OK, Don't take him out for a 10 minute walk. Loki goes out on his flexi, if he goes out, sniffs the wind, and doesn't pee then I call him back inside. We don't have a fence and I don't have time to stand there and hold his leash while he sniffs the wind. That cuts down on 90% of our unnecessary bell ringing. You're rewarding him for ringing the bells. You need to reward him for going potty. The bells are only there as a tool for him to communicate that he needs to go.
Once you do this for a while you'll be able to tell. Loki will ring the bell and then look out the window and he's just watching the neighbor get her mail. If he rings it and then gives me a HARD STARE and stands on the door mat then I know he needs to go. And don't be fooled by the "You JUST went out" thing because Loki will go out twice in 5 mins and really need to go. Sometimes he'll pee, run inside, then need to go back out and poop. Or something he'll drink half his bowl and need to go back out. |