How does your dog let you know they need to go potty?

[Laurelin]

Just curious. Mia has just now this year figured out she can tell me she needs to go outside. Yeah, I dunno. She's a brilliant dog most the time but for some reason never thought to tell me she needed outside.

Summer is of the group who believes that staring into your soul desperately is the best way to tell me she needs outside. She will put her front feet up on you and just stare indefinitely. If you tell her to go away she'll come right back and stare. Trey was also one of these.

Nikki and Beau would whine at the door.

Rose would run into the room then run out then back in and look at you.

Mia... she goes into my kitchen and starts running up and down my sliding glass door blinds and starts biting them when she wants outside. I'll be doing something else and see my blinds going nuts and spinning and Mia will be there just having a ball until I let her out. Weirdo.

 

[JacksonsMom]

He barks at the door. lol. He's made it easy.

My dads dogs typically scratch at the door.

 

[Shai]

Webster will whine and bark and spin at the back door. If that fails he will find someone and carry on and bark and moan and groan until we figure it out.

Mira will come find me and whine anxiously near the door of whatever room I am in. If I'm in the kitchen she will sit at the back down and whine anxiously.

Kim will hover by the backdoor and hope someone notices. If we're elsewhere in the house, she'll still hover by the backdoor and hope someone happened to come by. Her method is risky. Fortunately she has a bladder of steel and the willpower to match so this very rarely is a problem.

All three are honest about it though. They will ask to go outside just to play or sniff or check stuff out but it's a very series of behaviors so it's easy to tell the difference.

Ironically they are opposite about things like, the water bowl being empty. Mira and Web will just quietly do what they were doing and keep an ear out and come running when it's refilled. Kim on the other hand will poke it and lick it and push it around the kitchen so the metal bowl makes a terrible clatter against the tile so we know it's empty and refill it.

 

[GatorDog]

Aiden won't lol. He will just hold it forever. Carma sits at the door and runs back and forth between the door and me.

 

[Laurelin]

Mine are very honest about it too. Neither really likes being in the yard without me anyways so they typically only want out to go potty. When Mia does her bite the blinds routine she runs out and immediately potties.

 

[Brattina88]

Summer is of the group who believes that staring into your soul desperately is the best way to tell me she needs outside. Trey was also one of these.

Nikki and Beau would whine at the door.

Rose would run into the room then run out then back in and look at you.

Maddie does like Nikki and Beau... She'll also back up into your line of vision and bark/whine if you ignore her for too long.

Bailey does just like Rose, but I'm sure she adds in a bunch of circles

 

[MicksMom]

Depends on where we are in the house. If we aren't in the living room, Caleb will nudge us with his nose, and head for the door of the room we're in. If we're in the living room, he'll lay either by the doorway going into the kitchen or the one going to the dining room from the kitchen, and stand up when one of us gets up. If we don't see him there, or he's been waiting a bit, he'll nudge us, and then head for the door way leading from the kitchen to the dining room. The more urgent it is for him to go out, the more often he makes the circuit.

 

[JessLough]

Rosey always barked and/or scratched at the door.

 

[k9krazee]

Well...we have a dog door at the house so he doesn't tell us anything!

When we're staying somewhere without that luxury he tells the person most likely to let him out. He barks persistently at your face and spin in circles. Usually Ken is his go-to unless we're at either one of our parent's houses he'll tell our dads because they are usually the door openers. Even if he's sleeping with us and he has to go early in the morning he'll go find our parents and come back to our bed after they let him out.

 

[iriskai]

I have bells hanging on the front door, though both of mine will pace back and forth to the door if we're at a place and I didn't bring the bells. They're also nice enough to wake me up if it's a middle of the night emergency.

 

[BostonBanker]

Meg really never asks to go out. She has zero interest in going out without me, and both a bladder and bowels of steel. She goes out when I take her, or sometimes when Gusto goes out. She'll sometimes wander past the front door, and I take that as a sign and let her out. But I'm not sure if she's really asking, or just taking advantage of the opportunity.

Gusto will walk to the door, and then come stare at you. And stare. And stare. Then walk back to the door and come stare some more. He's *pretty* good about not asking to go out for the sake of it when I'm home. I'm pretty sure he abuses my mother all day long by insisting on going out. That's what grandparents are for.

 

[ruffiangirl]

They don't, they just wait until I open the door.

 

[Oko]

Pokes the door to whatever room we are in and looks at me hopefully.

 

[Torch]

Neither of the boys really do anything. I take them out pretty frequently since Rhys is still young and don't really wait for them to signal.

When it was just Henry he would stare at you hypnotically.

 

[Slick]

Leo mostly doesn't let me know and it is up to me to take him out every few hours. I sometimes see him sniffing around the door, and take that as my cue to take him out, but I don't actually know for sure if that is what he is trying to say. We have a bell right by the door, and he has rung it exactly once to go out so I suppose he has it in him to ask if he really really has to pee.
He does whine in his crate at night if he has to go, and I definitely make sure to take him out immediately if he wakes me up whining, because it usually means he really really has to go.


Stupid boy dog is annoying the heck out of me about potty breaks recently anyways. At 10 months, he just figured out how to lift his leg, so now that is all he wants to do. Grass is no longer acceptable. He HAS to pee on a bush. Except, he sucks at it, and inevitably loses his balance and stops peeing. Then he has to find a new perfect spot. Rinse and repeat

In the span of like 3 days, we literally went from potty breaks taking about 30 seconds (he walks to his potty spot, squats, pees and is done) to 5 minute affairs where he has to find the exact perfect bush to pee on...and then fails at peeing on it over and over again.

 

[noludoru]

He doesn't.

 

[krissy]

Summit does not ask to go out. He just goes out if I tell him to or if I am letting Kili out and he needs to go he will follow.

Kili stands at the baby gate at the kitchen and whines. The backyard access is through the kitchen, but I gate the entrance to the kitchen because I don't want to supervise and prevent Kili from entertaining counter surfing ideas. If I don't get up and let her out she will run back and forth through the living room, whining, and then go back and stand at the gate. Then she'll turn around and poke her head around the dining room table and check to see if I've noticed.

Since Summit really doesn't need to go out ever... the fact that Kili asks to go out about 4 times a night is super annoying to me. Especially when she does it when I know she can't possibly be that desperate... because she was just out an hour ago. But at least she asks.

 

[Southpaw]

They just stand at the door. If no one sees them they don't do anything extra to announce their needs. Lol.

 

[StillandSilent]

Shaman rings the bells that hang from the door. Gambit waits for Shaman to ring the bells, lol

 

[Sit Stay]

Quinn will come and sit HARD and very deliberately in front of you, and stare at you. If you ignore her she'll whine pathetically and stomp her front feet in a little dance. This rarely happens though - she can hold it for ages. She also does the same routine at dinner time lol.

Ned isn't quite as obvious. He'll usually just walk to the door. If you don't follow him he'll come halfway back and give you "the look".