[yorkietalkjilly]

Most of us go through this in the early training of dogs asking to go out when it's fairly obvious they probably don't really need to and they do stop it as they mature. When I first trained my dog I arbitrarily took him out every 30 minutes all day and evening for about the first two weeks to strongly imprint him with the idea of going outside over inside and help him learn that even if he got the urge to go, in just a short time we'd be going out. Rest of the time I just watched him and took him out when he showed the usual signs or after ANY intense situation or any sustained activity, even a nap. When I couldn't watch him or keep him with me, I crated him to prevent accidents. He was 9 mos. old when I got him and had only used a crate to eliminate his whole life. By the time he was 21 mos. or so, he was no longer crated but did have the occasional accident a while longer, oddly enough all in once place - his bed. Since then, he has been totally clean in the house, except for very pretty, sunny days, just asks to go out when he really needs to go and will, sadly, hold it for hours if I'm detained when away from the house, even though I leave potty pads down for him. You don't need bells or things to train dogs to tell you they need to go outside and all of them to one extent or the other do fib a bit to go outside when they are young. You could take up the bell and ignore what you suspect are pleadings to go out for other things than elimination to avoid some of the novelty of the bell ringing = outside action. A dog will obviously "tell" you when they need to potty and each is a little different in his tell but quickly learned as you observe them. I hope things smooth out for the two of you before too long.