Congrats Paddysmom......what a feeling......hooray..

I'm thinking of training Belle to a bell.
But, instead of ringing the bell to go outside I want her to ring the bell to go upstairs to her potty pad.
Do you think this will still work?
Her potty pads are upstairs in the bathroom since this is where she stays during the day when I'm gone.
Every once in a while she'll get up on the first step and yelp to tell me she has to go but she won't do it every time so I still have to watch her like a hawk for her "signs".

Wow! It sounds like the bell is working great for many of you! I have a couple questions. Dixie is 9 months old. When I got her in July I worked very hard with training and felt very confident in her progress. Then, the lovely Indiana winter came. She HATES going outside now! She'll stand there and shiver until I take her in. She'll usually pee once and then beg to go back inside. Then, that leads to pooping accidents in the house.
My question is, do you think she is too old to try the bell? Do you think the cold weather outside will put a damper on any progress?

Thanks!

Winter can be a challenge.....but I let mine go out regardless....I do not allow them to come in as soon as they finish pee even if they scratch at the d......I usually just say go potty and wait a few minutes......usually they will turn around and figure it out.....mine will play outside in the cold for a llittle bit without coats....in regards to the bell I guess you can teach your yorkie at any age if you are consistent (Ceasar Millan says).....so give it a try.....good luck.

This way
 

Mine both ring a bell to go outside, it is a big jingle bell, attached to fabric. The MOST important thing is to NAME the deed they are doing. AS she is going pipi, say GOOD girl pip! GIVE TREAT IMMEdiately, so she can ASSOCIATE the act with the treat. If you give it to them after they have come inside then they think you are giving it to them for coming in.

I had Jazzie on a short leash attatched to me when I was training her, if she began to squat, I'd say NO, I'd take her outside point to the grass and tell her PIPI outside. The same if I caught her trying to #2. She got the hang quick, after putting the bell up the almost accidents ended. :thumbup:

My Bella is trained to use the bell. but I guess I got lucky, my best friend breeds Yorkies, and I have pup-sat them a few times. I think they pretty much taught Bella that thats what she needs to do to go potty. lol

Shew - I know what you mean! I was excited today because the temp got up to the 50's here! I was actually able to get them to go outside on their own four legs. In the cold rains or teen temps, I had to literally pick them up and carry them out, and then we all stand there freezing and waiting....and waiting...and waiting. So today was a great reprieve! Hurry spring! :daisy:

Bell training is the best!!! Reading this thread has me remembering when AprilLove first "got it", LOL she was ringing the bell every few minutes and I was jumping up constantly to go bring her out. Most of the time she was playing me, teehee, but eventually, she used it to only go outside, and shortly after that, she started ringing the bell on her own, to let my older dogs inside when they were out. These little guys are soooooooooooo smart!! :thumbup::thumbup:

I'm so happy I could scream! Two days ago, Nikko used the bell for the first time to go outside. Since then, he has been using it consistently for poops AND pees.

I haven't kept perfect track, but I think it's been at least 2-3 weeks (maybe closer to a month?) since we started doing this bell thing... and the whole time he seemed scared to death of the bell (except for the very first couple of times we made him ring it??!). Now he definitely knows what it's for - going outside. He even keeps trying if the bell doesn't ring loudly on the first try. And he does seem to know that poops and pees belong outside, since we've had a grand total of like two accidents in close to a month now, none of which have been in the past couple of weeks. We have followed much of the potty training advice on this site to the letter - THANK YOU to YT members. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

On another related note... I'm not complaining honestly, but he knows only that the bell means going outside... so at this point, he will ring it not only to go out to use the bathroom, but also to get attention, when he's a little bored, or just to go out and chase the leaves when it's windy. If he doesn't poo/pee almost immediately, we bring him back in. I wonder how long this "abusing" the bell will last? We try to keep him away from it through distraction and crating and the like when we're sure he doesn't need to use the bathroom. Please don't get me wrong... no complaints here, as I feel like with this step we are at least well on our way to success (again, me exploding with happiness here!!!!!!!!) - I'm just curious. We are STILL after a month and a half of having him, keeping him confined in an area about 1/3 the size of our one story house (not including bedrooms). But the success so far is totally worth it!

Lauren & Nikko

I just wanted to add... please, if you are attempting bell training, DON'T GIVE UP too soon. We were seriously about to give up. We were considering hanging a different bell with a different sound because Nikko seemed so scared of the original bell. But lo and behold... magically he "got it" - and it was so totally unexpected by that point. Seriously, seriously DON'T GIVE UP!!!!!

Lauren & Nikko

My boy does abuse the bell alittle because he likes to go out.....I usually don't mind......but you can distract them if you know that they have done their thing and only wants to play.....:)

Congratulations--great success even at a fairly early age. By the way, if I haven't said it before Nikko is sure a cutie!

I'm going to get a bell to try too, and hope it will work with my 9 mo. and 6 mo. old pups. They don't bark to tell me, but just sit by the door and wait for me to come by and let them out. I feel bad, wondering how long they have been waiting.

LOL - Bailey abuses the bell too - but I don't mind!!!

Bailey rings a service/desk bell ($5 at Office Depot). During potty training, we scooped her up and took her paw to the bell. Yes, she pulled back in the beginning - but soon she figured it out!! I love it and my friends/family think its hilarious!

We don't have a bell in our master bedroom, so when the door is shut and Bailey needs to potty - she'll tap the door stop springy thing instead :) She makes us laugh!!!!

Sasha "abuses" the bell every now & again, more so in the summer though because she wants to go out in the nice weather. Now that it's winter, she only rings to go out to pee/poop. :rolleyes:

Hahaha... I knew as soon as I bragged on Nikko's lack of accidents, he'd have one. That's the way it works, eh? He peed a little inside this morning, but he was on his way over to ring the bell when it happened, lol! He just didn't quite make it. :cool:

Lauren & Nikko

How does the bell training fit in when away from home? Do you take a service desk bell with you and set it by your host's door?

I'm just thinking about how this goes when we travel and spend time at my mom's farm.

Oh yeah, just to update this thread... our bell training has taken a backslide. :-( Nikko never rings the bell anymore, he just walks over and stands next to it for a few seconds while he looks at me. But at least the peeing indoors is happening less often, and we are STILL not giving up on the bell. I figure it can't hurt to keep on trying, and in the meantime at least he's doing a gradually better and better job of knowing he should pee outside, not inside.

As far as going to someone else's house, I would imagine you could just bring the bell. After all, it is still the same object... ("I have to pee, so I touch this object and it makes noise, and I get to go outdoors to pee"). So at least in theory, I would think it would be a great thing to bring along to someone else's house when visiting.

Lauren & Nikko