Bell training? (Potty)

[Michele Kiss]

Has anyone successfully bell trained their puppy to ring it when they need to go out? And if so, how? 

Our pup seems to understand (most of the time) that the bell means "we're going out to potty" but he doesn't seem to realise that HE can ring the bell. 

The obvious is "reward him when he does it" but I don't want to reward him just for ringing the bell... but rather, reward him for ringing it when he wants to go out to potty. 

Or, is 18 weeks too early to expect that?? 

[Tait & Finn]

I started the bells with Finn when we brought him home at 7.5 weeks. Every time we took him out we hit the bells with his paw and said something like "ok, let's go out". Every time, be consistent. After 4 days Finn rang it himself! I was so excited and proud. Of course it took a couple months for him to get it consistently but now he's 17 months and is a bell ringing champ. And he does ring it sometimes just because he wants to go out to chew his sticks, chase bunnies, etc. and there haven't been any accidents since about 4 months old. He's been free of his crate since then. Good luck, it's a very handy trick to teach them.

We also taught him a cue word for going potty on command. We say "squat" and he knows he needs to get to it. I still praise him when he goes after I tell him to.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

We started Lucy's bell training at 9 weeks and she caught on very quickly. All we did was say, "Ring the bells, go potty," while ringing the bells ourselves (in the initial stages), then progressed to picking up one of her paws and ringing the bells after giving the command. Piece of cake! I wish I could say the same about Oscar. He was quite another story. He never did get the bell training and we just got into the habit of taking him out regularly. He's almost 2 yrs old now and there has been a handful of times he's rung the bells, so maybe he knows how its done, but never really needs to ring them because he's taken out on a schedule. But 18 weeks is definitely not too young.

One thing that's interesting is that I think Lucy often rings the bells for Oscar to go potty! I'll hear the bells in the other room and come to investigate and I'll see Oscar near the back door, with Lucy standing next to the bells. On those occasions she didn't have to go, but Oscar did. I swear these 2 are too smart for their britches!

[Stephanie and Ragley]

I started using bells to train Ragley starting the day after she came home at 8 weeks old. She rang them herself within 2 days. I chose to touch her nose to the bells instead of her paw because I didn't want to encourage door-hitting behaviors (personal preference). We used them with our pyrenees too. 

Like others have mentioned, our two both went through the "I know this means I can go out and play" phase, but you will learn your puppy's tendencies and be able to better gauge what is a potty ring and what is a play ring. 

Just be consistent! Go to the door, touch nose to ring bells, open door, go potty, and praise! He will get it! Like Ro, I used a command for the bells too "ring your bells". I still make her practice sometimes even at 8 months old just to reinforce her good behavior :)

[Michele Kiss]

Thank you all so much! We have started hitting the bells with his nose / paw and hopefully it will catch on quickly from here :-)  Appreciate all the feedback. 

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

Hurley came to us when he was 3 months old. We started him right away on bell training.  Every two hours I would take him to the bells nudge them all the time saying 'potty, potty' in an excited voice.  Then I would take him out on the leash.  I would give him five minutes.  If he did his business in that five minutes I would praise him and we go back in the house.  If he doesn't go we just go back in the house and I wait for a 1/2 hr or so (watching him all the time) and take him back out using the same routine.   He picked up on the bells quickly and of course he rang them when he had to go and when he just wanted to go out and play and sometimes I think he rang them just to see how I would react.   Anyway, I took him out with every ring on his leash.  If he did not go in 5 minutes I brought him in waited about 15 minutes and then took him out off leash so he could play.   What I wanted to avoid is the association that play time and potty time are at the same time.  After he had the bell routine down straight, there were no accidents in the house and he didn't over do nudging the bells he could go out and potty and play.   I never gave him a treat for ringing the bells and/or going out and potting.  I used verbal praise.  

Hurley is 2 1/2 years old now.  We have a doggie door now so he doesn't have to ring the bells (I left them on the slider anyway) but he still often goes over to the bells and nudges them before he goes out to do his business.  If he appears to be going out to play he doesn't ring the bells but just races through the doggie door.  

[Badgley "Monster" Kopel]

What type pf bell is everyone using? We have a service bell sitting right next to our front door and Badgley just can't seem to get the hang of it. I'd say it's been a month now of us ringing the bell every time we go out and she still doesn't seem to connect the two. We had progress a couple weeks ago (I don't know if it was on purpose or coincidental) she rang it here and there and we'd go out and she would potty. But then she regressed, she no longer rings it and if we want her to ring it before going out it take coaxing! Anyone else have trouble with bell training? We're consistent and always reward with either praise or a treat.

[Sophie]

We use poochibells that hang from the doorknob. They're very simple. He can nudge them with his paw or even tug them with him mouth. We picked them up from the pet store.

This is what they look like.

http://poochie-pets.net/product/poochiebells-solids/

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

They sell them in Target...just a string of bells that get hung from your door. LOL...I used a set of Christmas bells until I found the ones I wanted. How old is Bagely?

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Here's ours:

[Badgley "Monster" Kopel]

Thank you! I'll check those out, maybe switching bells will help? Badgley is 6 months old. 

[Stephanie and Ragley]

I have dollar store/craft store jingle bells tied onto ribbon. Total cost: about $1.50 and we have had them for almost 5 years!

[Judi Kilpatrick]

We successfully used the bells, the youngest pup was about 14 weeks, his half brother 17 weeks. I just rang the bell or would have them touch the bell with their nose or paw, immediately take them out then reward them for going potty. Would repeat this every 30 - 45 minutes, they started using them almost immediately, takes a bit of patience and must take them right away when they ring the bell and lots of praise/reward when they do. The bells are awesome, gives the pup a way to tell you when they need to go out..eventually they may use them when they don't need to potty but my rule was, no potty, no reward so that helps with the 'fake' rings.. Good luck, sometimes it takes a week or more but don't give up, they will use them when they are ready!