Using Bell to potty train
 

Hi everyone, I've read several threads on yorkies being trained to hit a bell hung on the door, to indicate they have to go out and pee.

Our little Lexus is now just over 3 months, is this a realistic time to start training her to do this or is she still too young?

we currently have her in a play pen during the day with papers in it, she hits the papers 80% of the time. When we are home the pen is left open and she'll usually go in it and pee but hit the papers maybe 60% of the time. We'd like to get her to go outside, but not sure on how to achieve this.

Please any help would be appreciated.

It's not too early to teach her to ring the bell, but you need to teach her to potty outside FIRST.

She isn't going to just know to go outside at 3 months. And she definitely isn't going to let you know when she needs to go because SHE doesn't know when she needs to go. You need to take her outside every 30-60 minutes (every 15 after eating and drinking until you are reasonably sure she is empty) Take treats with you and give her a hug and a treat every time she potties outside. Slowly she will learn to communicate with you and more importantly YOU will learn her patterns and signals.

Loki started going to the door and scratching maybe around 5 months? We didn't start with the bells until he was already trained and we just asked him to swat at them before taking him out (he was already target trained so he already had a command for this) and then he started ringing them himself. He was relieved to have a way to let us know he needed to go out! Anyway, you can start by ringing the bells when you go outside. Then after a few weeks, if you think she is ready, take her paw and ring the bell - act THRILLED!!! give her a treat and then say OUTSIDE! or whatever you say and go immediately outside. As soon as her bladder starts giving her a little warning she will probably start to get the hang of it.

Not too young at all!

And if you have the bells on the door, I'd recommend that you hang them, instead, on the wall right next to the door so they're not always chiming each time you go outside. So she distiguishes the difference...you too...that when you hear them she's made a touch more effort to show you "Hey mom! I gotta potty!!". ;)


Congrats on the little one! :thumbup:
:aimeeyork

I taught LillyBelle to ring a bell to go out starting at about 5mos of age.
I read about it hear on YT and decided to try. I first taught her to "go ding-ding", by taking her to the bell, ringing it with her paws, saying ding ding-then gave lots of praise and a teeny tiny piece of turkey (like the size of rice)
probably did that about 10x, then about an hour later repeated the process, did the same thing the next day. It didnt take but 2-3 days, then when I said "go ding-ding" she would run to the door and ring the bell-I would praise her...HUGELY!! (is that a word?) and give her a tiny treat. Then I just went to the next step-every time I said go ding ding-she would ring the bell, then we would "go outside" to potty-when we went out I would say "go potty"
The Ding Ding was much easier to teach than - going potty outside- She was probably a year so old before she was 100% potty trained. Now she ALWAYS rings her bell to go out...if we dont hear the bell--she REALLY REALLY rings it-she's 1 and 1/2 yrs now. ..Hope thats helpful.

i don't think it is too young to teach her... at first with layla i rang the bell to go out... just so she got the idea... but Erin is right.. she has to get the pottying outside down first.. then you can teach her to ring the bell.. layla did it for about 2 weeks.. now she just comes up to me and cries and that is how i know she has to go out.. .every ONCE AND A WHILE>. she will ring the bell and we get SO excited.. but i just don't think it's her thing! good luck!

3 monthss is not too early. But to train her to go outside, you need to teach her to go out side. You go to the door and take her outside when you think she needs to go (several times a day) EVERYTIME she goes outside then praise, praise, praise, and treat. Act happy, jump around, do the potty dance, it will work. Patience and consistency are the key. You can start with the bells right away also, just hang them on the door or right next to it, and ring them the first week or two that you start the outdoor training. Then, gradually introduce her to them, just put her paw on the bell so it rings before you go out, then proceed with the pottying. Keep doing this and she will pick up on it. Yorkies are smart!!! My AprilLove is now indoor pad and outside trained, and she uses the bell. She also rings the bell when my other 2 outdoor trained dogs need to go out or come back in!! It is so cute, she started doing this on her own!! Be patient and it will happen. But keep repeating every day. Also it is good to have her walk with you to the door, don't carry her there. Hope this helps and here is a link to a little clip of AprilLove letting her Bcihon brother Bailey in from the outside. (You can see him standing outside the sliding glass door) I was able to catch her doing it then told her to do it again just so I could show my sister how good she was!!hehe cause she didn't believe me.
http://www.dropshots.com/day.php?use...0&ctime=181338

Thats an adorable video of AprilLove.
Here's a photo of Lillybelle ringing her bell to go out at 7mos of age.