I'm so happy I could scream! Two days ago, Nikko used the bell for the first time to go outside. Since then, he has been using it consistently for poops AND pees.
I haven't kept perfect track, but I think it's been at least 2-3 weeks (maybe closer to a month?) since we started doing this bell thing... and the whole time he seemed scared to death of the bell (except for the very first couple of times we made him ring it??!). Now he definitely knows what it's for - going outside. He even keeps trying if the bell doesn't ring loudly on the first try. And he does seem to know that poops and pees belong outside, since we've had a grand total of like two accidents in close to a month now, none of which have been in the past couple of weeks. We have followed much of the potty training advice on this site to the letter - THANK YOU to YT members.
On another related note... I'm not complaining honestly, but he knows only that the bell means going outside... so at this point, he will ring it not only to go out to use the bathroom, but also to get attention, when he's a little bored, or just to go out and chase the leaves when it's windy. If he doesn't poo/pee almost immediately, we bring him back in. I wonder how long this "abusing" the bell will last? We try to keep him away from it through distraction and crating and the like when we're sure he doesn't need to use the bathroom. Please don't get me wrong... no complaints here, as I feel like with this step we are at least well on our way to success (again, me exploding with happiness here!!!!!!!!) - I'm just curious. We are STILL after a month and a half of having him, keeping him confined in an area about 1/3 the size of our one story house (not including bedrooms). But the success so far is totally worth it!
Lauren & Nikko