Quote:
Originally Posted by tokipoki  Dog Training: How to Teach your Dog to ring a bell to be let outside, For Charles and Alli - YouTube
What I did was just every time I took Toki outside to use the bathroom, I'd use her paw to hit the bells that are hanging by our door...sometimes I'd also just kick the bells myself as we went outside...she picked this up over a couple of days! Very quick! We probably started this when she was 4 or 5 months? I honestly don't remember but I wanted to see if she would take to them and she did!
Like I mentioned before, sometimes she just rings them for attention but other times Toki will totally body check the bells when she means business lol. I guess it's kind of like your dog is training you with the bells but once you know the potty schedule, you can spot the fake outs  |
Exactly Lola is bell trained with a stand of jingle bells on a ribbon I made myself. Frankly to me it is the ONLY way, and why everyone does not do it this is a mystery to me. My house is several levels and I can not always see the door or see Lola standing by it, so she rings the bell and I can here it in my office or while watching TV. I then take her out on a retractable leash, if the weather is bad I stand on the porch if it is nice I will walk her around the yard. I am lucky because she sleeps through the night and then I am up for close to two hours in the morning before she needs to go out, however if I need her to go out sooner then I just take her out on the leash and she goes when I say go potty. if I spend a few more min. out there she will normally poop, but if I am not going anywhere i just bring her in and we go back out either when she rings the bell or in an hour and then she poops. Having her on a leash lets ME control the schedule, she knows the leash and walking around the front lawn means potty, not play. It is normal to go through a period of ringing the bell just to go outside, but since Lola goes out to do her business on a leash and not to play I think that stage did not last that long. The bell also makes travel to other homes easier because Lola knows wherever I hang the bells is her exit to a potty place. Even in fenced yards we use the leash for potty, my sisters yorkie, Lucy potties off leash and my sister never knows what she did or when she did it because she can't see all over the yard. We argue over this all the time, Lola is not yet two and just about never has an accident while Lucy is 5 and will be let out, then we leave for two hours and when we come back home she will most likely have gone on a pad my sister still leaves down or on a throw rug. My sister thinks it is easier to just open the door and let Lucy out, she thinks putting on the harness and leash and then holding it while Lucy is outside to be to pain, heck I would rather put the leash than clean crap and pee off the floor
My sister lives in NY and I am in MI, when I travel back home no one has a problem with Lola staying at their house because she does not have accidents, however with Lucy it is a different story and my sister (thankfully) will not bring her to my house because I don't have a fence and because of all the accidents. I can bring Lola anywhere and it does not matter if they have a fence or not. From experience the leash and bell combo is the best potty training method out there.