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LOL

So wise!!

Ya I guess how should removed it for a bit

Yeah, so the bell abuse... Like I said, I haven't really found any perfect solutions, but here's what I'm doing so far:

First, putting the bell next to a door that is ONLY used for potty is best. We made the mistake of having it by our front door which we just use for everything, including potty trips in the beginning. Nikko's little puppy brain, ever trying to make connections in his new puppy world, decided that the bell might get him taken outside for a walk, or to see our crazy neighbor and his dog, or maybe over to the other side of our house to pee. Ringing the bell might even make the mailman come, and it might get Nikko picked up into our arms for happy lovins (or really, because we were tired of hearing him ring it!).

When we take Nikko for a walk, we now go out the front door, then come back in through the front door. Then we stop by at his water dish quickly, and then we walk on to the potty door where we take him outside to see if he's worked up any poop on his walk. This extreme separation between what different doors are used for has helped Nikko's abuse a little bit, actually.

Also, and this takes time, and can really only happen after your pup is better potty trained, but I can tell a little bit now (sometimes) when Nikko is just abusing the bell versus when he actually wants to go out to pee. If he's just abusing it, the second he hears me stand up from my computer, he runs over to meet me. If he actually wants to pee, he stays over by the door and waits for me.

I've also been tossing around the idea that bell training would maybe be best after a dog is a little older and more calm and a little less clingy... I'm not sure about that though - I could be thinking that just because I'm frustrated with the bell abuse too. :)

After your baby starts getting the hang of being housebroken, and has at least a couple weeks with NO accidents, then I suggest getting a fence, even if it's just a cheapie. Here's a thread about a fence I bought and we installed in just about a half hour: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...eap-fence.html I bought it kind of on a whim, and it was sooooooo worth it. Now, if Nikko is abusing the bell, I can just leave the door cracked open enough for him to slip out - he may ring the bell still, but the door's already open, so I don't get up. Or sometimes if he rings the bell and I'm right there, I just crack the door open for him to slip out if he wants, then ignore him. I'm hoping he'll start getting it out of his head that ringing the bell means getting my undivided attention, the way it did back when we had to put the leash on him every time. But like I said, I don't think you can start doing this with a fenced-in yard until the pup is really becoming consistent with potty training, because until then you have to be on top of them all the time and knowing exactly when they peed or poo'd last.

Well, that was a lot of rambling. I hope you can find something useful in all of that... Like I said, we still have problems, but it seems to be ever-so-slowly getting better.

Lauren & Nikko

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacquelinebabco (Post 2518947)

What's the potty bell? You folks are cracking me up about the potty training episodes. What a sense of humor you have. I love it. but I really would like to know more about the bell and If maybe it would help me training widget. Widget goes on puppy pads ONLY. He will hold it when he is outside until he can get in the house and make a run for the puppy pads. If only I had thought to buy stock in Puppy Pads. When I see him running for the pad I grab him and take him out. He watches the other dogs and wonders why they go outside when he has plenty of room on his pads for them to go. He holds it until he can go on his pad. Thank heavens his sisters have not regressed to his pads.(they are 2 years old). Widget is 8 months and should have been trained 6 months ago. Stupid little dog.

These are very easy to make, but here is a site that sells them. http://www.poochiebells. Welcome To Poochie Bells

The abuse had lessended a little. I took her out each and every time she rang it and now she does it less. I started not making such a big deal out of ringing it-more out of the potty. idk

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuickSilver (Post 2524354)

Ha! Yeah, Thor's bell experience was very similar. :) I'm happy I tried it because the training I used to convince him to touch the bell ended up being a huge help in teaching him to shake hands, but I had to give up eventually.

I also got a counter bell because at the time, the only potty bells I saw were ridiculously expensive and not long enough for a tiny guy like Thor to reach. FYI, someone here on YT sells very cute ones now. Anyway, I got Thor to the point where he wasn't scared when *I* rang the bell, as long as he was a safe distance away.

I started doing training sessions with him where I would reward him when he touched the bell. One day, just like I planned, he accidentally rang the bell. He was scared out of his wits, but I gave him a fantastic treat and praised him to the skies. After that, he was willing to touch the bell, but he was super careful not to touch the scary top part. He acted like he was defusing a nuclear bomb.

I also realized that Thor doesn't like to go outside when the weather is bad, and there was a good chance he would choose to sneak off and relieve himself indoors if it was raining. So yeah, the bell is over.

I still think it's a really cool idea, though!

LOL! They are so funny sometimes, aren't they? We did the same thing as you with "touch" and all of that. We even rested a treat on top of the bell ringer. She'd snort and sniff towards it, but she would NOT touch that bell if it was the last treat on this earth. We would alternate with us ringing the bell and saying "potty" and then us taking her paw and ringing the bell and saying "potty". Either way, she hated the darn thing.

She's only 6 months old and still hasn't gotten the potty thing down yet. Some days she tells us by going to the door and barking or coming up to us and sitting and barking. Other days she'll just sniff around and then we have to ask her if she has to go "outside". Then she'll go to the door and we go. Other days, she just picks a spot a goes. It's quite maddening, actually. But I figure some day, soooooooome day she will get it!

I agree. It is a great idea and am envious of those who have mastered it!:animal-pa