The finishing touches to house training...

Hello there, Flower is almost housetrained now, we normally leave the kitchen door open most of the time so she is free to run around the garden at her leisure. When this is the case, we never have any accidents as she knows outside is where she must do her business! But when we close the door, she will wee or poo on the mat next to the door. I do try and put her out every hour in this case, but sometimes if I am upstairs and dont notice her run to the door she will have an accident...

I really need her to tell me she needs to go out (in a doggy sense!) as unless I'm downstairs with her she won't cry or bark or make it known that she wants to go out.

Does anyone have any advice at all on how I can maybe solve this problem??? It may seem like a usual scenario but I am just wanting to break this habit.

Thanks xx

Hmmm, wonder if it worth stopping leaving the door open all the time?

Just thinking that if the door is shut she will be more likey to exhibit signs of wanting to go out ie: circling, going to doorway etc, you can then let her out and reward her when she goes outside to toilet. This way she is being taught to seek your help to get outside and will start to come to you to ask to go out. Clicker training would probably be of help to you here.

You could also try after a meal (when she is likely that her tummy will be stimulated and need to empty), saying to her "want out?" or whatever training phrase you want to use - then open the door to the garden then get her to empty (I use the words "hurry up" or "quickly" as my training words to tell them to go and empty! Use whatever you like of course) and remember to praise and reward when she does the right thing.

It is usually after meals/exercise and play that they need to empty the most - so you will have lots of opportunities to practice this.