Making me angry. Very angry.

First of all, how old is Ziggy?  If he's an older dog with pretty good bladder and bowel control, i would refuse to take him out for a certain length of time, say half an hour after the first time you've taken him out and he's done nothing. Sooner or later he will do "something" while you're out, you can praise him for that and then take him back inside.
 
On the other hand, are you staying out with him long enough? When we lived in an apartment and had to take our dog out to the grassed area, my husband would get impatient and bring her back inside too soon. He figured if she needed to "go" she would have done it straight away, whereas i would stay out a few minutes longer until she did something. Staying outside for a longer time was definitely better than having to go out again a few minutes later.

He's a 1 year old husky. he's housebroken, and i'm staying out long enough yes, like 7 mins

This is exactly why I am not a fan of the "telling me he has to go out" thing.

Why not just take him out every hour on the hour for awhile, ignoring any asking to go out. Then increase that amount of time gradually. JMHO, it's much easier for me to just remember to take the dog out than deal with a decision-making dog.

Maybe the dog just likes to be outside a lot. He could be just using you to get what he wants, but my advice would be to leave him outside if that's possible. If you have a fenced in yard you could just leave him outside a while, or it might be possible for you to use a tie-out so he can have some time outside. I  suggest that because I'm used to always letting the dogs stay outside when they want to. I guess I don't like the idea of keeping the dog inside the house for a long time if I don't have to. I know it's necessary for some people, though. Otherwise if it isn't possible to let the dog stay out for a while by itself, then I would follow the other's suggestions and not take the dog out every single time it asks. You would probably just have to ignore him unless you know that he has to go out. 

I kind of think this dog wants to be outside for more than potty time.  He wants to be outside for the sake of being out there.  I don't know too many large breed dogs that don't appreciate being outside and sniffing the wind, having the breeze in their face, the sun on their back and the feel of grass on their pads.  He doesn't want to go potty, he wants you to go out with him and play.  He's reminding you that life is too short to spend it inside.

Of course that's what the dog wants... but IMO dogs should not be empowered to make these kinds of decisions for the whole family.

I think 7 minutes for a bathroom break for a 1 yr old dog is way too short.
Maybe if you walked him around a bit or played with him it might get things going and once he does go give him lots of praise.

I agree he needs more time.  Take him for a nice walk to go to the bathroom.  Allow him to sniff around and go to the bathroom.  Then ignore his requests to go out. 
 
When my dog does this (annoying barking in my face) I will ignore and walk away.  Once he stops if I think that maybe he really needs to go because its been some time - I will let him out after he has stopped asking/barking and irking me.[]

ORIGINAL: fisher6000

Of course that's what the dog wants... but IMO dogs should not be empowered to make these kinds of decisions for the whole family.

I understand this fisher, what I should have said is that this dog needs more outside time and more exercise.

Also, I'm wondering if this dog is neutered.  He may be keying in on a female in heat somewhere nearby.

ORIGINAL: WolfDog

Ziggy normally tells me when he has to go outside. Now he's abusing that power. He wants me to take him out, he does nothing, a minute later, same thing. another minute later, same thing. I really don't have time to take a dog out every minute. Any ideas?

Yup, he sounds bored.  But, fisher is right - you can't let him dictate your schedule.  On the other hand, you have an obligation to meet his needs for exercise and mental stimulation.  So, it seems you should fit some more exercise and fun time in, just on your whim, not his.

Scout used to do this, she just wanted to wander around and eat sticks.  Of course, sometimes she was just taking to long to find a place to pee, and after I would give up and bring her inside, she's promptly pee on the floor [sm=angry.gif]
 
By now, you've probably got an idea of how often Ziggy has to pee/poop, or how quickly he will have to pee after drinking a lot of water.  I basically agree with Fisher on this one, you start telling Ziggy when he's going outside.  Sure, you might have a few accidents here and there as you try to get the timing right, but he's old enough that this shouldn't be too much of an issue.  I'd give him a little more time outside, maybe increase it to 10 minutes, but again, do it on your schedule, and have his outside playtime set off of that schedule... for instance, if you start taking him out every hour on the hour, have his playtime set for a half hour after you last took him out to go to the bathroom.  That way he will learn theres a time to go outside and go to the bathroom, and also a time to go outside to play.  Also, as you gradually increase time between scheduled out times, you will see how long the dog can actually hold it on average, and then later, if you go back to letting the dog tell you when he has to go out, you'll be better able to tell if he really needs to go to the bathroom, or if he just wants to go outside and play.

exactly why we DO NOT teach the dogs to "ask" to go out. A truly housebroken dog holds it until you take him out. We take the dogs out on a set schedule. I'm sure if I'd trained them to ask to go out they'd be popping in and out every five minutes.

Max always goes (lots []) on his walks, but I noticed that he has to be walking for about 5 to 10 minutes before he makes the first stop.  Maybe walking around a little would help things move along more quickly.
 
Joyce

ORIGINAL: mudpuppy

exactly why we DO NOT teach the dogs to "ask" to go out. A truly housebroken dog holds it until you take him out. We take the dogs out on a set schedule. I'm sure if I'd trained them to ask to go out they'd be popping in and out every five minutes.

 
You know, it's funny, we take Scout out at certain set times, but if she indicates that she has to go out between those times, we'll take her out then, too.  The thing is, she holds it all day (8-9 hrs) when we're not home, but sometimes if we ARE home, and she's unsupervised for a few minutes, she'll pee on the floor (it doesn't happen often, but HAS happened 3 times in the last month, and this is after almost two full months without a single accident inside!).  I was wondering if on those times she'd gone to the door, and since no one was there to see her, she peed in    the house instead, and I thought she needed more supervision (she's 9 months and has been spending full days alone for 3 months now with no problems), or to be taken out more frequently.  Now I'm wondering if she's just gotten used to the idea that she can go to the bathroom whenenver she wants when people are home, so if no one's watching her she just goes inside.  On all 3 occassions she had been out within the last 3 hours (maximum, one time she'd been out just an hour earlier!) and the longest she'd been left alone any of those times was 20 minutes (and on one occassion she'd only been alone for 5 minutes).  Do you think that we need to put a stop to her telling us when she needs to go out, or is there something else going on here?