# Bell potty training



## mellowstar (Mar 11, 2007)

My husband and I recently adopted a rescue puppy and have been working really hard on potty training. We've been blocking off parts of the house and keeping a really close eye on her but she gave absolutely no warning of when she had to go. 

So I read about this door bell method. We hung a bell next to the door and taught her to ring it when she wants to go outside. She is SO smart she learned it within a week and we've had little to no accidents for a couple weeks. However because she is SO intelligent she gets bored super easy!

I do everything I can to keep her entertained but it's never enough and before you know it she is ringing the bell to go outside and play (she will even do it right after I take her for a walk). Now because this is a new trick for her I'm afraid NOT to let her out in fear she will figure ringing the bell is not an effective way of letting us know she needs to go out to pee.

She will ring it and I will take her out and we will stand in one spot for about a minute. If she shows no interest in going potty we go back in. But then 30 seconds later she is ringing the bell AGAIN! I don't know what to do, I don't want her to think that the bell won't work anymore and have her start peeing in the house again.

But I am so worn out! We live on the second floor, it's only 9am and i've already been up and down the stairs 12 times. I'm ready for a nap already!


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## BoxMeIn21 (Apr 10, 2007)

Bell training only teaches the dog a way of letting you know that they want the door opened. This is not housetraining - all the dog is able to do is let you know that they want to go outside. Which is what you are experiencing...It doesn't mean that they actually realize the need to relieve themself. 
Before I go on, how old is your pup?


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

This is why I don't like dogs ringing bells to go out.

My brother-in-law taught his yellow lab mix to ring the doorbell when she wants to come in. It's real cute the first couple of times. 

Then you find yourself wanting to cut the power to the doorbell.


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## mellowstar (Mar 11, 2007)

she is about 6 months old. It's the only thing i could figure out to teach her to let us know she needs to go out. And ever since we taught her it she hasn't had hardly ANY accidents. I'm not sure what else to do. Without the bell she would just go, no warnings, nothing.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

Actually, a healthy dog is remarkably regular. Instead of waiting for the dog to ring a bell, bark or do a little dance to indicate she has to go out, how about just taking her out at regular, reasonable intervals?

I know it sounds scandalous, but that's what I've done with my last four dogs and it worked for me. The two dogs before that were belled trained and they would ring the bell the moment you sat down to dinner, answered the phone, tried to use the toilet . . .

I think, with the bell, the dog is training you.


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## mellowstar (Mar 11, 2007)

I'll try taking her out at certain times. I'm just scared to take away the bell lol What do you think if like... if it was about time for her to go out and she rang the bell, but if she rings it again in the next 20 minutes or something I just ignore it? Would that be a bad thing to do?


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## BoxMeIn21 (Apr 10, 2007)

mellowstar said:


> she is about 6 months old. It's the only thing i could figure out to teach her to let us know she needs to go out. And ever since we taught her it she hasn't had hardly ANY accidents. I'm not sure what else to do. Without the bell she would just go, no warnings, nothing.


RonE gives good advice...

It's not the dogs responsibility to let you know they need to go out. It's you, as the owner, that has the responsibility of aniticipating their needs. At six months old, they are only beginning to recognize the need to go, before they actually go...it's up to you to manage to get them outside before they soil inside the house. In fact, some dogs never let you know that they need to go...
My best suggestion for you is to remove the bell and take her out on a schedule; after she eats, plays, wakes up from a nap and every hour and a half between those times.
You might even employ some tasty treats that are only reserved for after she's successful outside to bring the point home that it's more rewarding to go outside.


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## hulkamaniac (Feb 11, 2009)

I've never bell trained a dog, but I've heard mixed reviews. Some people swear by the method. Some say they created bell demons. I would simply not take the dog out when she rings the bell unless she actually needs to go.


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## Herrick's Mommy (Nov 5, 2009)

We taught Herrick how to ring a bell to let us know when he has to go potty. He only rings it when he has to go, otherwise, he doesn't even pay attention to it. I would be annoyed if he rang it ALL the time though, lol. I would agree with the advice RonE gave, you could teach her something else to indicate that she has to go out. BTW, I know how you feel about taking them out repeatedly...I live on the third floor and it's been hell since the elevator in my building is broken. Before we taught Herrick how to ring the bell, we would take him out every 2 hours or 30 mins after he ate or as soon as he woke up from a nap or after he was done playing, you could do something like that as well.


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## Dog_Shrink (Sep 29, 2009)

Something else that might help is insted of saying "go ouotside" when she rings the bell use a cue like "go Potty" so that you know if she's ringing the bell it's absolutely otty time. A good schedule tho is the best idea. We let our guys out a lot. First thing in the morning, again after we eat breakfast, before I get my kids from school, after we get home from school (from the excitement of greeting us, Anyone who missed potty at the before school outs has a chance to get it done this time), after walks because half my dogs won't potty on lead, then it slows down a bit in the evening... 7 pm while I cook dinner, then after they eat their dinner at 8, then again an hour later, then at bed time around 1 am (unless some one goes to the door and dances between dinner outs and last outs). 

I've been working with my 17 week old rott pup and when she walks to the door and paces, I ask her go potty??? She'll bark or whine at the door to go out. Gets right to business then plays with whom ever goes out with her.


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## Labsnothers (Oct 10, 2009)

Once our puppies are big enough I quit worrying about a hawk carrying them off, I leave them outside by themselves as much as they want. Some of them are happy to come back in within minutes of relieving themselves and others will seem happy staying out for hours. That was true even back when we had to tether them. 

Perhaps I worry too much about hawks. The neighbors seem to be able to let the same cats wonder the neighbor hood for years. I am not sure what owners of small breeds do. 

Raven is at an awkward age, still only 17 pounds at 12 weeks, but enjoying being out in the -6 F wind chill. Yes, I am getting chilled much too often.


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## mellowstar (Mar 11, 2007)

Thank you all for the advice. I just read that a lot of dogs as they mature will grow out of ringing the bell for fun. So I think for now I'm just going to ignore it if she already went out and did her business not that long ago. A lot of times she will ring the bell and if i don't get up she will just continue playing with her toys inside. So maybe I will keep the bell up and hopefully teach her that I'm no fool, and I will only take her out when i know she needs to go. Hopefully then she will stop ringing it for outdoor playtime. Worth a shot! Thank you all


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## yappypappymom (Oct 22, 2009)

I thought Leif was quite the little "geinus" when I taught him how to ring the bell...gosh, I sure was proud!!...THEN, I realized the little stinker was only using them as a "tool" to run quickly outside, just so that he could come instantly back inside for a "treat". Little bugger!! I think I put up with it for 3..MAYBE 4 days until I realized that I was the one being "trained" BY HIM!!...he would ring the damn things every 5 minutes or so sometimes!! I got rid of those stupid bells, & just went with the plain ole method of taking him out every 30 minutes or so...IF he "went" during one of those trips - he got his treat...which, put ME back in control....If I NEVER hear the sound of bells ringing ever again; I will be happy!!


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

hulkamaniac said:


> I would simply not take the dog out when she rings the bell unless she actually needs to go.


How will you know?


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## Lazy Bones (Nov 30, 2009)

This thread hits home for me. For Boozer and Capone we did not use a bell to teach them to tell us they want to go out side. Against my better judgement (I lost this argument), we used a bell for Marley. I regret it everyday! LOL! She did the same thing, picked up on it quick and then abused it. Hehehe! I will never use a bell again. Granted the bell is still up and she will ring it when she needs to go out and potty. She no longer uses it when she is bored, well 99% of the time doesn't use it when she is bored. Here and there she still will, but not often enough to matter. Marley is now 1.5 yrs old, she does associate the bell with going potty. 

My only advice is to either take it away and just keep on on taking her out often or when you feel she would normally need to go out. Then continue the potty training from there. Or just leave the bell on the door and realize that she only went out an 3 minutes ago, has not had her food yet or drank a lot of water and not take her out instead distract her and play a game. IF she insists at ringing the bell, go ahead and take her out. IF she doesn't ring the bell by the time you feel she should be needing to go, show her the bell and take her outside. Just make sure when the bell is rang, it is just potty time, when she is done bring her right back in, absolutely no outside play time when the bell is rang.

If I had a redo or an opportunity to take the bell away, I would have done it. LOL! Besides with a Mastiff we had to get a big bell and that bell has killed our wall and door from the bumping of it. Since I am not working right now, I am trying to get Marley to not ring the bell anymore so I can repair the damage! I guess after all this, I recommend not using the bell.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

I trained Willow to ring a bell when she had to go. It worked great when she was little, but then she started ringing it all the time, whenever she wanted to go out. So I took it away when she was about 6 months old. She had the hang of potty training by then so it worked out.


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## aphioni (Nov 11, 2008)

i bell trained Beemer. and yes- he did start using it just to get us to pay attention to him. when we knew it wasn't to go outside and he needed something else, like- ATTENTION- we would play with him instead. *he always gets a positive reaction from us for ringing the bell*, but when we know it's not for potty- we give him what he's really looking for- sometimes he wants the door open so he can lay in the sun, sometimes a toy s locked ina room so we have to open the door so he can get it, sometimes he just wants to play. it's really become how he "talks" to us- i love it.

he has not had an accident in the house in over 3 years. i wouldn't change thing about bell training him! _PS- we use a bird toy as the bell- NO DAMAGE! it looks like a hair scrunchie with little jingle bells on it, attached to a lanyard on the doorknob. _


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## NRB (Sep 19, 2009)

Use the crate to stop the recurring bell Ringing;

I do use the bell on my current dog. She is 6 going on 7 months old and has the occasional accident in the home. She does abuse the bell. But I think I got a handle on the abuse so it never gets out of hand. IF she rings it and I let her out and she pees, and in 5 minute she is ringing it again, I still let her out to pee, I wait a minute and If she Does Not Pee then I take her inside and crate her immediately. For like 20 minutes. Then I let her out, if she rings after being crated and wants out and doesn't pee when we are outside she gets crated again. It really doesn't take long for her to figure out that hey the bell means potty, not outside. She gives up usually after the first crate session. 

BUT I should also note that alot of the times when she rings the bell like 5 min after going outside she Really Does Legitimately Go Pee the second time out.

And I should also mention that one crate is right by the kitchen door. ANd that she is on a leash at all time outside (no fence yet) So If she's abusing the bell, and she's rung it 2x in a row and not peed outside then we walk back inside and right into the crate.


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