Thank you so much. I'm gonna cut/paste this to her too. One question though... We can't see the door for where we will normally be located. If I still want to restrict his movement will it work to place the bell where he's in our line of sight or does it have to be at the door for him to get it?
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Originally Posted by Erin  I get it - you want him to be afraid of going inside - HOWEVER please buy that training book recommended "The Loved Dog" You are making a common mistake in thinking that dogs understand things the way humans do. Dogs are extremely smart, but they have limited understanding of cause & effect.
The bottom line is that this dog has not been trained to hold it (many Yorkies are not good at this part, they are tiny!) but he has also not been trained to NOTIFY you that he needs to go out. THIS is something I believe all Yorkies can learn.
Bell training is simple - you can buy a bell (google Poochie Bells or TellBell) or you can just hang a jingle bell from a ribbon and tie it to the door. Before taking him out, take his paw or nose and have him ring the bell. Act all happy and immediately open the door and go outside. After a week or so he will be curious to try it out and he will ring the bell himself. IMMEDIATELY RUN to the door and take him outside. Do this a few times and he'll figure it out. See, he probably tried something like this - walking by the door, circling, barking, etc. and was ignored because it was a subtle signal (walking by the door) or an undesirable one (barking). You need to introduce an acceptable and encourageable signal for him to tell you when he needs to go. When I introduced the bell with Loki (my bladder-problem dog) he went from a few accidents a month to NONE. He understood he needed to pee outside - he just didn't know how to ask to be let out (25 times a day, but hey, whatever works!) |