# Need Tips On Teaching to Ring Bell for Potty



## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

A few times lately I have missed Willow's cue that she needed to go out and do #2. It's not her fault. It's entirely mine. Her cue is to stand by the "out" door and if we are in the room she'll look over her shoulder at us and softly growl. If time goes by and we don't know she's there, she'll, poop in front of the door. It hasn't happened very often as there is usually one of us in that room. However, if I could teach her to ring a bell when she needs to go out to potty, I could hear that rather than the low, soft growl she does.

My fear of the bell is that she'll learn that if she rings it she'll get to go out. However, I don't want her to ring it just because she wants to go out and chase the squirrel, or eat the rabbit droppings when she sees a bunny.

So, first of all, how do you go about teaching to ring the bell? Secondly, how do you teach them that it's only for potty?


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

here's a good article Jackie https://mrsbehaviour.com/2015/04/20/the-ringing-of-the-bells/


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## Dee Dee (Jul 24, 2015)

Awww so cute how she "talks" to you, come on mom!

Sophie doesn't use a bell but I know when she wants out because I hear the doggie door flapping (I have a doggie door from kitchen to the utility room so on warm days I can leave the back door open but she can't get out on her own all the time). But I still have the problem of her wanting to either just go snarf around the yard (lawn grubs! Athena poop! Bad puppy!!!) or just wanting to stand in the open door and sniff the air. Which is fine but she then comes right back in and wants a treat. So no treats unless she actually goes out and pottys. 

She is also really bad about coming in when I call (so I don't call unless sure I can get success) so now I ring a hand bell I keep by the door and she comes racing in. If I just called I know she wouldn't. She always gets a big treat then and now with Athena here, I make sure I'm feeding Athena a treat so when Sophie comes in she sees Athena getting one (then I give her hers immediately as well) which makes her not want to miss out.

The treat thing would work with the bells too, let her out but no treat if she doesn't potty and a really good one when she does.


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## April R (Oct 29, 2016)

We have a bell by the door and we ring it when we take Jade out. Just recently Jade rang the bell and sat by the door! She is learning!


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

Dave, thanks for the link. That is helpful. I was kind of planning on teaching by using the clicker and shaping. I was just worried that she would just ring the bells whenever she wanted to go out and not just for potty. After reading this article in the link it sounds doable! 

Dee Dee, I always keep Willow on a leash too. Unfortunately I don't have a fenced in area where I can turn her loose. Wish I did. I've just started working on recall with her too, but not being able to do it outside is a bummer. Inside the house the other day, I told her to sit then stay with the hand signals for each command. She obeyed and then on a whim I walked backwards 10 feet or so and I verbally said "front" along with the hand sign for front and she came! I've never taught her "front" before but she seems to be a natural. I may try it outside with a long line.


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## havanese (Feb 10, 2016)

This is a perfect thread as Ollie will seat in front of the sliding door and wait for someone to take him out. He will not make any sounds at all. If I miss it, he will find a spot nearby to do his business. Thank you Dave for the article. I guess I should wait with the bell training as Ollie is nowhere close to 100% housetrained at all.


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## Barbara Levy (Apr 22, 2016)

havanese said:


> This is a perfect thread as Ollie will seat in front of the sliding door and wait for someone to take him out. He will not make any sounds at all. If I miss it, he will find a spot nearby to do his business. Thank you Dave for the article. I guess I should wait with the bell training as Ollie is nowhere close to 100% housetrained at all.


I just saw this thread. i didn't read the article but we started bell training the day Loki came home. I just took his paw and rang the bell every time I took him out to do his business. It didn't take him long to figure it out.

When he started ringing the bell, we had a big potty party when he went but not just when he wanted to play. He still rings the bell sometimes when he just wants to go outside. I joke that he has us trained as door monitors but he has been house trained since he was 5 months old so I don't have much to complain about.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Kodi and I are bell failures. He's a smart dog, I'm a pretty decent trainer, and he had an absolute AVERSION to the bells. Absolutely wouldn't touch them. I finally took them down because they were scratching the woodwork, and he learned to bark to be let out. 

I sometimes think about putting them back up again, because I suspect both Pixel and Panda would take to them pretty easily, since they both like to slap at things with their paws. ...But then we get back to the woodwork problem. Kodi barks, Pixel scratches on the glass (which I can hear from anyplace downstairs) and with Panda... She goes out whenever they do. So it's sort of like the second child who doesn't learn to talk... She's never had any NEED to find a way to tell me she needs to go out.


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

Thanks for all your thoughts and stories! I tried teaching my corgi to ring a bell and failed at that. I found a small cow bell at the feed store that I'm going to start Willow on. We'll see how it goes.


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## Barbara Levy (Apr 22, 2016)

I watched Loki this morning. He uses his nose not his paw on the bell.


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

Barbara Levy said:


> I watched Loki this morning. He uses his nose not his paw on the bell.


I have a feeling that's how Willow will do it too. She does a lot of nose bumps!


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