DS is almost 3 and a half and is still 'toilet training'. When he is asked (every 1-2 hours or so), he will generally (although he can be a bit reluctant at times) do a wee in potty and he will even stand up and use the 'big' toilet or a urinal to do wees if he is out. He will even (when he is placed on the potty because he is showing signs he is about to do a poo) do a poo in potty. However, despite two weeks of full on training ie. knickers, rewards/star charts/praise/songs/chats/books/demonstrations/wees in multiple public toilets, he is still not showing any sign of indicating when he needs to go. Most annoyingly, he has recently taken to pooing in the bathtub during his bath, despite being sat on the potty only minutes before. Today he weed while sitting in his pram and proceeded to sit on it for a full hour (until we discovered the accident when we got him out of the pram to take him to the toilet and then protested at being changed). My questions are as follows:

1) For those that trained their child using the 'sit him/her on the toilet every hour' method, how long did it take for their child to 'catch on' and actually start volunteering to use the toilet when they needed to go (or at least telling you that they needed to do a wee/poo)?
2) My personal feeling is that he is not telling me he needs to go because he does not know when he needs to go. Does this mean he is not ready and should I therefore take a break from things until he shows more signs of readiness? We started 'officially' toilet training about 2 weeks ago because his kinder teachers said he was 'ready' ie. he was staying dry for up to 2 hours at a time (sometimes even overnight) but does this mean he's 'ready' when he still doesn't seem to know when he needs to go? He has been able to go for longer stretches for some time but we have tried and abandoned toilet training attempts in the past because he has shown no inclination to tell us when his bladder is full. Sometimes he will even refuse to go altogether despite the fact that you know he needs to go and you need to keep asking him to keep trying every 15 minutes or so, otherwise he will (and usually does) wee in his pants/on the floor the minute your back is turned.

3) Is is possible that he might not know because he has a UTI but has no symptoms?

Sorry about the mammoth post, but I am getting desperate because he needs to be fully TT to do 4 year old kinder next year (which is why his childcare have suddenly taken an interest) but as they themselves are finding, the only way for him to 'stay dry' is to sit him on the toilet every hour or so in the hope of catching him before he does it in his pants or on the floor. BTW they are having even less luck with no. 2s than we are and he routinely soils his pants at kindergarten.

Has anyone had a similar experience and can tell me what you did?