Bell Training Your Dog
From: Drew Vogel drew@drewvogel.com
Subject: Bell Training your dog
With an early start and concentrated effort, it is possible to train your dog to ring a bell whenever they want to go outside to relieve themselves. Bell training is not difficult, but it requires a great deal of consistency and dedication during the training. Here’s what you need to prepare for the training:
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Get a dog. 😎 (I chose a Jack Russell Terrier and named him Stanley.)
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Get a bell (I got a “Large Brass Parrot Bell” at my local pet store).
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Get a cord to tie the bell to your door (I used an old nylon leash).
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Tie the bell to the cord.
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Attach the cord to the door, at about dog-paw height (for Stanley, the bell is about 6 inches from the floor).
Recommended:
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A crate for the dog. The crate should be large enough for the dog to stand up, lie down, and turn around in. If your puppy is going to grow into a big dog, you can buy a crate for the size they will grow to be, but temporarily partition it down to the correct size for your puppy. There are several compelling reasons to use a crate, but the most relevant to this discussion is that dogs are reluctant to mess where they lay, and this will encourage development of bladder/bowel control. However, be aware that puppies cannot hold their bladders for a full 8-hour work day! They need to be given the chance to relieve themselves frequently.
The Training:
I got Stanley when he was 5 months old and started bell training right away. I’ll be anxious to hear about successes with younger dogs.
At first, I fed Stanley only twice a day — once at 8:30am and again at 5:30pm. (Stanley is now a self-feeder. I don’t meter or time his feedings.) About 45 minutes after each meal, I’d take him to the bell hung on my back door. Then, I’d take his paw, hit the bell with his paw (VERY important — the dog must strike the bell, not you), verbally praise him, and take him outside. We’d stay outside until he did his duty or a reasonable amount of time (5-10 minutes) then it was back inside with loads of praise and a treat if he did his potty while outside.
| Stanley was crate trained as well. I’m a big advocate of crate training — this allows the owner to leave the home without worrying about coming back to find an overturned garbage can, messes on the floor, or other signs of doggy-destruction, and a crate is like a little apartment for the dog — when Stanley is feeling tired or stressed, he’ll go lay down in his private space. I know that he likes having his own space a lot. Crate training assisted in Stanley’s training a great deal since dogs don’t like to mess where they sleep. When it’s time for me to leave for work in the morning, I say “Get in your box” and he goes right in and lays down.
However, some owners do not like the idea of crating their dog. In this case, consider creating a space where the dog stays when no one is home, for example, the kitchen with dog-proof barricades at the doors to prevent the dog from roaming the house. Dogs, when left on their own, feel the need to defend all of their space. If the dog has run of the house, they feel the need to defend the whole home. If they’re penned in the kitchen (for example), that is a more managable space. Even better with a crate. |
If the dog makes a mess in the house, they get a firm scolding over the mess (never EVER push the dog’s nose in it!). Then, clean the mess with paper towels and take the soiled towels outside and set them where you want the dog to potty. Go back inside and get the dog, ring the bell with his paw, praise him for ringing the bell, take him outside, allow the dog to smell the soiled paper towels and praise him. Though this may seem a little odd to a human’s way of thinking, this makes perfect sense to the dog.
The hard part is this — a short time into the training, the dog begins to get the idea that ringing the bell means that they get to go outside. They want to test the idea. Every 30 seconds. I mean it. Every 30 seconds. And guess what? You have to follow the steps listed above each and every time during this, the most critical, training time. This is when the dog is learning and making the bell training their own, and when you’re most likely to get frustrated. You’ll certainly get your exercise opening the door for them! Stay strong and take the dog out each time — a little inconvenience at this point will lead to a well-potty-trained dog.
| During this time, Stanley and I were also doing light Alpha Training — training that establishes the alpha order in the household (essentially, who is the “boss dog”). To accomplish this, I would lay Stanley on his side on the floor in front of me, his back to my crossed legs, and I would gently hold him down for 30 minutes a day each day for a month or so. He could do anything he wanted while laying there — sleep, look around — anything except get up. Once 30 minutes had passed, I’d let him up, give him just a little bit of praise (nothing extravagant since he’s just obeying me, something he’s expected to do anyway), and let him go about his business. This type of training is essential for a well-behaved dog, and especially important if you have a dog that will grow large. |
That’s the gist of this training. The alpha training and bell training is very much worth it — Stanley hasn’t had an accident in the house in a long time, and if he rings the bell to go out and I don’t respond within a minute or so, he rings the bell again. And again. It’s great!
Should you need any further help, or want to talk about the finer points of bell or alpha training, please let me know via email. Please let me know how it goes — it went so well with Stanley that I swear by the method. I’m anxious to hear your story.
Drew, I thought my dachshund puppy was getting the bell training. She was doing well with it and of course was also ringing it for attention, but we took her out anyway. For some reason, the last week she hasn’t wanted to ring the bell at all. We continue to have her ring it when we take her outside, but she won’t do it on her own anymore and has started having more accidents in the house which is very frustrating to us. I’m not sure why she is now refusing to use the bell. Do you have any advice as to what we can do? Thanks. Tara
Hi Drew
We have recently adopted a 3 year old Havanese. Since they rarely bark we have been trying to bell train her to let us know when she has to go outside. We have been at it for a week and a half and she doesn’t seem to be catching on.
We ring the bells over her nose or take her paw and hit the bells each time before we open the door. She has never rang the bells on her own.
I watch her every movement and once she went and sat at the mat in front of the door and I praised her, rang the bells over her nose and then took her outside. She still didn’t catch on.
Do you have any suggestions? Apparently she had a doggy door at her last home.
Thanks Daisy
@deb… CONGRATULATIONS! Sounds like your dog is well on their way to becoming a bell-trained dog! Keep up the good work!
@Tara… Daschunds are very willful critters! We’ve got one of our own. My advice, which I hope you’ve already been doing, is to keep at it — keep ringing the bell with the dog’s paw. Eventually, they’ll catch on.
@sullivan… My suggestion is that you continue the bell training exactly as indicated in the article. A week and a half is simply not enough time for the dog to learn it.
Please let me know how things progress!
Drew my shih tzu is 5 years old and very stubborn I would say he is only 95% potty trained. I want to teach him the bell technique is he to old to do this? Is this technique only for puppies?
Drew,
It has been one week since we started bell training our 3 month old rat terrier. He caught on within a few days. We are now in the frustrating stage, he is ringing the bell every few minutes. (Even more frustrating, it has been hard to get him to listen to me and come back in, I can tell he is testing me all over again) About how long do you think this “stage” will last?
@TJ: It’s never too late! Start with the training!
@Deanna: Awesome that your rattie has caught on so quickly! Don’t lose heart during the “frustrating” stage — it is worth it in the end when you have a bell-trained dog! Sometimes the stage lasts for a short amount of time (several days), and other times it lasts longer (3-5 weeks!). Depends on the dog. Remember that he’s learning that the bell==outside. Worry in the next step about convincing him to come back when you call (obedience training is a great help!).
Years ago I accidentally discovered this technique with our Chocolate Lab puppy, Lady. I have always had bells on the doorknobs of our outside doors and made no attempt to associate ringing the bell with going outside when house training Lady. I was very surprised one day to hear the bell ring while I was working in another room. I went to check the door and there was Lady, waiting to go outside. She made the association on her own, and has been ringing the bell ever since! I am now house training our new Toy Poodle puppy and will be adding another bell on a longer cord so she can let me know when she wants to go outside!
yay!
i’m just so glad all these comments are here. it’s great to be able to learn from the experience of everyone else!
we’ve been rehabilitating a puppy mill dachshund for the last 6 months. it’s been a long, long road. we assume he’s about 1 year old now (although he is incredibly small due to undernourishment as a pup). while he still on occasion has accidents in his crate- he’s come a LONG way from urinating all over himself. and yes, that’s what we started with… he was so bad that the vet worried he had neurological damage. he wouldn’t look you in the eye, made no contact with us or our other dog and would simply lie on the floor and pee and poop on himself. that’s all he did for a month- but love and our other dog have turned him around and he’s a complete rascal now- very much a ‘normal’ dachshund! he loves his crate, his toys, his treats, and almost loves my 5 year old (we’re working on that one… 😉 )
anyway, a few days ago, i noticed that while he was still having a couple of accidents a day, he was having them near the back door almost exclusively. i finally realised that he must be making the association between going out and ‘potty’, but he was unable to go outside on his own and couldn’t tell us. so i got a bell… and you know the rest of the story!
we are still training him- it’s only been two days- but WOW… he already gets it. we’ll see how long it truly takes, but considering all he’s overcome, i imagine this will be a cake walk for him.
amy
@Amywithlemon…
I applaud your decision to rehab a puppy mill puppy. The fact that he’s a dachshund only makes it more wonderful — I’ve got Buster, a large-mini dachshund and he’s awesome!
Please keep us informed on the progress with your bell training!
Hello Drew,
How great that you have kept up this page for over 2 and a half years. Thanks.
I just recently heard about bell training, and since I just recently got a puppy (an 8 month old rescue mix) I am excited to try it.
We are doing rather well with crate training… but I think we need to offer our puppy a way to tell us when she needs to go out.
My question for you is that we want to set up three bells since we have a three-level town home, so that when she is with us on whatever level we are, she has a potty-bell to ring.
Our plan is to train her was to ring the bell on the level we are on and then go downstairs by the door and ring that bell and then go out.
Do you have any experience with that or know of anyone that does?
Do you think it will work?
Thanks,
Holly
@Holly… I’ve never tried a multiple-bell setup. I think you’d have to approach it as multiple (in your case three) trainings for the dog, but I think it could work. Please give it a shot and report your findings!
Hi Drew
So far the training has been slow. My theory is that the bells aren’t loud enough and are hung to low. So we have some new bells coming and are going to hang them a bit higher (so she doesn’t hit them with her tail).
I’ll keep you posted on progress.
Holly
My Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is for the most part bell trained. Our only problem is what you mentioned, she rings it ALL the freakin time!!! She thinks it is funny coz i open the door and she just sits at my feet. Or she will go outside and then cry before i even shut the door. How do i fix this? Also, what do i do when i take her to a friends house or when they are babysitting? She hasnt had an accident at my house in weeks but i left her for one night and she peed all over the place! How do i fix that?
Thanks,
Stacy
Hi,
I am going to try this Bell method with my Silky Terrier (Sophie). She is very smart, I am sure she will catch on quick. She still ocassionally pees/poos in the house. The only question I have is about crate training. We adopted her at one year old ( about 3 mths ago) She was abandoned and has separation aniexty. She is okay when I leave her outside, (with our other dog, who is fully trained) but I cannot leave her in the house, in a crate because she whines constantly, freaks out, and breaks out of the crate. If I don’t put her in the crate, she pees somewhere in the house, gets into trouble. Now I was wondering if the type of Crate I am/was using was the problem? I was using the kind that is used for traveling. Should I try a larger metal cage type? Also could part of the problem be that she is in the kennel by herself, while our other dog(Dora) is free to roam the house? Dora has never caused any trouble being on her own in the house. We have had her since she was a puppy. They get along pretty good now that they have established who is dominant (Sophie), that’s my theroy any ways.
Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks muchly,
Wendy
Hello,
Thank you for your great information. We have 2 18 month old Cocker Spaniels from the same litter, both males (Tucker (neutered) and Logan (not)). We got Tucker first (about 1 yr ago) and then decided we had to have Logan as well. Logan spent about 10 weeks away from us with a handler showing. So, Tucker’s life has been a little more consistent in terms of routine. Tucker house trained very well, and we made a 100% improvement with him while Logan was away. Tucker is really smart and he responds well to positive reinforcement. He will often go to the backdoor and scratch (not my personal favorite for the sake of my door but at least he tries). Logan is stronger willed and very independent. We have a fenced in backyard. and both dogs are crated in the house at night and when we are away. Logan has had about 3 accidents in his crate during the night since he came home in July. Over the last 2 weeks or so we have seen a big improvement with him (no crate accidents and no accidents in the house). Now I want to try a bell. Just wondering how to bring it in now that we are sort of house trained. Tucker loves things like this where there is a cause and effect, almost a game. For example, he knows that we put his special kibble in the kitchen cabinet last week. So, now he goes and sits next to the cabinet, cries, and licks the cabinet hoping we will give him a kibble. Logan does not have those same natural “communication” skills, so I am wondering how to motivate and train each one. Will the same technique work for each? Also, often Tucker will refuse to go out unless he thinks I’m going too or unless he “chooses” to go on his own. Logan will go out as long as Tucker goes. I want to teach them both to tell me they need to go out, and then to actually go without me having to go with them every time. Thanks. Sorry for such a long post.
Hi, we have a shih tzu who just turned 1 year old. He is doing pretty good with “peeing” outside although I’m not sure who is trained him or me. The problem is he still “soils” in the house, almost daily. I do know his “favorite spots” and if I see him going near them I get him outside quickly….sometimes thats successful and sometimes not. At times he will come in from outside and 5 minutes later do his “business” in the house.
The vet suggested that since I allow food to be in the bowl (we also have an older dog) at all times that is would be easier to train him if we followed a closer feeding schedule.
He is crate trained and sleeps there at night. My question is since he is already 1 yr. old do you think the bell method for work for him. Sometimes I think he is just a bit stubborn and high strung to concentrate on what he should be doing!
Thanks for your answer and help!
Hello, I have a 16 month old Pit Bull that was crate trained and going outside ever since he was 3 1/2 months old. I just got a miniature schnauzer that is about 2 1/2 months old, Being that he was smaller the breeder had him paper trained. I tried to continue with the paper training but now my Pit Bull has decided to try and use the paper also and that did not turn out so good. 😕 So my question is if I try to train these two different breeds at two different stages in life, am I looking at every 10 seconds I will be going to take each dog out or will my Pit bull get extra potty walks?
😕 i have a question, my dog bruce is about 6 years old…will bell training work?
Dear Drew,
I have a 6-month-old Chihuahua. He has caught on to ringing the bell but will not ring it on his own. What should I do so that he does it on his own?
Hi there! Keep working with him… He’ll get it eventually!
Hi, I am bell training my 17 week old pom. He is touching the bell with his nose when we get to the door…My question is….should I continue to walk him to the door with the leash or allow him to run (hopefully) to the door once I let him out of his crate?
Thanks for your message! For the time being, I encourage you to keep him leashed as you walk him to the door… Once the concept of “bell = outside” is firmly set, you can work on letting him find his own way to the bell.
Hi Drew. I am about to start bell training my six month old rescue: a mini pin, dacschund, chihuahua. Quite a little mix! I’ve had him for three months and he is approximately six months old. He is peeing and pooing near the door (when I’m not looking). He has been crate trained, and has done well (generally) with that. my question is: should I put the bell near the door (on a small hook so he can reach it) or on the door? my concern with putting the bells on the door is that it will confuse him because if the bells are on the door they will ring everytime I go in and out, rather than only when he is going out. if I put the bells right next the door at his height for him to ring they will only sound when he is doing it. any advice, thoughts? thanks soooo much! Vivian
Hi Vivian! Thanks for your message. You can put the bell ON or NEAR the door; it doesn’t matter to the dog. The important thing is that they associate their ringing of the bell with being let outside. I didn’t find any trouble with having the bell on a door that gets used, but your mileage may vary. If it works to put it on the wall, I think that’s fine! Please let me know how it goes, and of any additional questions.
Thanks Drew! I started the training yesterday. I have to remember though to let him ring the bell, as you said, rather than me ringing it! I hooked up the bells next to the door, only about six inches from the floor, because he’s a realy shorty. I’ll check back in a few weeks. thanks again! Vivian
My puppy lab/pit was very well bell trainned at my old house. He pick it up with in three weeks and he was only 9 weeks old and I real had no pottying in my house. But since I have moved to a new place and put up his bell. I have shown where the bell is and what door will be his potty door. The bell is right next to the potty door. I make sure to use the same door each time for his potty. But since I moved he will not use it. He is now 9months old and I have been living in the new place for about 3 months now. I try tieing treats to the string that the bell sits on. I have had him ring the bell to go out side and give him a treat after he is done. But since I have been here he has had a lot more actadnets in the house. Becouse he real never barks so if I do not see him at the door he will just go in the house. I am not sure how to get him to ring the bell for me again.
Hi Alicia. Thanks for your message. I encourage you to start over with the bell training. It’s clear that he “got it” the first time, but something has changed for him. Starting over with the training will hopefully put him back on the right track. Let me know how it goes, and good luck!
ok my dog is a year old will it still work.And i need this cause i am doing a science project for school so its important.
It should still work with your 1-year old dog! Please give it a try and report back on your success!
I bell-trained my dog Lucy when she was a puppy. It worked like a charm! Before she started with the bell, we were having a lot of accidents because she didn’t know how to tell us when she needed to go outside. She is 5 now and we don’t have the bell up anymore, but she still goes to the door and puts her nose up in the air like she is ringing the bell whenever she needs to go outside! It is adorable! We are getting a new puppy this week and are planning to train her with the bell as well. Hope it works as well the second time around…
Oh boy, my dog must be retarded! i have a 3 year old female shihtzu who i have been trying to bell train for a month now… she looks at the bells, but that’s about it. I am very consistent with ringing the bells and saying “potty outside!” in a very happy, excited voice. No luck! what am i doing wrong? The bells are hung low enough so she can easily ring them with her nose, but she won’t! HELP ME PLEASE
Hi Drew,
My 3-month-old rat terrier caught on to the bell on the very first day! This is great, since we live in an upstairs apartment and have been having problems with his peeing in the house. He always poops outside, thank goodness, so at least that hasn’t been an issue. Anyway, he quickly found out that the bell means outside + attention, so he’ll walk right back in the door and ring it again. He only gets treats when he goes potty outside, but going outside is reinforcing to him in and of itself, and we’re getting pretty fed up with the bell already. I know it’s just the first day, but after 10 trips outside in 10 minutes, I don’t know what to do! Any help would be great appreciated!
Thanks a ton,
Razi
my old babysitter has a shih tzu who will pee outside and then run around. Then a few minutes later when we bring her inside she poops on the floor. We have tried many methods to get molly to potty outside. she wont do it. My old babysitter has white carpets!!!!:P
Believe it or not, I did bell training 14 years ago with my sheltie. I lived in a raised ranch and Heidi (runt of the litter) had not learned to negotiate steps until 5 months old. She was crate trained but we needed a way for her to tell us to go out. We hung a bell between wrought iron rails that came up our staircase. Everytime we took her out, we hit the bell with her nose or paw and said, “Heidi out” and took her to her “pee spot” and placed her there to sniff and do her duty. Shelties are very intelligent and she rang that bell on her own after a couple of weeks.
I have a new sheltie puppy now who is 5 months old. Crate trained , but is still pressing the issue of who is alpha. She is now doing the bell. Cassie was afraid of it and did not want any part of it when I brought her home at 10 weeks. It scared her until now.
A previous person commented about doing multiple bells, which I am going to do also. Unlike my raised ranch, this house has 3 floors and when Cassie is penned in the kitchen, she has no accidents. When she is up on the other floors, she does, unless I pen her in my office with me or pen her in around my husband’s work area. I also will let you know how this works out.
My comment to those folks with shih tzu’s….have lots of patience. This breed can be stubborn and they rank lowest on the IQ scale for learning. (Reference “Your dog’s IQ How clever is your canine? by David Taylor) I owned a shih tzu because my husband wanted one (I did not). Long story short, that puppy after 8 months was given to our friends, who had it for 1 year and gave it to an elderly person who had a farm. I understand Scootie turned out well at the 3rd owner because she devoted 100% attention to her. The morale to my story, shih tzu’s need lots of work.
Bell training works. You have to be consistent with it.
Remember this, puppies are babies. When they hit around 6 months, they are now adolescents (terrible 2’s anyone??). Patience, patience, patience. Crate training must be done with the bell. GET RID OF PEE PADS AND NEWSPAPERS.
Lastly, read up on your breed of dog even if it is a mixed breed. Shelties are very intelligent. Afghans, beagles, shih tzus are lower scale to name a few. Understand what you are working with and then the absolute best thing, enroll your puppy in puppy kindergarten at your local pet store ie Petco, Petsmart or a dog training club ie Nashville dog training.
You invested money in a puppy for a long relationship. Give that puppy the opportunity to be a great family member and invest your time in him/her. The internet has answers for your questions but your time is needed to train, praise, and socialize your new friend.
Hi Drew-
I am beginning the bell training with my 3 month old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I live in a 3 story walk up, therefore, I have to literally put her leash on, and walk her all the way down stairs outside. Will the bell training still be successful- or is it easier if you have a backyard? Will the dog still make the association even though it takes an additional 30 seconds after the bell is rung to go outside?
With consistency, how long do you expect the training to be for a 3 month old pup?
Thanks!
Hi Samantha! Thanks for your message. The 3-story walkup does present a bit more of a challenge, but with attention and persistance, you should achieve the result you desire. As for how long the training may take… Some dogs get it in a couple, two-three weeks. Others take longer. I’d give it a month of great compliance & attention, and see where you are. Please let us know of your progress and questions!
I recently bell trained our Pom, although my setup is slightly more technical. I bought a wireless door bell and a door stop alarm (basically a foot pedal) from the hardware store. I replaced the electronic components of the door stop alarm with the components from the door bell button. Now when the pedal is pushed the chime sounds.
I thought about how to best get my dog to push the pedal, and how to re-enforce that behavior. I ended up putting a treat on the pedal and letting my dog find it on her own. When she found and ate the treat she pushed the pedal with her snout in the process and the chime sounded. As soon as I heard the chime I called her over and gave her another treat and praise. I repeated this process a few times and only called her over for a second treat if she made the chime sound. After about 6 successful pushes she learned that all it took to get a treat was to push the pedal.
Now she was running back and forth pushing the pedal and coming to get treats. Once I was certain that she knew how to push the pedal and that she associated pushing the pedal with the chime I switched my behavior.
Now I moved the pedal near the back door and showed her where I had moved it. When she pushed the pedal I opened the door and had her go outside. I let her back in after a minute. Over the next hour she pushed the pedal many more times, and each time I walked over opened the door and had her go outside.
The next morning was the real test. I went downstairs and instead of letting her out as usual, started making some coffee. She stood at the door for a minute and then deliberately pushed the pedal. I quickly went over and let her outside.
It has been 3 days since the first night of training and she still is pushing the pedal, even if it is just to go outside and bark at the magpies.
Sounds AWESOME! Thanks for sharing your idea. Have you considered writing up your plans for the doorbell switch pedal and releasing them?
The wiring is really simple, but you have solder small wires on to the circuit boards, which is delicate work. So if someone has a fine point soldering iron, silver solder (no flux core) and steady hands they should be able to complete the project in under an hour.
Required Items:
Soldering iron
Silver solder
flux
20ga wire
wire strippers
GE Personal Security Door Stop Alarm
Wireless doorbell (I bought the cheapest one the plugs into an 120ac outlet)
Multimeter
Step 1:
Open the back of the doorbell button and unscrew the circuit board.
Step 2:
Remove the battery. There should be a button with two contacts. One going to the battery, another going to the wireless chip. Remove the button
Step 3: solder a 2 inch length on wire to each contact where the button used to be.
Step 4: open the back of the door stop alarm. There should be 6 wires, two going to the pressure plate, and four going to the speaker. Cut all of these wires as close to the circuit board as possible. Remove the circuit board.
Step 5: strip the ends of the two wires going to the pressure plate. Solder these wires to the wires you soldered to the wireless transmitter. Put the transmitter circuit in the base of the pedal and close it up. All done.
Basically if you have some basic skill with a soldering iron and basic knowledge of circuits this should be an easy project.
Thanks for the detailed write-up, John! I think that will be helpful for folks. Good luck with your dog’s training — keep us posted on how it goes.
I have just gotten a 4 week old Pom. I heard about bell training and decided to try it. I want to bell train my Pom at the back door to go onto the patio and use a puppy pad. Should I start the bell training now or should I first train him to use a pad inside and then at a later date start the bell training and to use the outside pad only? I do use a crate with the puppy. Remember he is just 4 weeks old. Thanks for any suggestions…
Hi Sabrina! Thanks for your message. If you’re going to bell train the dog to use the potty outside, why are you also doing puppy pads? I think puppy pads will simply confuse the matter, so do not encourage you to use them at all. Simply follow the bell training as outlined in the article. I think it is fine for you to begin the training now, but be patient — it will probably take a little longer with such a young dog. Please let me know of any questions, and of your success!
Hi Drew,
Thanks for the great information. We recently rescued an adult female dog (year and a half old) with no knowledge of her potty talents. She’s done well with doing potty outside by taking her out regularly. We are working on extending her time. She does not have a strong signal to let us know she wants out. We lose track of the time too easily and we get distracted because we work from home so bell training seemed a great idea. She’s has some terrier traits including willfulness and tenacity.
For those frustrated by their dog ‘not getting it’, here’s what I did before I found this website. We got a set of bells and hung them by the door. I would wiggle the string to ring the bell each time and say “go outside”. This went on for about a week. She showed little interest in the bells. I watched a TV show the other day that told how dogs often imitate things they see their owners and/or other pack members do. Recently I began waiting until she was near me. I started reaching down to give the bell ring in front of her. A day later she started ring the bell to go out. First with a nose then a paw smack to make sure I heard it good. Now she rings it often just to look outside.
Besides going out for her business, she uses the bell to get the door open to see if there are any squirrels in the bird feeder or on the fence. This offers her a huge reward as she prefers toys/games to treats. She often stalks the squirrels and gives chase to clear the yard. She rings the bell often but does not always want to go out. She will go out for potty or if the squirrel is there, otherwise she’ll just lay there while we open and close the door for her…
We’ve kept up with the ‘bell’ means ‘open’ the door routine, but it’s beginning to get old as she checks for squirrels too often. Any suggestions on shaping this behavior so she is just using the bell to let us know she needs to go. I have not used any treats for this training, maybe we need to treat her successes, but the squirrels already do that. Comments and suggestions appreciated.
Callie’s door man
Thanks for your message! I am pleased that Callie is associating the bell with going outside. Once that concept seems firmly planted in her mind, you can begin to be judicious about when you open the door for her, or how long you leave her outside. I’d say verbally praise her when she rings the bell, let her outside and if she potties while outside, give her praise and a treat. If she’s clearly out there to play, call her back in pretty quickly (or leave her out to play — your choice).
Hello Drew! I have bell-trained my dog and it works great! I’m very pleased because other methods weren’t working. However, she rings the bell ALL THE TIME! You mention this in your article, however, you’re assuming people live in houses! I live in an apartment in the 3rd floor and taking my dog out every 5 minutes simply isn’t an option. Yes, I am getting my exercise, but in North Dakota (meaning it’s FREEZING), on a 3rd floor private enterance apartment (walking up and down three flights of stairs in said cold about 20 times a day) I honestly don’t care to get my exercise! haha! I only give her treats if she poops and I try to let her stay outside long enough to run around a bit, but she keeps ringing the bell. Any suggestions?
Hi Morgan! Thanks for your kind comments about the bell training! I’m glad it’s working for you.
I’m sorry to say this, but the best thing to do is continue to reinforce for the dog that bell=outside, even though it means a 3 floor walk! Believe me — that reinforcement phase won’t last forever! Please let me know of any other questions, and how it goes for you and your doggie!
HI Drew,
Im am really hoping you can help me with this problem, I have a 1yr old Pom named prince,I have had had him for about 7mths, and it still seems as if he’s having a hard time adjusting to potty training..I have had him on fixed schedules, leashed to me and now i am trying the bell…my new husband is kind of at my wits ends…because the moment he is out of our sight..he pees or poops on my carpet..!!! I have crate trained him, and have just gotten married, so my husband is really getting upset that we constantly have to clean up after him..im dont know what else to do,…we are taking obedient classes at petsmart..and have also taken him to the vet and have came to the conclusion that he also has seperation anxiety..he is scared to walk on vinyl floor..and will only walk on carpet or cement. he pulls and wants to be the first out the door. I make him sit/wait so i can walk out first, I dont know if it all ties in..but nothing seems to be working..Do you have any additional advice?
Thanks in advance..
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