Poochie Bells Question

[Oliver]

We brought Oliver home on Sunday (11/9) and he is currently 8wks 5days old. Today he rang his poochie bells for the first time to go potty! I RAN to the door and took him outside and he immediately went to his potty spot and went! WOW! So then I gave him a treat once I had him sit for it when we got back inside and gave him TONS of praise.

A few minutes later (or seconds?) he rang the bells again and looked at me across the room. So...I took him outside, but of course he didn't have to go. I still take him out whenever he rings the bells, right? Even if I know he doesn't have to go potty?

[Liza, Halle and Finn]

Kachi caught on to the bells really early like your pup did, and then he did go through a phase, especially at night, where he just liked to ring them, but he eventually out grew it. During those early days, we learned to look for other 'tells' that meant he really had to go. One of them was when he scampered over to the bells really quickly, we knew he meant business. He would also go over ring them, and then he would take a few steps in our direction, as if to say, "Ok, I really mean it, let's go now!" He'd also add the slightest whine in there for good measure. Now, he just rings them & stares at us, until one of us moves, and if we don't, he rings them again!

We would also tell him to "hurry-hurry" when we was finding his spot. We found treats weren't necessary, just a lot of praise as he was going, and when he was done. Now, when we take him out, and say 'hurry-hurry" he'll go. It's really nice, especially when we're trying to go somewhere, and we're running behind schedule!!

[Margo]

Hi Meredith, I may be an outlier here, but for now anyway, I found it easier to "read" Lily without the bells and just this week took them down. Lily caught on really fast to equating "bells" with going outside... then she went through a faze of just playing with them... then at around three mos. for a brief shining week or two, she had it down and would ring the bells and sit in front of the door, BUT now (4 mos.) she just seems to enjoy the whole exercise of me putting her on the leash and us traipsing around the yard more times a day that I can count. I always tried to keep it all business, but she liked just going in and out several times an hour! Since I took them down a few days ago, she is only going out five times a day, give or take. That's a good thing because the weather has been horrible here! Now she sits in front of the door and barks and looks around for me. I will probably put the bells back up when it seems right again, and see what happens.

[Oliver]

yep. i definitely read oliver as well. so far only 3 accidents in the house! i'm really impressed with him so far! we've also been having crappy weather- but at least it's good experience for him to have me wipe his paws when he comes back in from the wet, muddy yard!

[Michele B]

They learn quick. Bailey had us trained pretty well. She ring them when she wanted to go after squirrels or bring in sticks. We got tired of that and didn't let her out every time, especially when she had just peed. However, after a few times of not letting her out and then having an accident, we let her out every time she rang them. When she was 7 months old she had UTI's and had to go out a lot. So we took her whenever she rang. After the infections cleared up and she rang the bells we would say "go potty" and give her a minute or two. If nothing then we went right back in. If she went potty we let her stay out, praised her for going potty. She figured that out too. During the first 6-8 months we loved the poochie bells because we could hear them wherever we were in the house. I'd rather let her out too much than have to clean up pee! Now that she is a year, she only pees a couple times a day and poops once. So I took down the bells and she wimpers at the door to go out.

[PoochieBells]

Hello there! We just joined this great community of Doodle lovers, and saw your post. I hope Oliver has moved beyond ringing the bells because it is fun. We get this question quite a bit and here is what we found has worked to stop this unwanted behavior: If you know your pooch does not need to go outside to potty, then ignore the bells. He needs to understand that the bells are rung for potty time, not play time. You know your pooch's potty habits, so can gauge when there is truly a need to go out. If he does need to go out to potty, make sure the bells are rung each and every time.

 

Hope that helps!

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

My pup (10 weeks old) doesn't want to ring the bells at all.  He just sits & stares at the door.  Then, I tell him to "Ring the Bell" and he just sits there & looks at me.  Then, I take his paw and make him ring it while saying "Ring the Bell."  Then I let him out to go potty & he does. 

 

Am I doing the right thing to get him to ring the bell?  I'm tempted to just work on that & give him a treat for ringing it, but I'm afraid then he'll just ring to get treats.

[PoochieBells]

Hi Traci-

 

Don't give up! You are right to not give treats for ringing PoochieBells - we want the reward to be your praise and going outside to potty. We have had some pooches who think ringing PoochieBells is just fine and do it immediately, and we have pooches who need longer to be convinced. Just keep making the PoochieBells ring each and every time he goes outside to potty and eventually he will make them ring himself. And, remember, it does not matter how he gets PoochieBells to ring - whether he uses his paw, nose or behind! As long as they ring, he gets lots of excited praise and potty time.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

Jennifer - PoochieBells

[Leslie and Halas]

Halas was like that at first, too.  I kept showing him and touching his paw or nose to the bells before we went outside.  He never seemed interested, but then, one day, he just started ringing them.  So just keep doing what you're doing.  I think Bexter will catch on.

[Dot, Maggie and KoKo]

My two are bell trained and although they can be annoying, they work.  Our back door is out of my sight as I am usually at the front of the house and they both will attack those bells when they want to go outside (potty or play).  I couldn't resist posting this picture of KoKo when she was being introduced to bell ringing.

[PoochieBells]

Dot-

 

Wow! There is some enthusiasm! Thanks for sharing your pic!

I can always tell the urgency to be outside by how vigorously my pooch, CodyBear, rings his PoochieBells. Need to pee? Ring, ring. Dog out front who needs to be investigated? RING, RING! As he does not ask to go out too often I have no problem with him ringing the bells to go out for non-potty needs. However, if he is starting to get obnoxious about it, I tell him no. He looks at me sheepishly, "Ok. I pushed it. I know." :-)

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

LOVE the bells.

I have ONE that uses them consistently and appropriately.    Yes, as a puppy he did pull of few bell, non-potty stunts but that was short lived.

I have one who REFUSES to use what she calls, Those stupid bells.  I can just hear her saying it. I  have worked with her every day, every way possible to use the bells.   She will NOT.  Maybe when she is 10 she will.  She is a non-play, all business girl so maybe she finds the concept stupid. 

Mine dd what your dog did, rang them for a response.  Give him time. Yes take him out each time! 

[PoochieBells]

Joanne,

Thanks for your kind words. I always find it funny how some pooches just will not ring PoochieBells. Just like yours, they are perfectly capable, but just will not do it. As long as there are no accidents, why fight it, right? To each his (or her) own.

Jennifer - PoochieBells