i trained Morgan to use the bells. here is what i did: When taking her outside i'd always go through the door where the bells hung. I would not pick her up, but let her walk on her own and follow me. I'd say "outside" and tap the bottom bell with my finger just enough to get it to make a slight noise at first. the loud noise scared her too. I did this for a few days then started to hit it harder to get her used to the louder sound. I noticed that she would walk to the door with me and then wait for me to hit the bell instead of her trying to ring it. So i started picking up one of her feet and tapping the bell with it when saying "outside" instead of me just hitting it. We did this for a while but she still wouldn't hit the bell on her own. So out came the treats.
i continued hitting the bell myself when going outside but also started treat-bell training sessions for a few minutes a couple times a day. We sat by the bell and i held the treat near it and got her to go to the treat to get it. i held the treat closer and closer to the bell until she'd have to hit/bump into the bell in order to get the treat. when i moved the treat toward the bell i'd say "outside" and every time the bell rang i'd say "yes!" and give the treat. Then i backed the treat away from the bell a little so she's actually have to hit it on her own to get the treat instead of "accidentally" bumping it. If she hit it, i'd say "yes!" and give the treat. if she just jumped for the treat or move towards the bell but not hit it i'd say "uh oh" and move the treat behind my back. I wait a few seconds and try again. We got to the point where i'd just point to the bell and say outside and she'd hit it on her own.
Once i got her hitting it on her own we started the real training back up again. We'd walk to the door, i'd point to the bell say "outside" and she's hit it. She got a treat and I opened the door for her to go potty outside. I slowly phased out the treat for hitting the bell and her reward was my opening the door to go outside. Eventually she just figured out on her own that when she wanted to go out to potty she had to hit the bell for me to get up and open the door to take her out.
Of course when she figured bell = outside we had a few "false" potty rings cause she just wanted to go outside to play
. but that was ok, as long as she pottied out there too and rang the bell.
