head to the side, so for food, water, potty, all of it she would tilt her head.  But the giveaway that we had hit on the right one was she would REALLY tilt her head and give us a sustained, intense look in response.  Over time as we got to understand one another better, we could even sort out when she wanted to go potty because she was bored and just wanted to go out versus when she really had to go by the intensity of the head tilt/look.

[Scout]

Awesome tips! Thank you!