Currently trying to teach my puppy to ring a bell hanging by the door, to alert us she needs to go out to potty. Only problem is she seems to be afraid of the bell. I am using a fog style bell (traditional) rather than a sleigh type bell. Which is a little louder. For those of you who have bell trained your puppies, is this typical at first? Will she just get passed it? What type of bell did you use? Surely, that shouldn’t matter, should it?
I was at a point of daily frustration with cleaning up puppy potty messes in the house when I decided to hang a bell on the doorknob to train him. My pup was almost 6 months old. Initially there was one problem. I totally forgot the bell was there, and went on with the daily frustration routine, wondering if it would ever end. Then, one day a few weeks later I was at the other end of the house, and I heard a bell ring. Hmmm, I thought. My pup and I were the only two people (he thinks he’s people, too) in the house, so what was that? As I made my way to the entry, I could see my pup standing next to the door where the bell was swaying. I was speechless! I praised him and let him out, and decided it was high time for my pup to train me to open the door whenever he rang the bell to go outside. I was diligent in working with him to use the bell several times every day. It was only about 2 ½ weeks before he was using the bell consistently, and my dog potty problems were no more. Teaching your puppy to use a bell to tell you when it needs to eliminate will be extremely beneficial for you because it gives you experience training your dog and saves you a lot of times, energy and stress compared to other forms of housebreaking.
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4 Responses
2009 Oct 26
Don’t use a bell
References :
http://dogbehavioronline.com/blog/2008/04/15/why-i-never-teach-a-dog-to-ring-a-bell-or-bark-to-be-let-out/
2009 Oct 26
We tried it, she never caught on. What we did was watched her behavior right before she had an accident, and also started just putting the leash on her, and ask,"Go potty?" and take her outside to potty. We realized her behavior right before she’d have an accident was she’d get whiny and barky for "no reason", and when she would start that, we’d ask,"Go Potty?", and she’d jump up and down, and go nuts.
So just pay attention to what your dog is telling you. There is something she does to tell you she has to go potty.
References :
2009 Oct 26
The bell is a really advanced potty training move. Most dogs will not ring the bell because of the noise factor. My friend did it with her dog with the same bell you are using and it took about 8 months to perfect…with alot of accidents along the way.
References :
2009 Oct 26
I was at a point of daily frustration with cleaning up puppy potty messes in the house when I decided to hang a bell on the doorknob to train him. My pup was almost 6 months old. Initially there was one problem. I totally forgot the bell was there, and went on with the daily frustration routine, wondering if it would ever end. Then, one day a few weeks later I was at the other end of the house, and I heard a bell ring. Hmmm, I thought. My pup and I were the only two people (he thinks he’s people, too) in the house, so what was that? As I made my way to the entry, I could see my pup standing next to the door where the bell was swaying. I was speechless! I praised him and let him out, and decided it was high time for my pup to train me to open the door whenever he rang the bell to go outside. I was diligent in working with him to use the bell several times every day. It was only about 2 ½ weeks before he was using the bell consistently, and my dog potty problems were no more. Teaching your puppy to use a bell to tell you when it needs to eliminate will be extremely beneficial for you because it gives you experience training your dog and saves you a lot of times, energy and stress compared to other forms of housebreaking.
References :