Question on the bells

[Eva and Fenway]

Hi everyone!

 

This may be a silly question, but does anyone have a recommendation on how to make an effective bell for my doodle to ring when she needs to go potty? I've seen these mentioned multiple times and have seen them on a few websites (none in local stores). I'm thinking of making one, but was curious where everyone got theirs if they have one?

[Heather & Brinkley]

We just got the Christmas bell from the Dollar store.  They are made to hang on the door around the knob... it's perfect and cheap!  I bet Garden Ridge would have them now b/c they always have Christmas decorations up.

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

You can make them. I made one for my office door. I threaded a couple jingle bells through a wide ribbon and hung it on the doorknob. I got my original ones through "in the company of Dogs" catalog. Here's the link: http://www.inthecompanyofdogs.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=D11326%20BK&r...

There are lots out there in internet world to choose from:) We love ours and both dogs are trained with them.

[Adina P]

We actually use a small thin windchime that hangs by a nail near the back door.  It's what Clark used when he lived on his own with his border collie and we've just always used that.  I have bought bells at a craft store and sewed them onto a segment of nylon webbing (kind of like some leash material).  But they didn't have bells that dinged very loudly so I didn't use that for long.

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

I bought the Poochie Bells - mine are on a black leather strap with a loop at one end that you can hang on your door.  The silver bells are at 3 different levels and easily reached by all size doodles. I have mine looped through the sliding glass door handle.  I think they have them at Amazon and in various colors.  I figured it would cost me about the same to make them.  Charlie learned to use them by the time he was 12 weeks old.  Very cute.

Good luck.

[Dani and Scout]

I bought some jingle bells at the craft store and tied them to a piece of ribbon. Each individual bell hangs on its own piece so they clang together. We have a sliding door to the backyard so a regular door hanger wouldn't work for us.

[Dori & Rua]

The Doodle I had before Rua used a wind chime, hung on the door knob, and then later by the door.  With, I have two sets of Poochie Bells, one on my front door and one one the patio slider downstairs.  But, as the comments indicate, you can be quite creative.  Don't forget to take them with you when you take your dog visiting.  We have done a few trips up north (to MN), one to CA and one to FL, and it wasn't until afterwards that someone on DK mentioned that, so I have added that to my "Rua's Travel List"!

[Eva and Fenway]

Great suggestions.. thanks everyone! I also don't have a traditional doorknob so I was curious. Looking forward to getting out of housebreaking stage.. eventually.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

You all are very creative.  The first set we purchased.  After that, we just bought a bag of jingle bells from the craft store, attached them to key rings, and tied them along a ribbon.  I had a few fosters and I made bells and sent them with the dogs.   About $3.95 for the creation.

When we adopted Starlit she was petrified of doors and the bells compounded the situation.   But she did like this big pink bell ( about 5 inches in diameter) so we used that one bell that was quieter because of her noise aversion.  So you can vary any kind of bell.

One caution --get one type of bell, and stick to the basic sound it makes or I noticed it throws off some dogs. 

 

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

We made ours out of a craft bell and rope. If you have a Walmart-they sell them there now. Real cute with paw prints on them. They recently got these in. Best thing we ever did had the perfect potty training experience on both doodles.

[Jeanne, Tura and Dolly]

Just a comment.  Don't be discouraged when you finally get the bells up.  We rang the bells, said,"ring the bell, go outside!" every time for 2 weeks and no response....then one evening, we heard the bell. jumped up and went to the door and there she was.....ready to go out.  Just be patient, they'll get it.

[Leigh & Allie]

That happened to me as well. Then Allie would go to the door to ring the bell to just go out and play outside. I did not care. If she rang the bell she went outside! She got out of that phase so don't be discouraged by that either.

 

[Michael Gurley]

There are bird toys that are bells on the end of chains, and those work well!