# Bell training...



## gabdyl (Jun 16, 2008)

Anyone got any tips? How did you teach your Hav to do this?

Our pup who is ten weeks old has learned if he taps the bell, he'll get a little treat. He doesn't do it on command tho.. Should I just stick with this for a while before we try to advance to anything else since he is so young?

TIA


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

If you do a search for this topic--you'll find tons of information here.


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## tikaboo (Aug 9, 2008)

Hello,
we are teaching Tika to do this too and she is 18mo. We probably should have done it right from the beginning. We though potty training would have been over and done with by now but it is not, so we are working on the bell ringing. 
Here is some information I found helpfull. I hope this helps.

_Your pup can learn to ring a bell with its paw or nose when he wants out.

THE POTTY BELL The potty bell should be loud enough that you can hear it from the next room, and small enough that a pup can easily ring it. A small brass bell on string of sleigh bells would work nicely. Hang the bell from the doorknob of the door to the potty area. The bell should hang at about the height of the pup's nose.

Each time you take your dog to its outdoor elimination area, ring the bell. While you are on your way to the door with your dog say, "Let's go out, go potty." Just before you open the door, ring the bell. You don't have to try to make the dog ring it, just ring it yourself and open the door. The pup will learn to ring the bell itself by imitating you.

Dogs think in a linear way. Whatever happens just before an event, causes the event. If the bell rings and then the door opens, the bell must have caused the door to open. After a few dozen times of hearing the potty bell and then having you open the door, the pup will decide to give it a try.

The puppy will experimentally tap the bell with its nose or paw. Upon learning this sweetest music, you should rush to open the door for your wonderful puppy. The dog notes that the experiment worked and will probably try it again the next time. In anywhere from four days to two weeks, your dog will make that connection between the bell and the door opening, and, from then on, it can ask to go out when he needs to.

FALSE ALARMS Once he figures out how to call you to open the door for him, the pup might try using the potty bell when he wants out for play. Discourage this. Escort your dog out to the potty area when he rings the bell. Don't allow him to play or to wander off. Wait with the pup for a reasonable time and, if he doesn't go, take him back inside. The potty bell is such a valuable communication signal: it must not be used for false alarms._


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## Posh's Mom (Dec 20, 2007)

I'm going to try with Posh too. She is 16 months old, but smart as a whip, so I know we can train her to do this quickly. I'm hoping this clears up my marking vs. really has to potty issue with her.


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## gabdyl (Jun 16, 2008)

Thanks so much for the tips. I will also do a search. I ring the bell each time we go out. I also read about making the whole thing click by teaching to ring the bell as a trick. Maybe once he knows that really well, I will just take him out before giving the treat? 

thanks again


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## kimoh (Jul 5, 2007)

I taught Dilly to ring the bell when she was still a puppy. I just hung the bell on the door we used to go outside and every time I took her out I would touch her nose to the bell and say outside. I think within 2 weeks she started ringing the bell herself. It is hard for me to remember exactly because it took a little while for me to be convinced she was doing it intentionally. It has worked really well for us, although we did go through a period of frequent bell ringing for no apparent reason that was annoying.
Good Luck!
Kim


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Hang a small bell on a string on the handle of the door the dog goes out,
down by the floor. Every time you take the dog out, pick up his paw and
ring the bell. Take him to the same spot on leash every time. Give him a
quiet cue "gotta go?" or whatever you choose, when he begins peeing
quietly
and calmly praise him "good boy". The moment he is finished give him a
treat, lots of praise, run around and play a game, a little party happens
whenever he goes outside. When ever he goes inside he is quickly rushed
outside. No free play in the yard until he pees, no punishment for
accidents inside (he'll learn to hide to do it) and the treat and party
must
immediately follow the elimination.


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## Paige (Sep 12, 2006)

I have three trained to the bell and one is still in trainning. I use this
Amazon.com: Pet Chime - Wireless Electronic Pet Doorbell: Home & Garden

I start them as soon as I bring them home with putting their paw on it and then opening the door and taking them out. At around 15 weeks old I sit down with them and treats and teach them how to ring it themselves. After that everytime I take them out I have them ring the bell. It took my other three until they were 5 months old to ring it on their own, it's like a light bulb went off then. Simon is only 4 months now, so he should start ringing on his own in the next couple of weeks.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

We have a PoochieBell that hangs on the doorknob and Scooter nudges it with his nose when he wants to go out. As soon as we got it we used that same door to go out every time and we would ring the bell and say, "POTTY". It took about a week and a half until he did it himself, very quietly at first though so listen carefully!  We love it!!!


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## LuvCicero (Mar 31, 2008)

Tia, he doesn't need to learn that if he taps the bell, he will get a treat. I think it is better to forget the treat...until he does his potty. You want him to learn that the bell ringing makes the door open. So for it to click in his mind....ring bell, makes door open...potty gets me a treat. 

If you will take his paw and tap the bell and immediately open the door...he will learn fairly soon. Good luck!!


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## Gracie's Mom (Sep 7, 2007)

We used a "Tell Bell" for Gracie. She was 10 weeks when we got her. We took her paw and rang it EVERY SINGLE TIME she went outside. By 12 weeks she had pretty much got it down. But do it without fail - EVERY SINGLE TIME. They are very smart dogs and they can figure this out if you are consistent.

Good luck - it is possible.


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## Gracie's Mom (Sep 7, 2007)

I will admit . . . Gracie now LOVES ringing the bell just to go outside and spend some time out there OR if we are busy - it is just a clue to us that we are not spending enough time with her because we will open the door and she will just stand there waiting for us to follow her or to let her back in.

Regardless, she does this when she has to do her business and has been fully potty trained without accidents since January at the very, very latest and only a handful after she was 4 months old. So it has been worth every bit of the annoyance of over-ringing at times.

In the beginning, when they are just figuring it out - they will ring just to see if what they have learned works. So, they will ring it many, many times an hour. During that period - you MUST take them out every time or it won't actually click. They've got to understand the cause and effect by testing it over and over and over. Kind of cute, but kind of annoying. But just one of those things that are worth working through.


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## Cheryl (Mar 17, 2007)

I taught bell ringing in 20 minutes. I showed the treat, placed it on the stoop outside, and sadi "ring the bell" placed the paw on the bell prior to opening the door. My hubby was amazed that Brutus learned within minutes.


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## Gracie's Mom (Sep 7, 2007)

Good idea, Cheryl. The thought that he could 'demand' a treat sounds pretty funny!! LOL!!!!!! Gracie would be ringing the bell non-stop. Even now, if I don't come right away the bell gets louder and louder and is flipped over if we aren't over there for her beckon call instantly. It's like, "Come On Now, PEOPLE!!! Get Over Here!!! I RANG the bell!!" If she could ask for a treat - her attitude would really get bad. LOL


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## gabdyl (Jun 16, 2008)

I am going to try a few things based on the replies... 

I am going to make sure we ring every single time we go out. And I am going to phase his bell trick(he does this on command now) over so that he gets the treat outside and see if that really helps the whole thing click! 

Lastly, when he does ring the bell on his own, I'll bring him right out. I really hope it clicks as I think the whole bell ringing to go out is soooo cute. 

Thanks so much for the replies!!!


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

We gave the treat as soon as Scooter would potty outside after ringing the bell. He learned quick because he loved the treats!


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## Outlander (Aug 3, 2011)

*What is the best type of bell?*

Hi,

I am hoping to start training my 4 month old havanese to use the bell. He will go outside to do his buisness but won't tell you when he needs to go. So I thought I would introduce the bell and see if that would work.

I would like advice on size and type of bell that people find work well and where to get them.

Ideally one with a cloth cover to prevent scratching.... Anyone have suggestions?

Thanks!


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Welcome, you really resurrected an old one here. LOL. Any bell will work if you can hear it from the furthest part of the house if necessary. The idea is fine, but I would get your dog reliable first. You can't count on this for learning , I like to think of it as down the road type thing. Here's an updated article on this http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1171 Don't forget to introduce yourself on the thread called " Introduce Yourself part 2


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## irnfit (Nov 21, 2006)

I started mine with just ringing the bell and opening the door to take them out. Then I added using their paws to ring the bells then opening the door. I never used treats when bell training. Shelby got this in a few days and rang them all the time whenever she wanted to go out, and not just to potty. Kodi never liked it but he will let me know when he has to go out.


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## haley (Apr 30, 2011)

Reggie took longer than expected to fully house train, but from what I've seen on this site it could have been worse! He is 8 months now and has been pretty much accident free for over a month. We have bells that hang on a rope type thing that we hang on the back door. We have had it for a while and ring it every time we take him out, no treats involved. We call Reggie "leo the late bloomer" since he pretty much has just decided to do what we have tried to get him to do whenever HE is ready flawlessly, and he has recently began jumping up on the bell when he has to go! The first time he did it I was in awe because he had ignored it for so long, but it definitely comes in handy when we are in the other room and hear the bell ring! Reggie is my first dog so I find it so cool how smart they really are!


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## Jplatthy (Jan 16, 2011)

I was lucky lol Misty taught herself to ring the bell ...I just made sure I held up my end of the bargain and opened the door IMMEDIATELY and took her to the potty spot.......of course she does do some false alarms...I think sometimes she just wants to make sure no one is in her neighborhood lol......Smokey still refuses to ring the bells...he prefers the door stop lol which is actually louder than the bells...and poor lil Sissy will have none of it....she still comes to me ...stares really hard and kind of growls/whines at me and if I say...'what do you want...do you have to go POTTY?" her lil tail starts wagging a mile a minute....of course she also whines/growls at me when she wants to go to bed which is usually around 8:30.....


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## TilliesMom (Sep 30, 2010)

we got our bells at the Dollar Store about this time last year!
I spent about 3 weeks watching Tillie like a hawk and being potty police and she was doing pretty good, BUT she didn't know how to TELL us she needed to go out.
She picked it up VERY fast, I rang the bells with my foot everytime we went out, a few hourse later Tillie sniffed the bells and they jingled a little and I went crazy with the praise and immediatly opened the door... and then for MONTHS we HAD to open the door without fail every.single.TIME. she rang the bells. I will be honest, there were times where I was ready to say screw it! ha ha ha, at those times, I would just prop the door open with a shoe so she could go in and out by herself! LOL 
for the bell, we just tied a ribbon on it and put a hook on a bench ( a shelf or something would work too) and put the bells there as we didn't want it ringing every time we open the door! (it's on our front door) it works great, there is no scratching anything up or anything like that... good luck, I hope it works for you! It made a world of difference for us and Tillie hasn't had accident in nearly a year!


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## Momo means Peach (Jun 7, 2011)

Tia, it took Momo a day to learn to do this. Everytime I took her outside, I took her paw and rang the bell. She quickly associated ringing the door with going outside. However, unfortunately, I did not differentiate between going potty and just going out. So, I get the bell ringing all day long to go outside for her to hang out and do whatever. :frusty: She also rings the bell when she wants me to go out with her. She'll do the stare and wait for me to go out. Sometimes, she'll ring the bell, wait for me to go towards the door to open it and then walk away. I haven't figured out what that means. I'm guessing she's pranking me. :biggrin1:

Anyway, :focus: I think Tika's owner has the right idea. Train them correctly and you don't have the false alarms. Good luck!


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