[Erin]

Is it really too cold to let him out? I live in the Chicago suburbs and it was -20 at night last week and Loki still went outside. He goes out in the snow too. At the beginning of winter we put coats and sweaters on him, but he doesn't like them so we skip them now. He still rings his bells to go out and happily trots out to the grass. I mean, he's only out there for 15 seconds or however long it takes him to pee. He's never come back a popsicle. We have people on this board who have Yorkies in Alaska. Loki gets cold if he's out there for a few minutes with no coat, but not in the time it takes him to pee.

Poochie bells are meant to hang on the outside door. The dog is supposed to associate the ringing of the bells with the door opening. Loki was already target trained so ours hang on a suction cup next to the door since we were able to train him to ring them without that association, but that's not how they are supposed to work. If you are going to make them work, you need to put them on the door to the outside. Then you take his paw and hit them and say "outside!" and take him out. If he rings them on his own, respond immediately and praise him and let him out right away. Loki caught on in about a day, but he does training so it may take Kiki a few days. If Kiki rings the bells and you would rather he use the pad then just take him to the basement instead of letting him out. He is not going to know when he is expected to go in which spot. Let him always ask to go outside and then you can decide if he needs to go downstairs instead.