Maggie abusing her new skill

Arghh, first of all, I know I need to get Maggie some obedience training and that's coming SOON... well maybe in another month.

At any rate, I've been working with her to get her to tell me when she needs outside by whining. Well now she just whines when she WANTS outside, even if we were just out and she didn't potty. She whines at the door if she just wants to go outside and romp. EVEN IF I had JUST taken her for a walk, she'll come right back in, I'll take the leash off, and she'll start whining at the door and looking out the window again.

Should I ignore her when she does that? I still want her to tell me when she wants out, but only if she has to potty.

What I would do is take her out, KEEP HER ON THE LEASH, wait . . . then take her back. Every time. Pretty soon she'll learn she's not going to have fun that way.

This is great news! The little girl really gets it which will be a benefit for years. You just need to set up some rules about asking to go out. When she asks to go, you take her to her potty area, not on a walk. You give her a fixed amount of time to potty, say two minutes and then it's back in the house. Take her on a walk separate from her potty trips so that the two are not linked anymore. This should clear it up for her pretty quickly. And make sure you keep praising her every time, even if you think she is lying. You don't want her to think that you are annoyed at her for telling you- she might stop :yikes:

ohh thanks guys!!! I think you're right, she'll catch on quick

My Sheltie was trained to tell us when she wanted out by scratching at the door. We used a different door for potty and a different one for going on a walk. Backdoor=bathroom, front door=walk. Worked well. Whichever one she was at gave me an idea of what she wanted to do.

Harry does the same thing, he knows to bark if he needs to pee so we can get up and let him out of the laundry. But now he barks for ages after he goes to bed just because he wants out, I won't let him out because then he'll just bark at the back door to come in but I can't justlet him bark all night with the neighbours.

Before when he was doing it in the garage I would go and get him, take him outside, and put him out, as soon as he barked I'd get him, not talk to him then take him back to the garage.

I'm thinking about doing the same thing here, but haveing a tie up to the verandah so when he barks I can just go get him, tie him up, wait 5 minutes, go put him back in the laundry so he only has the choice to sit still or go to sleep.

I taught Buster to scratch at doors when he wants out, I'm now thinking of undoing this training, he's ripped about %40 of the paint off the laundry door when I put him in there for 20 minutes one day, and there are marks all over the back door where he has asked for in.
So tyhinking I might change it to him pawing a string of bells on the doorhandle, much easier to live with.

So Maggie is using this as a game. She knows that whining at the door gets her outside, and she doesn't care if she's out for just 2 minutes. She thinks it's fun to go in and out 20 times in a row.

Don't you have a crate for her? After the first two or three times she asks to go out, put her in the crate for thirty to forty five minutes and COMPLETELY ignore her. You know she doesn't have to use the bathroom, and she is old enough to be fine. Don't feel bad if shes whining, ignore her. No eye contact, don't talk to her, nothing. Then, let her out, continue to ignore her for five to ten minutes.

If she goes back to whining at the door. Take her out again one or two times. If she doesn't potty, put her back in the crate for thirty minutes. Keep doing this until she gets the idea that she has two chances to go outside before she get ignored for awhile.

At least, this is what I would do...