Originally Posted by AllDogBoots (Post 3217001)

I'm so sorry but I think the post is hilarious. I also have the Tell Bell and although it works perfectly, Cooper will ring it all day long just to go outside and play. It doesn't bother me much though, because it's simple for me to just open the door and let him out. I look at it more as a communication method now, rather than "i have to go potty". There will be times he will put his ball in his mouth and then slam on the bell to go out. It just means he wants to go out to play.

The tricky part is knowing when he rings the bell to potty. I believe at this point (we've had the bell for a year and half) I know when it's to potty. If I don't let him out after he rings it angrily, he will just go and lay down. Sometimes, I'll just say "Cooper, no you already went potty". And of course, the one time I timed it wrong he just stood there and peed on the carpet in front of me.

I'm hoping others can offer you some expertise. Perhaps when he rings it and you take him out to potty, and he potties successfully, you may want to reward that with a treat.

These dogs are master manipulators. Last time I had Cooper kenneled, I brought his bell and told them that he would ring it when he needs to go potty. Well, you can imagine what happened :D He slammed it all day long just to get attention.

Now that I think about this, I'm a doorman.

Originally Posted by Karrie (Post 3217593)

Ha! Bell abuse - yes, the down side of potty training with a bell :)

We taught bailey to ring a service bell when she was just a pup - it has served us well! (no pun intended) We are fortunate in that we can just walk outside - but she must be supervised at all times when outside (no fence) - so the abuse was a little frustrating.

I talked to our dog trainer about this and the trainer said that if you are certain that it's not a potty ring - then you can say 'no'. I used the 'no's' sparingly - and let her out most of the time.

Bailey is 3 years old now - and I noticed a significant reduction in bell abuse after the first winter. The older she gets, the pickier she is about the weather - which is just fine for me!

Good luck!!

Originally Posted by ls1smith (Post 3217264)

Ok! So I have only been on here a few days, but this is by far the funniest/most informative post I have read. Obviously my blind Yorkie can't do this and my 10 yr old Yorkie would probably think I am crazy....but I definitely plan to do this with my next Yorkie!

How do you do it? Do you just ring the bell everytime you take them out and praise them when they potty? Some are so hard to house train that I can't believe so many have had luck with the bell!

Originally Posted by smittojess (Post 3217857)

We got bentley at 16 weeks and started with the tell bell pretty quickly after bringing him home. He had a few weeks of accidents and confusion -- especially beacuse he had a little parasite and had diarrhea but after about 2-3 weeks of ringing his paw on the bell every time we went out and praising him for potty he decided to walk over to it and give it a smack one day. Every since we have had NO accidents inside. literally ZERO. I am so glad we found the tell bell! I would suggest buying their bell thuogh because the top is bigger than a traditional hotel bell so it's a better spot for their paw to hit. you also get 2, a training dvd and book for $20 on amazon so it's a great deal!

Originally Posted by MDKaren (Post 3222318)

We also have a Cooper who rings his bell for anything he wants. Ringing to go potty has turned into ringing for going out, for food, for getting to dad in the garage and for asking to go to bed. He knows that ringing the bell will get us up out of our seat! So what we decided to do was ONLY respond with a potty trip when the bell rings. NOTHING else. One of these days he will get the idea that that is all he will get by ringing. These little boogers are too darn smart!

Originally Posted by Karrie (Post 3223491)

Oh, yeah - this post reminded me - after Bailey caught on to the bell - I put a bell in our upstairs master bedroom and kept the door closed (part of our potty training process - kept her supervised). Not long afterwards, I picked up the bell (didn't like running down stairs for fake rings) - so then...Bailey started ringing the brass door stop spring. boooinnnggg. It was soooooooo cute!!! Yes, they are too darn smart! :)

Originally Posted by ls1smith (Post 3217264)

Ok! So I have only been on here a few days, but this is by far the funniest/most informative post I have read. Obviously my blind Yorkie can't do this and my 10 yr old Yorkie would probably think I am crazy....but I definitely plan to do this with my next Yorkie!

How do you do it? Do you just ring the bell everytime you take them out and praise them when they potty? Some are so hard to house train that I can't believe so many have had luck with the bell!