Belle's bells and photo fail

[Andrea, Belle and Honey]

Hello.  I've only had eight-week-old Labradoodle Belle home for four days, and I already have two questions.  First, I have been touching her paw to the bells and saying "outside" before taking her out to pee and poop, and she quickly learned to do her business when I say "better hurry."  She only rings the bells herself, however, right after she finishes and we come inside, when she wants to go out and play. She does this pretty consistently, although I never take her to play after she rings. Is there something I should be doing to help her figure this out?  Second question: I emailed a photo from my phone to the designated site, but I can't find it anywhere on DK.  What am I doing wrong? Actually, I realize that I have a lot more questions, but I don't want to write a book on my first post, so I'll save the others for later. Thanks for any suggestions about the bells and photo.  Andrea

[Cammy Todd]

I don't have much advice but my puppy is 5 1/2 months and is just now starting to ring the bells at appropriate times.  I think it is very common for them to "abuse" the bells when they are little and ring them when they want to go outside and play.  I would focus over the next few weeks on a potty training schedule and peeing on command (it sounds like you have a great start to this).  Go ahead and still ring the bells when you go out so the association is made, but is could be some time before your puppy rings them at the right time!  Good luck.

[Laura and Angus]

Welcome and congrats on the little one! You're gonna have a blast, but you'll appreciate DK for when you need help or are frustrated..cuz puppies can be frustrating even though they're adorable. You're doing everything right, in my opinion. It just takes them time to learn...they're babies, so with repetition and consistency Belle will definitely get it. I'd also recommend using treats when she goes potty outside to reinforce or at least saying "good!" or praise to reinforce that outside is where we potty. I'd also say that even though it is annoying, you probably have to take her out every time she uses the bells - even if you think it's just for play. You need Belle to learn that the bells are used to tell you when she has to go out. Other people might have more insight into this...we stopped using the bells after a bit because our pup, Angus, would instead sit by the door to tell us he had to go out and at this point, we just take him out on a schedule (he's a year old).

We went through the phase of taking Angus out constantly since he just wanted to play because we wanted to make sure that he knew he could tell us ...eventually we started to ignore him (when he was definitely potty trained) if had just been out and just wanted to play outside. That worked fine. I wouldn't recommend ignoring her use of the bells at 8 weeks - I'd wait until she's gone a month without accidents before using the ignoring strategy. Just a thought - we only had 3 accidents inside when training Angus (all pee), so taking them out a LOT when they are little will be helpful for both of you.

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

Im not sure what you mean when you say you emailed a photo to the designated site? Where are you trying to get the photo to show up? On your page? For the slideshow? For either of those things, you just need to go to your page and click on "photos" at the very top under the DK logo. Then click on "+Add" in the right corner of that page. It appears just to the left of your name. I have never added a photo from my phone so Im not really sure how that works. Ask as many questions as you like. I know it can be tough to navigate here when you first get started.

[Andrea, Belle and Honey]

Thanks for the helpful comments. I'll take Belle out from now on whenever she rings the bell. 

[Laura and Angus]

Probably will help reduce the accidents :) That was our goal, so we watched our puppy like a HAWK...okay we still do, but only because he's a very mischievous little bugger haha.

[Susan & Randy's Kate]

Our labradoodle sits by the door when she goes out.  I usually let her out anytime she want to go.  We have a shih tzu pup that will ring the bell or bark.  She is a very good at letting us know what she wants.  If you notice when you are posting there are many options the second being pictures.  I must admit I only post from my computer.  Good luck and love that baby girl.  Your efforts will be rewarded with a loving, cute, goofy, smart and beautiful dog.  I took our labradoodle in to the vet.  He had never seen her before and he was most impressed.  He had lost his lab last year and I think he liked how calm, inquisitive, friendly and cute she is, oh, and stubborn.  Love that baby and she will love you back ten fold.