[gkathleenw]

I have a bell at my front door that both of my dogs use. The key is to be consistent. To start, before they knew how to use the bell, I would jingle the bell on the string in front of her face ( kind of like you would a toy) to get her to grab onto it and shake it. Once she touched it, I would let her outside. If she went potty outside, I would give her a treat as soon as we got back in the house. Every time before I let her outside I would entice her to grab the bell and shake it. She got to the point that it was "fun" to ring the bell and mom would get up and she would get to go outside and play. I only gave her a treat when she went potty. It was super annoying at first because it was fun for her, but I had to let her out becasue she was ringing the bell. She eventually got over the fun of it and just rang it when she had to go out.

I hope this helps and good luck!