Hmmm...I don't really have any ideas on the going in one spot thing. As far as them telling you they need out: Well each time you take them out have them do whatever it is you want them to do to tell you. Our bloodhound knew how to "sing" or speak so each time I took her out I would have her "sit" beside the door and "sing". It wasn't long before I would hear her barking and I'd look over and there she was sitting beside the door waiting to go out. She was a breeze to housebreak too.
With Reagan she picked up scratching at the door on her own. We had started having her speak each time but somewhere in the midst she ended up scratching so we left it at that. Bells are a good idea too and there's a ton of threads about them, you can probably search potty bells or something. Reagan never really got the hang of bells, we tried this before barking. I will say though that she didn't like big bells at all. Anything bigger than 1-1 1/5 inches would scare her. But there are a ton of dogs using them, they just hang bells beside the door and the dog noses or paws or shakes them when he/she needs out. I've also heard of people using those bells that some hotels have where you tap the top thing and it rings.
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Courtney |