# Rings Potty Training Bells Constantly - need advice!



## pvlahos (Jan 2, 2020)

Hi all,
Well it took about 10 months but Duke is pretty much potty trained now using bells that hang from our back door. He paws at the bells whenever he needs to pee and poo, we take him outside to do his business, he comes back in and gets a treat. He has been doing great with this method for the past couple of months with very few accidents or issues.

Lately however I've noticed that he paws at the bells shortly after he's just been taken out. Sometimes it's a few minutes, sometimes a half hour. I know he doesn't need to pee or poo. I think he does it because he just wants to go outside. To stay consistent, I'll take him out and he'll just wander around, eating things in the ground that he shouldn't be eating, but not peeing or pooing. We come back in and of course I don't give him a treat for that, but then he'll do it again a short time later. It's becoming hard to know now when he really needs to go or when he's playing us and just wants to go outside. And it's getting a little frustrating because I can't be taking him outside that often when I'm working or in meetings.

He gets plenty of attention from my kids who are remote learning at home, as well as my mother in law who lives with us, so I don't think he's doing it for attention. I'm not sure what is going on but would appreciate any and all help nipping this behaviour in the bud!


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

Haha that’s funny though  

Treats for potty just came up recently, it seems it’s pretty common to recommend against for this reason, but I also gave treats for ringing the bell. Mine hasn’t tried ringing the bell to get a treat, but honestly I’m surprised he hasn’t. I did recently read an article about how to teach the behavior and where to use lures and I think I’m lucky I didn’t have the same problem because I didn’t give him the treat until we got back inside, which is not even marking the behavior anymore, it’s so much later. 

I’m really just guessing, but maybe it would work to start treating at the time he rings the bell, to mark that behavior, and then start reducing the treats? Then if he rings the bell when he doesn’t need to go, you are still able to take him out and reinforce that the bell means outside, but hopefully it would reduce the false alarms.

I hope others answer, because I would like to understand better the relationship between luring and, rewarding, and training. I feel like I can break down and mark behaviors, but that second part of training without them, I’m not quite there.


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## pvlahos (Jan 2, 2020)

@EvaE1izabeth Oh my gosh, I didn't even realize that he could be doing it so that he gets more treats! He is a super picky eater and loves his treats, lol. Now that he's trained to use the bells for potty, maybe I just stop the treats and see if that helps.


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## Molly120213 (Jan 22, 2014)

I can’t help with the bell issue but I just wanted to say that Duke is a beautiful dog! He has really kept that gorgeous dark chocolate color so far and I love the contrast with the white.


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

pvlahos said:


> @EvaE1izabeth Oh my gosh, I didn't even realize that he could be doing it so that he gets more treats! He is a super picky eater and loves his treats, lol. Now that he's trained to use the bells for potty, maybe I just stop the treats and see if that helps.


Haha, I just assumed that because mine is so food motivated. Reading your post again, I missed that you thought he was ringing it to go outside.

Could be worked into the schedule, maybe during the time that was formerly for the school commute, to have early morning outside playtime before school starts? Are your kids old enough that they could take turns? Then maybe he'd be tired until lunch time. You'd also know his potty business is taken care of for a while.

Mine has been funny since the new school year started, too. Hopefully, for both of our sakes, it's just an adjustment period!


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