# Won't tell us when she needs to pee



## treehugr55 (Oct 4, 2013)

I rescued Bonnie this past June, and she turned 5 yrs this month. She is fully house trained, and has no problem holding her pee until it's time for a walk. They've been on the same routine schedule since we got them in June. But occasionally Bonnie will have an accident inside, if she gets extra thirsty at night, or if she just doesn't feel like going outside (too cold, raining, etc.). And other times I know it's anxiety related if I'm not home. But when I AM home, she doesn't alert us to when she needs to pee. She'll just go on the welcome mat, or the kitchen mat, or my DDR pad-- anything that absorbs it up. I've had to de-rug my entire condo because I can't throw an area rug into a washing machine. 

Bonnie was debarked. She is not vocal. So she will never bark at a door to let me know to go out. Clyde will whimper by the door, so he has no problem telling me when he needs to pee outside their normal routine walk schedule. 

Our trainer (who we hired to help with Bonnie's separation anxiety) had us try bells, which we hung by the door. We've used the bells religiously for the last 2 months and Bonnie shows ZERO sign of catching on. She hates any metallic sounds, I had to put silencers on her dog tags because every time they would clink together she'd try to bite them off. So my guess is her resistance to using the bells is probably because she hates the sound. 

We're going to get a fake turf box to give her an indoor option. But I also would like to arm her with an ability to let us know she needs to go out. I'm sure it's frustrating to her that she doesn't know how to communicate it to us. 

Does anyone have experience with this kind of issue? Or can suggest some other sound we can arm Bonnie with that isn't metallic?


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

I don't know how well they work, but I have seen wireless doorbells that you can just stick on the door advertised - maybe you could install one at dog level for her to learn to push?


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## N2Mischief (Dec 3, 2012)

Maybe have her bring you her leash? Every time you are going on a walk have her carry her own leash to the door, then take it from her, clip it on, praise and go??? Maybe she will catch on and you could keep the leash within her reach?? Just a thought.


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## treehugr55 (Oct 4, 2013)

Not a bad idea on the doorbell. I wonder if the buttons are sensitive enough for her to hit with her nose. I doubt I could teach her to touch something with her paw. Might be worth a try. We do work on the "touch" command with our hands, so I could probably train it in two steps-- first to learn to touch the button, second to learn to associate it with going outside. 

Wouldn't that be a risky association though? I mean could she end up associating EVERY doorbell she hears with having to pee? Because guests use it to come inside...

It can't be something that requires unpleasant effort on her part, otherwise she's just going to pop a squat on the welcome mat as she already does 

N2Mischief-- the leash isn't really an option, we have them hanging up high on hooks near the door, otherwise she likes to chew on it when it hangs down!


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