Poll: How does your Yorkie ask to be let outside?

[alaskayorkie]

I always thought the bell-ringing trick would be fun to teach, but I never had to: My dogs have always found ways to let me know when they want to be let outside.

But I just realized today the remarkable many ways they develop on their own to do it. Eddie, for instance, lets out a casual sneeze. When I hear a sneeze in the area of the door, I know he's ready to be let out. It's as though he doesn't want to make a big deal about it by barking.

Jillie, on the other hand, just grumbles. Not a bark, not a whine, just a throaty grumble. She uses that anytime she wants something.

To be let back in, it's different. Sneezing isn't effective with the door closed, so Eddie paws the door once or twice. If I don't hear it or answer right away, I get a couple more paws followed by a grumpy bark. I can hear the bark all through our smallish house. Jillie has a tendency to still grumble, which I can't hear if the door is shut. So I either check frequently or leave the screen open. She'll bark after only a long time if I forget.

What do your dogs do?

[maxdog]

Sasha will scratch at the door. Max won't ask to go outside. We let them into the garage on a regular basis but if he has to go in between he just uses the pad.

[matese]

Cody whines when he needs to go out.

[Mercgirl]

Wookie will walk over to the door, then look at us in turn until we realise. If we don't notice, she'll give a low 'wuff' to get the attention of the dumb humans. When we then say 'Do you want a wee?' she'll stand on her hind legs, reaching for the door handle.

Pretty clear indication!

[alaskayorkie]

Originally Posted by Mercgirl

Wookie will walk over to the door, then look at us in turn until we realise. If we don't notice, she'll give a low 'wuff' to get the attention of the dumb humans. When we then say 'Do you want a wee?' she'll stand on her hind legs, reaching for the door handle.

Pretty clear indication!

Yeah, I forgot about the "Look" technique. So cute. Jillie does that first.

Eddie's feeling pretty unique being the only sneezer!

[Mercgirl]

Originally Posted by alaskayorkie

Yeah, I forgot about the "Look" technique. So cute. Jillie does that first.

Eddie's feeling pretty unique being the only sneezer!

Having just noticed where you live, do you ever have problems with them not wanting to go outside in cold weather?

Wookie will always go out, rain or shine, and the coldest day she's coped with here so far is -5. I'm standing there shivering, and she's just mooching around the garden like it's a summer day!

[Captainzing]

Growls a little bit to go investigate the outside.
To go potty

He just stares at me

[alaskayorkie]

Originally Posted by Mercgirl

Having just noticed where you live, do you ever have problems with them not wanting to go outside in cold weather?

Wookie will always go out, rain or shine, and the coldest day she's coped with here so far is -5. I'm standing there shivering, and she's just mooching around the garden like it's a summer day!

Yeah, our limit is about the same for potty breaks, if you mean Fahrenheit. Anything below zero, they still want to go out but they stay closer to the back door and want back in ASAP. I shovel a path on our deck and they generally stay on the deck.

For walks, booties and a coat keep them happy to -10 as long as we keep moving!

[Maximo]

We use piddle pads in addition to outdoors, but my boys let the humans know when they need to do 'big business.' (poop) They paw at us and get our attention first. It's difficult to explain, but we always know what they are trying to tell us.

If no one is in the room and the pad needs to be taken care of, Max has particular bark that we know means, "Hurry! We need service."

[alaskayorkie]

Originally Posted by Maximo

We use piddle pads in addition to outdoors, but my boys let the humans know when they need to do 'big business.' (poop) They paw at us and get our attention first. It's difficult to explain, but we always know what they are trying to tell us.

If no one is in the room and the pad needs to be taken care of, Max has particular bark that we know means, "Hurry! We need service."

I know what you mean! Eddie is afraid of his water bowl, for some reason, and he lets out a woof to let me know I have to comfort him while drinking when he's particularly scared. It's louder than the sneeze to be let outside, probably because I've tried ignoring him to no avail.

[Maximo]

Originally Posted by alaskayorkie

I know what you mean! Eddie is afraid of his water bowl, for some reason, and he lets out a woof to let me know I have to comfort him while drinking when he's particularly scared. It's louder than the sneeze to be let outside, probably because I've tried ignoring him to no avail.

I had forgotten that Eddie has a thing with the water bowl. Max went through this recently and still is a little skittish when drinking. Dad thinks maybe Teddy bumped Max in the rear end and caused him to dunk his nose in the water. We think he is afraid of being dunked again.

Communication -- these little guys are amazing the way they have different sounds to convey different things.

[alaskayorkie]

Originally Posted by Maximo

I had forgotten that Eddie has a thing with the water bowl. Max went through this recently and still is a little skittish when drinking. Dad thinks maybe Teddy bumped Max in the rear end and caused him to dunk his nose in the water. We think he is afraid of being dunked again.

Communication -- these little guys are amazing the way they have different sounds to convey different things.

If I was superstitious, I would say we have a :ghost: who deliberately scares Eddie while he's drinking! I was in the kitchen recently and heard a bang while Eddie was drinking. He leaped away from his bowl. I have no idea what made the bang!

[gemy]

My eldest taught the youngsters to ring the bell, then somewhere around six yrs old stopped his bell ringing. He instead goes to back door then turns to look at me. If I am not there he will come and get me with a certain whine.

Our Yorkie just loves to ring the bell for anything especially enthusiastic is his ring for squirrel or bird chasing....

To come in we have a single bark that will repeat if his lordship waits too long, a door scratcher and finally a shy female that will whine after standing outside looking longingly inside

[Maximo]

Originally Posted by alaskayorkie

If I was superstitious, I would say we have a :ghost: who deliberately scares Eddie while he's drinking! I was in the kitchen recently and heard a bang while Eddie was drinking. He leaped away from his bowl. I have no idea what made the bang!

Poor Eddie! A ghost, or the cat!

We have lots of rattles and pops in our house, especially in the kitchen area, that cause Max to jump. I think many of them are the gas stove, the furnace, and water pipes and joists warming and cooling.

We also have the ghosts of Civil War soldiers and maybe Indians who traversed this area before our house was built. They mostly just slam doors upstairs and walk through the foyer.

[canana]

I tried getting Scottie to ring the bell each time we went outside. After a year, it didn't seem to be effective, because sometimes he'd just go play with it. He learned to hold his potty really well and doesn't indicate when he needs to go, so I always have to make sure I stick to his schedule.

Casie on the other hand will do a low grumble sound, kind of like Marg Simpson, but cuter.

I also have a porch potty for those miserable pouring days when I don't feel like getting drenched.