Potty training

[NIKKI ~Macy's Mom~]

I have had my puppy for 6 weeks now and she is 16 weeks old. I am trying to teach her the bell technique to go potty. I take her to the same door every time and have her ring the bells with her paws. She is still not getting the hang of it. She never tells me in any way that she needs to potty. What else can I do???

[April Cliber]

Try having her touch it with her nose. I don't know why, but they seem to learn faster this way.

[Sally Rollins]

I have one like that, my first one learned it in 2 days, but he was 6 mos old. The 2nd one is now 4 mos old and he just does not get it. If I watch him every minute we do not have accidents, but if I think he might tell me, I am just kidding myself. One time he did wine, but that was one time. And he does not squat when he goes, you just start hearing the pee hit the floor. I had to put up all my rugs. Today, he even peed on a pillow on the sofa. It gets frustrating but I know it will get better. I have a bell on 2 doors. He still does not get it. We even tried threats each time he did go out and potty. And yes we ring the bell and say outside, potty time.

[Phoebe's Mom]

I am so with you on this one! Although our new puppy is just 9 weeks old (we have had her almost 2 weeks now), I am battling the same issue and I am just as frustrated. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that she is on medication for a bladder infection. How I wish she would just give a sign--a whine, go stand by the door...something--to help us out. My husband, children and I are going crazy watching her all the time. My little one is constantly on self-appointed Phoebe-watch! We have her in a small area and when we are in our family room, all eyes are on her and we still are having multiple accidents a day. We are so disppointed that we are watching her and we still cannot 'catch her in the act' to avoid an accident. We also know that it will get better and this will be a thing of the past--hopefully sooner rather than later!!!

[Yvonne, Riley, Murphy and Luca]

Try tethering Phoebe to you, that way she can get no more than 6 feet away from you at all times. Puppies shouldn't want to potty that close to you. If you can't watch her put her in her crate until you can watch her, remove her from crate and take her right outside. Pick her up and carry her outside, if you make her walk a far distance from the crate to the door, she will not be able to make it. At 9 weeks you prbably need to take her outside at least every 45 minutes or so. If you are going to use te bell, stop and ring it with her paw on the way out.

I keep my jacket shoes, and the leash right by the front door so I can put them on as fast as possible.

Having your little one watch the puppy as you probably figured out is not working. I have a 15 year old that can not do it and watch for the correct "warning" signs that Riley needs to go outside, The best way to make sure she is not going to have an accident is just use the simple: if she wakes up, plays hard. eats, drinks. she will need to go outside to go. Or every 45 minutes or so.

It gets to be a longer time period rather quickly. Riley is 15 weeks and If he is not playing really hard or waking up from a nap he goes out maybe every hour and a half to two hours now.

[Diane Dolphin Rocker]

Phoebe's Mom - All of this is because of the bladder infection. They can be really tricky to knock out too. If it comes back right after she goes off the antibiotics, the vet might try to talk you into all kinds of expensive testing...Don't do it yet! Talk them into keeping her on the clavamox for 30 days. Try adding a little yogurt (plain) to her food. Try not to get frustrated with her....remember how bad a bladder infection feels to you. At this point the signs that she has to go out are VERY subtle...something as simple as just sniffing the floor or walking behind a chair (out of your sight) should be enough to make you take her outside. Make sure you praise her and treat her when it is outside. When the infection clears up, she'll be good as gold :) ... really. Also, you might want to make sure that the hair on her girly parts is trimmed as short as you can get it, so that there is less touching the ground when she goes. Good Luck!

[Deena Womack]

We have the bells and we have tried putting her nose on them, and telling her "potty". We ring them and everything else.... she has no interest in the bells whatsoever. She is not a pup, almost 2 and lucky for us, she is mostly house broke. She usually gives us a sign that she needs to go out, it is when she is dancing around, my daughters now call her "happy feet". So the bells are nice as it lets me know when my daughters come home, LOL!!

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

hi I have absolutely no experience with bells, as I have always had a doggy door. However, even with a doggy door I take my pups out every two hours to "go pee" until they are about six months old. I have trained eight dogs with this method and probably had about 16 total pees in the house.
Basically start over on potty training Think of it as outside training, not housebreaking. What you are teaching is the appropriate place to pee so pick the spot you want her to pee which is probably not ten feet from the door! Female dogs especially really like to pee in the SAME spot every time, the feel under their feet is more important to them at this stage than where they "ARE".
Put a line on Macy's leash, just about ten feet. Cheap washable thin nylon line and cheap clips from the hardware store are best. You can make three or four for less than $10, that way you have one on her, one in the wash and a spare. Keep the line on Macy when she is not in her crate. Take her out every two hours ( I would take a younger pup out about every 45 minutes). Ring the bell as you go out. Stay out about five minutes. When she actually is going pee, say "go pee" and when she is done clap and make a big fuss over her. You will only have to catch her going about 4-5 times before she will go pee on command because she gets such a great reaction from you. (No treats, treats confuse the issue - small puppy mind can only think treat! treat! treat! and not pee!pee!pee!). Once she goes pee on command the rest is easy. Just take her out every two hours, ringing the bell as she goes out and ask her to pee - lots of praise - then go in) leave the line on her the whole time so that if she starts to go in the house you can swoop in and pick her up to go outside. One "NO"and then pick her up, hold her belly up, quickly, calmly with just the one sharp NO ( yes you may get peed on a little) and take her outside. Leave the line on her until she is at least a year old. It will be useful for counter surfing, sock stealing, you won't have to chase just step on the line ( sock stealing is cute, but for the puppy it is all about the chase, no chase= no fun) and numerous other puppy moments. When Macy is absolutely reliable on going pee when you ask her to, then teach her to hit the bell on the way out. She will put ring bell, you open door, go pee together all by herself. Be careful not to overdo the praise on ringing the bell or she will ring it every two minutes. You are not teaching bell until Macy wants to go out "her spot" to pee. Then you are just teaching her how to get the door opened to do what she wants to do anyway.

be patient, consistent, and it will actually go very fast! Enjoy

[Adina P]

She'll probably catch on eventually =) Just be consistent and help her do it every time she goes out. Are the bells ON the door or near the door. We put ours on a low hook BY the door so they don't ring without the dog or someone purposely touch them.

You also have to take her out MORE often than you think you should so she doesn't have a chance to have an accident.

[The Berry Oaks Doodle Ranch]

Adina's right you must take them out more often than you think...when we started the bells' for Guinness we had a small cup of peanut butter near by.So every time we took him out we would say potty bell and point to it until he touched it to his nose and reward with just a touch of peanut butter & a small kibble when he was done going potty.It didn't take too long before he was touching it with his nose by himself.

[Yvonne, Riley, Murphy and Luca]

I am also trying the bell training and it is a slow process. Riley plays with the bells more than anything. He rings them, grabs them and bats them around, picks them up and runs off with them, etc.... He is 15 weeks old and is really not understanding that they are just to ring when you have to go out. However, most of the time if he rings them when playing with them he will go again when I take him back out. So I am just left confused, and starting to think he might be getting it. I Started teaching it the day I brought him home 7 weeks ago. So it is a LONG process, and I am not giving up yet. (even know the DBF thinks we should).

Riley has a total of maybe 5 accidents in the house since we brought him home. All when the DBF was "supposed" to be "watching" him, and no accidents in the past 4 weeks at all.

I take Riley out anytime I take him out of the crate, when he wakes up, plays to hard, goes by the door and just sits there, or if it has been more than an hour since last time he has been out. It is a lot of time spent in the great outdoors but it is really paying off.

[The Berry Oaks Doodle Ranch]

It does pay off in the end,I Guinness would never get-it.He was and still is very smart in other areas'.But, he's 4mths & 2wks now and even if he has to go out at night,he will ring the bells.

[Dot, Maggie and KoKo]

Rosie is 7 months old and still has accidents. The biggest problem is no sign when she neeeds to go out. We have bells that she does ring, she gets the connection but I find that she sometimes doesn't hit them hard enough so I hear them if I'm in another room. She sometimes will come to me and jump up, this could be a sign she wants out or just wants to play, nothing she has ever done is definitive. I must say she has gotten so much better at pottying and is wonderful at night. I put her in her crate last night at 10:30 and didn't get up til 7 this morning and not a peep out of her. I guess we have to count the blessings we get with them....great nightime pup, not so good potty pup. It will get better, I hope.