# How to get Sophie to bark to go pottie?



## Sophiesmudder (Dec 15, 2013)

Hi. Sophie is 4 and a half months old. She's going out for potty and is doing fairly good. She seems to understand the word when I say it but if I am distracted or lose track of time she'll go in the house. Sophie doesn't bark. In two months I heard her growl twice and bark at the cat maybe 2 or 3 times. I don't really want to encourage too much barking but how do I get her to indicate when she needs to go out? I'd appreciate any advice you have.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

She just plain too young yet. In the first few months, (really up to a year or more) potty training is all about establishing good habits and minimizing the possibility of accidents. That means close supervision or confinement. Kodi didn't have many accidents in the house, becuae I watched him carefully, and only gave him as much space as I knew he could be successful in, and I had learned his schedule, and how often I needed to get him outside. But, honestly, sometimes I wondered who was getting trained... the dog or me!

He was well over 2 years old when all of a sudden, he started barking at the door to go out. From the day he started to bark at the door to the time when I could totally trust him was fairly short. FINALLY, I didn't have to even THINK about his potty schedule, because I could trust that he'd let me know when he needed to go out.Some people successfully teach their dogs to ring a bell by the door rather than bark. Kodi is a very smart dog in many ways, but he absolutely refused to have anyhting to do with the bells. But your pup is really too young for that too. You need to get a solid handle on the potty training itself before you can rely on bell ringing.


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## tra_po (Aug 14, 2013)

She might not even know she can bark yet. Seriously! (But when she discovers it....)

Have you thought about bells as Karen suggested? 

At 4 months I was just taking him myself not even waiting for cues (hoping for them but not waiting).


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## Pucks104 (Aug 16, 2012)

As Karen and Traci said Sophie is really too young to reliably "tell" you when she needs to go out. At 4.5 months, you need to focus on helping her be successful by supervising her very closely, getting her out or to her potty place frequently and praising/treating her for success. It will be several months to a year or more when she will reiki ably tell you she needs to go every time and you can completely trust that she won't have accidents. Your close supervision so she has minimal accidents will help her learn to potty in the proper place! It is a slow process but will pay off in the long run with a reliably house trained dog!


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## Sophiesmudder (Dec 15, 2013)

Thanks everyone. It's been decades since I have had a puppy. My last few dogs were rescues and were older. We'll just keep doing what we're doing. :becky:


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

yep signals are for dogs that are already housetrained. You can teach them ,which is simple but you can't rely on them.


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