# Mounting bell for potty



## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

I think we are ready to start bell training. Our 1 year old is reliable inside and has started occasionally waiting by the door when he needs to go potty. I’m looking at different ideas for bells and wondering if anyone has trouble with the bells ringing when someone shuts the door. I want to mount it low on the wall, not hang anything from the door itself, because I don’t want the bells to ring unless it’s intentional. But my kids tend to shut the door hard when they’re running outside. I already have jingle bells and Christmas bells I could set up, and hooks and knobs I could repurpose, so before I buy anything new specifically for bell training I wondered what other people have set up.


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## Jeanniek (Mar 20, 2018)

EvaE1izabeth said:


> I think we are ready to start bell training. Our 1 year old is reliable inside and has started occasionally waiting by the door when he needs to go potty. I'm looking at different ideas for bells and wondering if anyone has trouble with the bells ringing when someone shuts the door. I want to mount it low on the wall, not hang anything from the door itself, because I don't want the bells to ring unless it's intentional. But my kids tend to shut the door hard when they're running outside. I already have jingle bells and Christmas bells I could set up, and hooks and knobs I could repurpose, so before I buy anything new specifically for bell training I wondered what other people have set up.


I am glad you asked this! Looking forward to reading the answers.


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## JoysJasper (Jan 7, 2018)

I bought two bells from amazon and mounted one inside and one outside on the door trim instead of the door itself. I used treats to teach Jasper (9 months at the time) how to ring it and then opened the door to let him out. On the fifth day he started ringing it himself, but seemed confused, because he expected a treat before going out. A few days more and he realized the bell was to go outside. It took him a while longer to teach himself to ring the outside bell simply by making him wait a few minutes before letting him in, and ringing the bell for him when he came in. Now he uses the bells all the time. He gets really excited when we ask if he wants to go for a walk or a ride, and can't wait for us to get our shoes on. He's ringing the bell to hurry us along. Its been a great tool. We can hear it from the living room and don't have to worry if he's waiting to go out and being ignored. 

The bells I bought were: EMDMAK Dog Bell Potty Training Bell Doorbell for Housebreaking & Housetraining $8.59 each.


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

JoysJasper said:


> I bought two bells from amazon and mounted one inside and one outside on the door trim instead of the door itself. I used treats to teach Jasper (9 months at the time) how to ring it and then opened the door to let him out. On the fifth day he started ringing it himself, but seemed confused, because he expected a treat before going out. A few days more and he realized the bell was to go outside. It took him a while longer to teach himself to ring the outside bell simply by making him wait a few minutes before letting him in, and ringing the bell for him when he came in. Now he uses the bells all the time. He gets really excited when we ask if he wants to go for a walk or a ride, and can't wait for us to get our shoes on. He's ringing the bell to hurry us along. Its been a great tool. We can hear it from the living room and don't have to worry if he's waiting to go out and being ignored.
> 
> The bells I bought were: EMDMAK Dog Bell Potty Training Bell Doorbell for Housebreaking & Housetraining $8.59 each.


Thanks! I wanted to try hanging one of the bells I have with a command hook before I drill but it's not deep enough so I'm still trying to find ways to experiment. I didn't think of a bell on the other side of the door, but we have to supervise outside anyway because we have a doggie sized gap in our fence.


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## Jeanniek (Mar 20, 2018)

JoysJasper said:


> I bought two bells from amazon and mounted one inside and one outside on the door trim instead of the door itself. I used treats to teach Jasper (9 months at the time) how to ring it and then opened the door to let him out. On the fifth day he started ringing it himself, but seemed confused, because he expected a treat before going out. A few days more and he realized the bell was to go outside. It took him a while longer to teach himself to ring the outside bell simply by making him wait a few minutes before letting him in, and ringing the bell for him when he came in. Now he uses the bells all the time. He gets really excited when we ask if he wants to go for a walk or a ride, and can't wait for us to get our shoes on. He's ringing the bell to hurry us along. Its been a great tool. We can hear it from the living room and don't have to worry if he's waiting to go out and being ignored.
> 
> The bells I bought were: EMDMAK Dog Bell Potty Training Bell Doorbell for Housebreaking & Housetraining $8.59 each.


Thank you so much! I am going to start Zumba on this and see how it goes. I wish we had a fenced yard so I could just let her go outside, but we don't. Ringing the bell will mean putting the harness on her, and going outside, but I won't have to be so focused on looking for her cues (eventually). I just hope she doesn't ring it just cause she wants us to go outside for fun.


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## JoysJasper (Jan 7, 2018)

In answer to both issues above: Jasper has learned to wait while I put his harness on and off. He knows harness means walk or ride in the truck or four wheeler; all of which he loves! He'll ring that bell while we get ready to go. The word "Go" (for a walk, ride) is his trigger. So the bell is his language to open the door.

As to the hole in the fence: When Jasper was tiny he could fit through the wrought iron fence along the front yard. All the other fences were solid cedar. I bought a $2 bouncy ball at Walmart, sewed a drawstring bag to fit it, pulled the drawstring tight and tied it to a carabiner. this I attached to a thin leash attached to his harness, This way we could play freely or work in the yard, and if he fit through the fence the ball could not. The ball became a favorite toy. He no longer needs it attached, but he Loves to play soccer.

Obviously, we never left him unattended with the ball attached, but it gave him some freedom to run and play.


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## JoysJasper (Jan 7, 2018)

Jeanniek said:


> Thank you so much! I am going to start Zumba on this and see how it goes. I wish we had a fenced yard so I could just let her go outside, but we don't. Ringing the bell will mean putting the harness on her, and going outside, but I won't have to be so focused on looking for her cues (eventually). I just hope she doesn't ring it just cause she wants us to go outside for fun.


Oh, she WILL begin to ring the bell to go out for fun! The bell is power! If she's young, and potty training is still being reinforced, you Must answer every request to go outside. Jasper ran us ragged for a while, but it settled down after a few weeks. He is almost a year old and flawlessly potty trained. Even on the rare occasion that he has to go in the middle of the night (late evening treat?) he'll get up and go ring the bell.

With a fully fenced yard, though, I can now just let him out alone. That soccer ball awaits him.


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## Marni (Apr 1, 2017)

I just want to say that with dogs this small, I would never leave them in the yard unsupervised: fence, hole in fence or no fence. I enjoyed reading about the bell training, though.


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## JoysJasper (Jan 7, 2018)

On the fence issue, I agree small dogs have many risks, and each owner has to determine what their personal risks are where they live, and protect accordingly. We live in a small town. We own five city lots completely fenced, and then fenced again into four different areas. When we are out with Jasper, he has the run of the whole yard to chase that lightweight soccer ball while we kick it for him. When he goes out by himself, it is into a very small backyard area with a six foot high cedar privacy fence. This is his potty yard. He no longer needs me to accompany him to reinforce the word "potty". Being retired, we have been able to be with him in those critical training months and it has paid off wonderfully. He responds to so many words because we consistently associated those words with what we were doing.


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

I do like the idea of the attached toy, actually, when he’s supervised. Our front yard is completely fenced with a low picket fence but he can just barely squirm through 3-4 spaces that aren’t perfectly even. We live across from a greenway/park area and very close to our neighborhood dog park, so there is a lot of foot traffic that sometimes requires immediate inspection. It would be nice to have him off leash in our own yard when we are playing with him! I tried a tether but the problem is that our yard is long and narrow so the tether ends up being short to prevent him from reaching the sidewalk, and that leaves most of our yard unexplored.


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## JoysJasper (Jan 7, 2018)

As I said, Jasper was never left alone with the soccer ball in a "sock" on a leash. We used it to allow him freedom to play. He loved to attack the ball, and it was a great diversion for him. And because it was a lightweight bouncy ball, it didn't weigh him down and rolled and bumped along with him. We could rake leaves and such, and knew, if he did get to the wrought iron fence and squeeze through, he wouldn't get into the street.


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## Jeanniek (Mar 20, 2018)

JoysJasper said:


> In answer to both issues above: Jasper has learned to wait while I put his harness on and off. He knows harness means walk or ride in the truck or four wheeler; all of which he loves! He'll ring that bell while we get ready to go. The word "Go" (for a walk, ride) is his trigger. So the bell is his language to open the door.


I'm the one who struggles with the clipping/unclipping of the harness. Thankfully Zumba is patient with me.


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## Scarlett's mom (Feb 14, 2017)

I made my own and hung one set on one of the gates and one each at the front door and side door. I used cup hooks and put them right next to the door because I didn't want them to ring every time someone opened and closed the door. Scarlett taught herself right away by using the gate one to get my attention. Willow is finally starting to use them to tell me she needs to go out.


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## JoysJasper (Jan 7, 2018)

They're smart little dogs. They want to communicate with us. The bells give them a voice to relay what they want.


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