Looking for Advice on Potty Training

[Theresa & Duncan]

Hello dood lovers! I was hoping I could get some advice on housebreaking my pup. 
Duncan is about 4 1/2 months old. On the whole, I would say he's done a good job with potty training to this point. He sleeps through the night in his crate without needing any potty breaks. He stays in a pen in the laundry room while we are at work. We have a dog walker come let him out midway through the day, but he has not had any accidents in the pen for quite some time. The problem occurs most often when we are home and available to let him out. He doesn't have accidents often, but that has a lot to do with us making sure to let him out often. However,  if he does need to go while we are occupied, he doesn't do much to let us know. Is that still to be expected at this age? He won't always pee in front of us per se, but he doesn't look like he is exactly trying to hide this  behavior either. Is "letting you know" something that cones with time? At what age was your dood fully housebroken? 

[Adina P]

Have you attempted to train him to tell you in any way?  Barking at door or ringing bells or anything of that sort?

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

The only cue our 6 month old Doodle gives us is standing at the back door. One time, when he was particularly desperate to get out and I was in the other room where I couldn't see him he started jumping at the door and I heard the banging and knew something was up.  

Rooney hasn't had any accidents in the house since he was about 16 weeks but we still keep him confined to our kitchen and family room area.  I do believe that limiting his living space has helped considerably with his housetraining.  If you aren't already, I would consider limiting his ability to roam the house and then keeping him closely supervised when he isn't confined to his pen.  Also, be sure to lavishly praise him and perhaps even give treats when he goes outside.  It could be he hasn't fully made the connection of Outside-Potty- GOOD, Inside-Potty-not good.  You want to try and make the distinction very clear in his mind.  When he potties outside it's a big party, when he potties inside... no party.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I've often wondered why some dogs have a distinct signal for I need to go outside while others don't.  We have had 4 fosters and none of them gave me any sort of sign other than to go to the door and stand there.  If I didn't happen to be in that particular room I didn't know.  My girls have always given me a signal.  Sophie from day one has this little whine.  Lucy maybe not from day one, but very early on was a back door barker if she wants out.  Just a single bark that gets just a little louder the second time if you don't come quickly enough.  Both of them will come get me if I don't hear them or come quickly enough for some reason.  Why is that?  I really don't know.  I think if I had one like yours I might try and train with the potty bells.  That is the only way I can think of that you might be able to get him trained to let you know.  I'm not sure how you would teach him to bark at the door!  As for accidents, I think both girls were about 90% trained at 3 months with the only accidents being if they got to playing too hard and forgot to go out.  By 4 months we were 100%.  It was a fairly easy process because we were both home full time when they were puppies. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

The potty bells worked really well for us.  Every time that we took the dogs out to potty we rang the bells (and showed them how to ring them).  It took awhile, but eventually the understood and that was their way of telling us they had to go.  Now they are pretty much just on a schedule and rarely need to ask to go out in between our scheduled potty walks.  Good luck.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Cooper cries when she needs to go out. My inlaws dog (not a doodle) just stands at the door. of course, thats easy to miss if your not in that room, and when she was visiting the other day i found several puddles of pee after she left. I would suggest using bells - you can buy them or make your own - and get the dog to touch them with their paw or nose before going out - teaching them to ring the bells

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

My Ollie will get in my face and bark when he has to go out.  Sasha will pace back and forth if she has to go.  I think you will have to take your dog out on a schedule until they learn some type of signal to let you know they have to go out.  Maybe try teaching him ring bells or something.  Some dogs like mine just developed their own signals to let me know they had to pee/poop but that came at a year old +/-.

[ERIC A. NATER]

Cooper has been totally potty trained since he was ten weeks old.  He has never been Crated, and has had free run of the house from the day I brought him Home.  He just naturally barked at the door to get out and in without any kind of training.  The only damage he has ever done in the house was when he was very young, and only consisted of one new car manual, and a vacuum cleaner electric cord (not plugged in). I am retired, and was home with him, and I think that makes a big difference to how quickly they become potty trained. My last Fosters were already potty trained, but learned to bark at the door from watching Cooper!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Bells Belle Bells. I love them.  Not all dogs take to them, but it certainly is  worth a try.  When it works, it works so great.  Good Luck.

We had a few accidents until 4-5 months old.  Cooper is still a baby.  I think if you continue to stay vigilant with training, in just 6 weeks or so, you will see a big change.  Poof, one day, it just will never happen again.

[Moe]

Another vote for bells. HERE is the one I have. The first few days I rang the bell, then picked up the pup's paw an made her ring the bell, then stood there saying out and pointed to the bell. She got it in no time.

[Leigh & Allie]

BELLS! Love them. I made my own from some ribbon and a few bells I bought at a craft store. In the beginning, I had her walk by the bells (this will save your door). I agree with Joni, Allie will ring them over and over again if she really needs to go out. Be prepared for lots of ringing of the bells during the "teen" years though. Allie would ring the bells over and over again just to go out and play. I continued to let her out every time she rang the bell. She did eventually grow out of ringing the bell all of the time :-) Now she rings the bell just to go potty.

[Theresa & Duncan]

Thanks everyone! This has been very helpful. I've read about bell training, but I've been a little skeptical to be honest :). I am glad to hear people have had success with them, and have gone out and bought a set for the door. Hopefully Duncan catches on!

[Theresa & Duncan]

Quick update: Duncan is bell trained, and it has been working fabulously! Thanks for all the wonderful advice!