Any one out there using bells for potty training?
 

OK - long story short - I purchased a set of Poochie Bells that you can hang on your patio door to train your puppy to ring to let you know when they have to go outside potty the first week I got Izzy (Memorial weekend). You first get your puppy used to the bells, then start to introduce the same line, "outside potty ring the bell"; then after a couple weeks you take their paw and hit the bells as you say the phrase. The instructions say it can take a couple days to a few months and you must say/do every time you go outside with them. My husband laughed and laughed because he never thought Izzy would do that - he said I was wasting my money and our time. Ha! boy did she prove him wrong because the light bulb must have went off in that pretty little head of hers and just this past weekend she started to ring the bells not with her paw but with her cute little nose. OK - you say - how exciting and wonderful.;) Yes, it is and I'm so proud of her but she's using the bells to go out to chase mice and squirrels.:eek: Yeah, she rings to go do her business at times but not always.

For those of you who have trained your furbabies to ring any type of bell to let you know that they have to go outside potty - have you experienced anything like this? I don't want to derail the training - so if she rings the bell to go out when I know she doesn't have to do anything I'm still letting her out. Last night she rang that crazy bell at least 5 times in 20 minutes. Help - she's becoming a bell ringin Diva!

i taught lexi how to ring the bells too,, my b/f said she would never do it.
sorry charlie,,, she now rings it and i let her out , whether she pottys or
not. smart cookie i have... i dont have the poochie bells, i rigged up
a small chime i had to the door,, its louder than the poochie bell i thought.
i could here them from my bedroom at night or in the early morning if she
has to potty.. she also goes on her wee pads in the house and i walk her
and she pottys too.... she knows it all

Yes we have a love/hate relationship with bells. It will take time. Give her an awesome treat when she goes outside to actually pee. Otherwise, just be like - oh well, back inside. Sammy likes to go outside and chase bugs and Loki will just go lay in the yard. The problem? We don't have a fence! So when they get annoying with the bells - going outside every 5 minutes - we either give them sticks or take them for a walk or otherwise distract them.

Loki is smart. He knows that if I'm busy I will ONLY get up for the bells. So he rings them, waits until I get up and then runs to whatever he wants (like the treat can) and sits there.

By the way - if you KNOW she is empty it IS OK to ignore her. But be sure... and if she rings them and then pees on the floor it is your fault! HA. But no seriously, there truly are times when I look at them and say "No you just went out" If they try again in 10 minutes or they are relentless, I let them out.

Oh yeah!!! With two dogs, I am like the door-woman here... sometimes I have to just take the bell off the door... they would drive me crazy!!!
And sorry, I have to cut the post here, somebody is pulling the bells!!!:eek:

i have poochie bells too and morgan sometimes does the same thing. however if i know she just went out recently and did BOTH pee and poop then i know she doesn't really have to go outside so i ignore it or tell her no we were just out there (which i know she doesn't understand LOL)

I just recieved our bells yesterday, and Otis isn't too sure about them! At first he was barking at them and knocking them with his nose to play. Anyways, I was wondering, how long did it take for your little one to get the concept of the bells??

Thanks,
Nicole

I bought poochie bells 6 months ago and they are 99% trained. It took a week of constant training to get them both to ring the bell. $20 well spent:)

took morgan a week to learn the bells. she only rings them to go potty. she doesn't play with them thank god.

AprilLove played with the bell at first just to get me to jump up every time :rolleyes: but, she also used them to go potty so I just kept rewarding her when she DID go potty after ringing them, and did not reward her if all she did was run outside look at me and come back :rolleyes: I don't remember how long it took, but she doesn't do that anymore and now she also uses them alert me when my non-bell trained older dogs need to go in and out!!!

how did you train them? I've tried but they just don't get it.
They are both 99% potty trained they use pee pads and go outside.
I'm tired of using pee pads and would like them to let me know when they need to g. The problem is they won't let me know when they need to go out. I usually just take them out every so often.

It took Izzy about 3 months to get it...at first she was afraid of the bells and then she got used to them. Now the problem is ringing them just to goof off outside. But I do not reward her when she comes into the house just because she was on squirrel or mouse patrol!!:eek: Only reward for actual potty business only.

Don't give up - use the same command all the time for every time you take them outside (even if you take them out 10 times a day - keep saying the phrase the same) - first I just said the command and took her out, then I progressed to actually taking her paw and taping the bells while saying the phrase. Now she rings with her nose and when I don't get up and let the princess out immediately....she progresses to actually banging them against the glass. geesh!:animal-pa

See my husband never thought she was do it and told me I was wasting my time and money. Guess who's laughing now? lol.

I tried this with mine, but, like the others, Otis rang it alllllll the time. He would rather be outside than in, so he was constantly standing at the door, ringing the bell, staring at me. Needless to say, the bell was removed. They are so smart!

Potty Bells
 

Where can i get the potty bells? I've been wanting to get them.

http://www.poochie-pets.net/

I made mine with some ribbon and bells because I wanted 4 sets of bells so it would be louder. I can hear the bells anywhere in the house. I spent about $6 to make them.

I don't use bells, Sissy would drive me insane,she wants outside evey five minutes.

my pearla is finally used to going outside to do her biz..but of course im on top of her taking her out she dosent yet notify me of when she actually has to go..on rare ocassion she will go by the door so as time goes on im sure this is how she will let me know..shes 4 mnths and had her for 2 mnths and now am relocating to another apt(darn after i just had her trained in her normal surrondings) i would like to use this potty bell since i do have a patio door and outside of it is where she'll be going..heres the q any certain age she has to be to take on this training to prevent playing with it?

I'm so encouraged! We just got our Poochi bells about 2 weeks ago. The dogs were scared to death of 'em at first. But they haven't tried to ring them yet.

Thanks!

deb

Deb - don't get discouraged!! Izzy was afraid of those darn bells to for about a month but I just kept ringing them every time we went outside and slowly but surely she got used to them - I also held her in my arms as I rang the bells too in the beginning without having her touch them at all. Then after she wasn't afraid any more I took her paw (again while holding her) to tap them and say the phrase, and then after a few weeks I actually had her on the floor and took her paw and actually had her touch the bells with her paws. Again - it took us almost 4 months - to finally getting her to do ring them.

Izzy never played with the bells - the darn cats did for a while but then that stopped after the novelty wore off. :D

Also since our furbutts are low to the ground I had our bells on a little suction cup holder and attached to the glass window of our patio.

Don't give up! That's the key to this. :thumbup:

Quick question, how old are your dogs when you start this because i have a four month old pup. Is it too early for him?
:D

Nope - when I got Izzy she was 5 mos old (she was super tiny and the breeder wanted to make sure she was healthy before she went to her forever home).

Never to late to start!!

Do they sell the bells at Petsmart or Petco or only online?

Pixie who is 21 months and 13 months when I got her and not potty trained, just started the past week to consistantly go outside (was using pee pads when she felt like it) and running around in circles to let us know. I was thinking of using the bells as I don't always see her running in circles but she is skittish of noises and I am afraid of setting her back if I start using them.Has anyone tried using them on an older dog?

I got mine from the site that's mentioned in this thread but I know of others who have made their own (I'm sewing challenged..lol), but you could Google potty bells+puppy and you should get sites to click on). Good luck.:D

i started bell training morgan after she turned a year. she wasn't very fond of the noise either and didn't want to hit the bells with her feet because it was really loud. so i started pulling the bells away from the door slightly and bringing them to her nose for her to touch and that worked. now she'll run to the door and boop the bells with her nose. it isn't as loud as if she were to smack them with her feet but it works because she then comes running to find me.

Shortly after we got our 2 new furbabies, I bought a couple of these:

Bell

I put one by the downstairs door and another upstairs in the hall. My hope was that they would alert me when I was working in the upstairs office.

Well, they were both scared of the bells! We were under a time constraint (it rains alot here in the winter so it was imperative to get them both house trained before the rains started!) so we just ignored the bells -- besides the door to the patio was almost always open so it was hard to remember!

This last week, it is getting cooler and both guys are pretty consistent about going outside to do their business so we decided to start introducing the bells again. They had been just hanging on the walls for the last few months. My husband and I both make an effort to ring the bell and say "Outside" whenever we take them out. (I put a note up on the door to remind us!). We thought next week we would get them to start touching the bells.

Yesterday, I was in the Office when I heard the bell ring! It was Cora! I was so excited that I hugged and praised her to death! My husband had to remind me to take the poor dog outside!!

I guess this is going to work!! :animal36:animal36

Talk to pepemint, I think she is going to start making them.

I just started using the bells on Izzy. I bought a set of 3 small ones at Michaels and put them on a string. When it is time to go out, I say, "Lets go potty outside", grab his leash, then I ring the bells with his paw and we go out. I just started yesterday...so no results yet. But before the bells, I would say the same phrase and have his leash ready at the same time and he would get excited and run to the door. Since he is familiar with the phrase, Im hoping that the bells will help him to alert me.:rolleyes:

same here :)

We bought our bell at a office supply store and put it on the floor next to the door.Bentley will tap it to tell us he wants outside,but he will also ring it when he thinks we arent paying enough attention to him:D

thanks for all the encouraging stories...
 

I will certainly keep our bells up! I think they will both start using it eventually. Phoebe already tries to signal us when she needs to go...she jumps on my legs....

deb