Ringing potty bell to go potty and to go play outside too?
 

Okay, Sheldon has been doing great on potty training but recently he has been ringing the bells and he goes GREAT! and other times he just rings them, we go outside and nothing, ugh!
Does any of your dogs do this and how do I fix it.
Thanks so much!

Lola is 16 months and 100% potty trained and rings the bell to go out, but she also rings the bell when she wants attention. My office is upstairs so when the bell rings I will head down only to find her wagging her tail laying on her toy waiting for me to toss it:D Since she goes out on a lead I can watch her and know when she goes and what she does, so I can generally tell if it is bell ringing is because of needing to potty or just wanting attention. The first time I hear what I think might be a fake bell ring is I take her out on a short lead and give her only a moment or two to take care of business, then if nothing happens back in side and NO treat, no fuss, and no play. Then if it happens once or twice again, the bell (mine is jingle bells on a ribbon) gets wound around the door knob so she can't reach it. However if you do this you have to remember to unwind them again around the time your dog should need to go again. I am lucky because Lola can hold herself and does not need to go out that often. In fact that reminds me she has been half awake since 6 am and has still not asked to go out. Most likely this will continue long into adulthood my friend has a seven year old Weim, I was there the other day and she was ringing the bell, she said ignore it she does not have to go, she just wants out. I know it's frustrating but in the long run it will be worth it.

Question, are you able to see your dog when he is outside to know if he goes or not? If you have a fence and then just let him out loose I would suggest you go to a long tie out instead and watch when and what he does, it will help you understand his schedule better.

Thanks for the reply, Sheldon goes out with me and he is on a leash, I can see when he goes and give a small treat. I also have the ribbon with the bells.
Sometimes, he goes on the 1st trip and does #1 and runs back to the front door to come in then minutes later he rings again, I take him and nothing. We come inside and minutes later he rings it again...go out and nothing Argggg! LOL

He is pretty good about holding it overnight. He has been sleeping in his crate from 9 til 6:15 since we brought him home at 10 weeks and now he can hold it longer. I let him out of his crate and he goes to his bed and minutes later he rings the bell to go out potty.

I guess I have to stay out longer. I am afraid to wind up the ribbon and mess up with the training. He loves being outside and bark at the squirrels hahaha

Bella does all that too without the bell ringing. She whines and yeps a little to go out, I usually think it's for potty, not all the time, she wants to play outside, but she goes out on a lead also. They are so funny.

Sheldon did the wining at the door, the bark and also he would just sit there and look for someone to notice him. I re-introduced the bell because sometimes I didn't realize he was waiting at the door to go out.

I'm waiting on mine to use the bells....

You all and these bells!!! I just LOVE this!! I have several new parents that have taught their babies to ring bells to go out to potty, and I had never heard of that! I found it absolutely adorable! One of the babies will ring the bell, they let her out and stand there to watch, she runs a few laps around the deck/patio, and then races back inside for her TREAT!!!!!! She is actually fibbing in order to get a green bean!!!! OMG!!! I just ADORE these babies!!!!

Ralph used the bells, and then my dad came to my house and made the bells seem like a toy. But Ralph gets to just go to the door, and if i dont come he runs to my office and starts barking and biting my ankle, but Ralph is on a schedule so I usually know when its time for him to go out! (:

LOL yes the fake peeing to get a treat is common with or without bell use:aimeeyork It's only natural treat a dog after going potty they will often want to go potty a zillion times a day.

I have been using the bells for years. At first, mine would "play" and ring them just to see me come running to open the door or just to go out. But that eventually stopped and now they usually ring them when they need to go out for real. They ring the bell then sit patiently at the door for someone to come. It's so cute to hear the bell, then walk around the corner and see them sitting there so nicely waiting on you. I started using bells for my family, not my dogs. LOL, At least with the bells there is no question that they need to go out. :)

Max is the ultimate bell schemer. Now that I think about it I don't even know if he uses it when he has to go potty!:rolleyes: The bell is generally used as means to distract Cooper. If Cooper is eating his food, or has a toy that Max wants, Max will walk over to the bell and ring it. Cooper will then race to the door because he thinks we are going outside. Max quickly runs to whatever Cooper left behind and steal it. I'm not even involved in this process but it works for Max every time.

Cooper will only ring the bell to potty. Unless of course he's dying to play ball. But having the ball in his mouth at the time of ringing is a pretty good giveaway.

your dogs just crack me up, how clever. Funny ever since this I posted on this tread this morning, Lola has been ring the bell like crazy, she has gone out three times but rang the bell more than twice that, LOL I think she knows I was posting about it.

Oh yes, she definitely knows. I just find it amazing that our dogs are trying so hard to communicate with us. I can appreciate the bell ringing even if it isn't for what we taught them.

Hahahaha, that is so funny :) Love it!

I keep shoes in a basket by the front door, he loves to get in that basket so what he does is gets one of his toys and purposely move it little by little to where the basket is, sneaky puppy :)

Ladybug rings the bell just to go out and chase the birds! :D We always let her out first thing in the morning around 6:30. She'll then ring the bell through out the day just because she knows the birds are out there. By the evening she know the birds are snuggled in their nest so she only rings the bell to potty and then she scratches the back door to come right back in so she can rest under my office chair ( her favorite spot).

Aren't they so funny and smart? My husband started feeding the squirrels peanuts last summer, they were usually fed in the back by the deck, then we noticed then coming to the front door as soon as we opened the door.

Well what do you know, next thing we know they are knocking on the glass door to get our attention. My daughter and husband hand feed them while I panic hahahaha. There have been several encounters between Sheldon and the squirrels, luckily they all have been with a glass door in between.

The crazy thing is that they don't seem to be afraid, they come so close while Sheldon barks like a maniac, they just look at him with a very puzzled face.

Ding Dong aka People Training
I stopped using bells in potty training. Instead I put my pups on a schedule. Too many pups were smart enough to train me to come running when they rang the bells.
We installed a doggy door. The doggy door goes out into a covered 8' by 10' potty area, that is inside the large fenced back yard. My four Yorkies have no problem letting me know they need out, if the doggy door is shut. This just worked better for us. If we are not home they use washable pee-pads.

Joey rang the bells whenever he wanted to go outside, we still have the bell, but it's used so that he won't bark, he has to ring the bell to go out, and it's usually just to bark at some dog in the park. :D

Teresa, that sounds like a great plan!

It's so funny to watch them. The birds, squirrels, even the neighbors cat don't pay her any attention, but she loves to bark at them. Maybe she's trying to tell them to get out of her yard! lol!

I want to start using the bell for my yorkies, but don't know how to start. I know just take them out when every I see them sniffing and wondering, which I don't catch all the time. Since i'm home all the time I have set myself a schedule to take them out in the morning, after play time, and feedings, play time again, and at night time which I am an early bird so 9 pm will be nighty nite for me. Can someone school me on the adorable bell ringing. I took the first step of getting a medium size bell on a long piece of ribbon, lol!

I will be watching with interest. I too would. Like to try this bell ringing with my two. At the moment they are taken out on lead throughout the day and use pee pads if they need to inbetween

Would love to use the bells also, but I know Bella would ring them all day on the beautiful days, just to go out. LOL Too smart for her own good. Or maybe that would be my own good.

Yes please a thread on training to ring the potty bell!

I need HELP, My 4 month old Bella , will go outside and run to the house next door and forget all about potty time, won't ring the bell, comes in and potty's?? what em i doing wrong, I have never had any problem's training a puppy, first Yorkie for me????

This is how we trained Sheldon. Btw Sheldon was crate trained.
We got the potty bells and placed them by the door but not directly on the door. I didn't want the door to ring every time we opened or closed it.

We got Sheldon at 10 weeks and he did not have a pee/poop schedule, he would go at different times, from waiting 1 hour in between to20 minutes after lol
I watched him like a hawk when he was out of the crate.

Every time I took him out the crate or saw him sniffing or I though he should be going I would take him by the door, ring the bell and say " potty" loud and clear and would take him out. After he was done I would immediately say good potty and reward with treat.
Some times he would walk around and not go, I would say go potty Sheldon, and some times he would go.

If he didn't go I would put him back in the crate and take him out 10 minutes later.
If he went he would stay out with us and I would ring bells again in the next 20 minutes, it is hard work but pays off.

When he is playing and hasn't gone he would have a pee accident, it's like a kid when is being potty trained, they start playing and forget they have to pee.
Sheldon now spends most of the time out of his crate, he only uses the crate when he goes to sleep or when no one is home, I leave the crate open during the day I'd we are home and he likes to take naps in there. He really loves his crate.

Forgot to say Sheldon is 6 months old, it took about 2 months for him to fully get it.

Hope this helps.

Yes, I believe the official term for this behavior is "bell abuse". Maybe it's time to stage an intervention. ;)

A couple other yorkie moms and I all potty trained our dogs around the same time. I tried to get Thor to use a bell, but he scared himself silly the one time he rang it, and I eventually gave up. Another mommy got the bell working, and her yorkie went through a phase where he rang the bell more than once per minute. Once Thor figured out he got treats for pooping, he starting going approximately 20 times per day. He would poop out things barely visible to the human eye.

In theory, they do eventually get tired of it, and will start using it less vigorously. I think with potty bells, you have to be really disciplined about not letting them have any fun outside if they don't give YOU your reward. :D