About 3 weeks with Seven because he was so young when I got him. He's pretty expressive and found a way to let me know he needs to go out. Even at 5 months, he would just come sit right in front of me staring in my face until I said "you need to go outside?", then he would wiggle around and run towards the door.

Just make sure that when you take your dog out, take him/her to the same spot and wait for them to go. I used to say "go poopy" over and over again when he was young and then really praised him when he went finally did.

As a grown up guy, it's sometimes embarassing to get telling your dog to "go poopy" when girls walk by, but as long as I don't have little "gifts" left in my house while I'm at work, I'll suck up the embarassment.

Much luck.