Any Bell Training Experts?
 

Rudy seems to have picked up on bell training fairly well but I have a few questions.
Does your dog ring the bell when they want something else? Currently our bell hangs by our back door, the one he goes out, but also by the gate that prevents him from entering the front part of our house. I think some of the time he rings the bells because he wants to go in those rooms. Also I think he will ring them when we aren't paying attention to him and he is bored or wants our attention. How do you handle this?
Every once in a while we will have the gate open by his bell because the cat needs to go through and we will forget it is open. He will be in the room with us and it looks like he is going over to ring the bells but when he finds the gate open he goes through. Do you think he is forgetting why he went over to the area in the first place? (Luckily no accident when this has happened.)
Finally, how soon do you think I can trust him to leave the gate open and let him wander the front of the house? Will he remember the bells and ring them like he does when he is confined?

Sorry this is so long but I don't want a set back yet it would really help if I could figure this out so that we are not going outside every 5-10 minutes because he keeps ringing the bells. Thanks!

how old is ur dog? I have a 4 month old yorkie poo and she is bell trained. I do let her roam around and she does ring the bell when she needs to go out. I haven't tried leaving her out all night yet. I just want to make sure she gets it. In your case ur dogs has alot of distractions that may throw it off. Just make sure you go over with ur dog that ringing the bell means going outside to potty. Sometimes my dog rings the bell just to go outside just to play not potty but you have to assume they want to go outside because they did ring the bell. also when u seeing ur dog is abt to ring the bell and she went outside already tell her no and then she will know that ok I just went out so I have to wait till next time! they catch on really fast! hope i helped

Not sure I completely understand, but I think most people only use one bell, and that’s by the door where they go outside to pee. Why do you need two bells, that's the part I'm not clear on? Anyway, if it's possible to get rid of the other bell, I think it would be more likely he will just ring the bell when he wants to go outside. You are trying to link the bell to his need to pee, but you might be linking the sound to his need to "explore". The problem with ignoring his bell ringing is that he will be less likely to inform you when he really does need to go. I open the door every time Joey rings the bell, he usually just wants to bark at some dog because he's pee pad trained, but I open the door anyway. :D

Sorry the original was confusing, we only have one bell that he rings it just happens to be by the doorway to two seperate areas; the door to outside, and the door to the rooms he isn't allowed to go into yet. Currently, everytime he rings we go out, even if we were only 5 minutes ago. I knew when I started bell training, that is what we would have to do.
Rudy is 12 weeks old and for his age I find him to be doing extremely well. I just can't seem to get anything done because of the constant going outside. I am not quite ready to let him out on his own yet. I will definately try the telling him no if he has just been out and gone potty.

Oh wow, if he's this young, that's really a miracle. I can't believe you taught him the bell so fast. He hasn't quite learned that this is to be used for going outside only. When he rings the bell, I wouldn't allow him to explore the other rooms, I would just pick him up and take him outside. If he went pee or poop, I would give him a treat, otherwise nothing. I think at that age they may need to go as much as once an hour, and sometimes within 5 minutes of eating or drinking. Most dogs at that age are confined to something, you could confine him and only give him access to the bell every hour, or you could remove the bell, and hang it again every hour. A rule of thumb is they can hold urine 1 hour for every month of age. He's doing great!

How did you train your puppy to use the bell? I have two pups and I would like to bell train. I think it's possible I may be confusing them. My older pup is 2.5 years old and rarely goes pee in the house but will poop if she feels the need. My other is 8 months old and has accident in the house frequently. More poop accident than pee it seems. Both understand its wrong when they potty in the house because they hang their head in shame. I purchased the Little Rascal Potty box for my younger pup since I thought she would be more likely to use the box. It was slow going at first with the training and then she had four or five days of good potty's. Then I changed the newspaper in the tray and she wouldn't use the box. Just this weekend I was able to get her to pee in the box but I had to confine her to get her to use it. Then yesterday I was busy doing laundry and I walked into the living room to find her using the carpet as a toliet. I caught her in the act and took her immediately to the box. The box was 10 feet away from her when she peed on the carpet so I don't understand why she wouldn't go in the box instead. Both pups seem to prefer to potty outside but lately they have been doing construction in our neighborhood and the dump trucks across the street have her so scared she peed on the porch twice. I have talked to my fiance about bell training her since they dont always signal when they need to go out. He thinks I'm confusing them by wanting to use the bells, oustide, and the litter box. He may be right but I just want a way for them to tell me they need to go out. I purchased the box out of concern for the amount of time they have to be confined. I wanted them to have an alternative to holding it while I was at work. I currently work 12 hour shifts so my parents puppy sit for me but I would like to change jobs so I can work normal hours. I thought the box was a good alternative but I think I just need to focus on potty outside and signaling. How do I go about bell training? I need instructions from step one.lol Thanks in advance!

I had a problem with Molly ringing the bell just to go outside and see the big dogs. So everytime she would ring the bell, we would go to the same spot and I would shorten the leash so that she couldn't roam very far. When I took the fun out of the trip, she seemed to stop ringing it as much.

My problem now is that she's gotten out of the bell habit, and will just come and stare at me and whine. We're back to the training now...

bell training
 

When I was training Molly to go outside (got her at 8 wks), I would take her out every 30 mins or so. At the door I would repeat "ring the bell to potty" several times while helping her ring the bell. I use a service bell (from Office Depot) that sits on the floor so it's easy to reach, also 'cos we can hear it in any room and over the TV.

When we got outside I would also repeat "go potty" over and over, then when she did potty I would say "good potty!!!" over and over and give her a snack. I tried to say potty again and again with each step.

It didn't take too long for her to get the hang of it. Then if we didn't come right away when she rang, she would start growling and hitting it harder...ha! She has regressed some, so we're going back thru the training.

Good luck!!

You should keep them in your sight at all times, if you are doing laundry, either have them with you, or confine them in a room, crate or wherever you have choosen.

You might have better luck starting with one method only, then introducing the others. This is how I did it with my younger ones. They all go outside when I am home and use the bell, and they also use an indoor grass potty and litter box. But it didn't happen overnight. I constantly supervised them and tried to not let them have any opportunity to make a mistake, meaning they were in my eye shot at all times.

Hahaha, I am NOT a bell training expert. But we did train Nikko to ring a bell when he had to pee. This worked to a point... he would ring his bell every time he needed to pee/poo, and he never had accidents indoors after he was 5mo old. HOWEVER, he also rang the bell so he could go outside to eat bugs, or check out the neighbor's house if he heard a car pull into their driveway, or if he just wanted to go outside to lay in the sunshine. It didn't matter if we kept him on his leash every time to direct him or not, and it didn't matter how many times we said "Go Potty!" while standing over him - he just kept using the bell for ALL things outside.

Eventually, we put up a little bit of fencing right outside that door so that when he rang the bell, we could just crack the door open and he could run outside and do whatever he wanted, and then he'd scratch on the door to be let back in. That was still a pain, but at least we weren't bending over to leash him up every five minutes.

Then finally, just about a month ago, our landlord was kind enough to install a doggie door for us. And that has made all the difference in the world. Now he goes in and out when he pleases, stays within his small fenced area (which is right by our living room windows, so we can always see him), and we still have no indoor accidents. It's AWESOME.

However, your pup really is still too young to trust with potty training... Just keep making sure that bell ringing = going outside, and nothing else. Treat for potties, no treat for going outside but not pottying. Also, take him on lots of long walks so he's tired and will sleep often. If he's asleep, he's not ringing the bell or peeing inside. :thumbup:

Good luck,

Lauren & Nikko

I can relate to this one......LOL!
 

:animal-paI just had to comment on this one. Not just because my dog is "Neko" 2, but also...I had a potty trainning delema in the beginning until I read someone's advice on bell trainning here awhile ago. It turned out to be the best idea ever aside from what you were saying...LOL! We have an enclosed back porch on our house. The bell is placed on the back door. Well, his food, water, treats, etc. are also kept out there. So when the bell rings, it isn't always to go outside to potty. He could want a variety of things..LOL! However, it was still the better idea. Jumping on the back door alone, when we weren't in the room, we wouldn't hear it and soon walked up to an accident. So eventhough it bugs us to jump, (cause he will ring it for all sorts of things and ring it every 5 mins.) we are still glad we got it. It works for us and it beats "CARPTE CLEANNING" every day!:animal-pa

How did you bell train your baby. Mine is still not potty trained at all. She doesn't bark, go to the door or anything. It is getting frustrating. Her mom barks so I thought she might learn from her but no she just waits to go outside when her mom barks but goes potty in the house is her mom doesnt need to go. We live in an apartment so it would be nice to have something to warn us. We have tried everything to get her to bark at us, scratch the door but she just looks at me like I am stupid. its funny because she will bark and growl when she wants attention but not to go potty. Please email me any advice you have at tinkerbell06921@aol.com


thanks a bunch

all advice would be greatly appreciated!:D

New to me Lol !!!
 

Never hear of this bell ringing , but love the idea !!! Wow I will get a bell today,
Thanks Guys !!!
bark@ulater!!!!!!
manina,miley:aimeeyork,max:animal36

No expert but....
 

I probably should not posts to this because I am a novice in all things Yorkie but I will tell you how I am bell training my pup and it seems to be working for us. I have the bells that actually hand down from the door handle, placed on the back door. I took a cherio and held it right at the lower bells. Cissy will ring the bells when getting the cherio - I tell her "outside, go potty". Then I will immediately open the door and take her out. After a few times, she got the hang of it. She is 12 weeks old and rings the bell "most" of the time. Lots of times, we just take her out (ring the bell on our way out, ("outside, got potty"), and this seems to be eliminating accidents. (knock on wood) ;)

You may be a novice, but that's an excellent post! I can see you will add a lot to Yorkietalk!