My Yorkie girl is trained to use the bell. What I did was ring the bell every time we went outside for potty along with our key phrase "potty" (right before opening the door). For about a week or two. Then, I worked with her to touch the bell every time we went out, and rewarded her with a treat, then worked on having her touch it with her paw and reward, then go out, potty then reward (lots of praise and rewards
) It took a few weeks, but now she uses the bell to go out, to tell me when my older dogs want to go out (they never learned the bell, just sit by the door), she even rings the bell to tell me when my older dogs want to come back in
(she learned this on her own, man they are smart!!!) My back yard is completely fenced in with 6 foot privacy fence, so the older dogs are allowed to go out on their own. I am in the process of teaching my Biewer the same habits
Just keep at it, repeating every time you go out, eventually he will do it, and you will be soo proud!! It is a great tool to have, since we can't always be in site of a door when the babies need to do their business.