Bell training problem

Ok, so Minni is now 4,5 and it has been already a month since we bell-trained her. She did not have any accidents since. But now she learnt that she can get out with ringing the bell and she rings it every hour if she wants to go out to play outdoors! First we thought she really needed to pee and took her out but after couple times when she didn't do anything, just ran around, we decided that probably we should ignore it and take her out, for example, every 3 hours. But she still continues doing it.

Has anyone, who bell-trained their cavs, encounter that problem? What can be done to improve situation?

I did not bell-train our Cavalier. Usually our dogs come to us and give us "the look" that says 'I need to go out' when it's an urgent call of nature. That's the good news.

The bad news is Sophie does the same thing as your Minni! She gives me "the look" because she wants to go outdoors to play, sniff the ground, go walkies, or just be outside.

I have trained our two to ring the bell if they want to go out. The reason for this is because Molly would not bark or let us know if she wanted a pee, she lightly tapped the door which is ok if you are in the same room as her. However, they ring the bell if they want to go out and play too. :badgrin:

Ok, so I am not alone But what do you do if they start maniacally ringing the bell or giving you looks every hour? I mean, I am not happy about taking her out so often just to play on -20 degrees

When Mika first learned the bells, she did ring it quite frequently. It was a novelty and so much fun! Yes, it was annoying, but eventually the novelty did wear off and she rang it less and less.

Now, she will sometimes ring it if she wants something. She knows that ringing the bell means action on my part. Mostly it is when she is hungry. She always gets a treat when she comes in from potty, so she will sometimes ring it, go outside for 2 seconds, then come in and sit by the treat bowl - as if!

The worst was when she was apparently starving and whining and whining by the door where her food is kept. I ignored her. She finally went and rang the bell. As soon as I got up, she ran back to the door where her food is kept - pretty smart little girl.

Anyway, my point is that if yours is the same as Mika, eventually the novelty will wear off and she won't be ringing it nearly as much.

I should add that at first, I didn't want to NOT let her out when she was ringing it. The whole point was for her to learn that ringing it meant I would let her out. If I didn't let her out, how would she learn to connect the two?

Now, two years later, with the idea firmly in place, there are times I will ignore her if I think she is just being a pain. If she seriously has to go out, she will start ringing it frantically and then I know we need to go.

I agree with what everyone else has said. I didn't get bells until we had Rylie and now both Max and Rylie use them. Mindy still just waits patiently at the door and barks if absolutely necessary to get my attention. Even before the bells Max would go to the door if he just wanted to go out and play. The only time it's an issue is if we are travelling and I can't just let them out themselves. Then I wish they were trained to just go and and potty. Otherwise I don't mind because the yard is fenced and I can keep an eye on them if I don't want to be out with them.

You do have to be careful about not taking them out once you bell train them. With that being said, it didn't take Libby long to realize that if she rang the bell she would get attention. She tried to get us to be her butler for eating, drinking etc. We did put an end to it by making sure that she did everything she needed to do outside. If those needs were met, we told her no. Eventually, the novelty wore out.

Make sure they are completely trained before trying this approach, because our boy will go out and we think he is done and go back for the bell. Just last night the kids ignored him and he had an accident. But the teenagers are the ones that got in trouble for it.

mhabca said:

I should add that at first, I didn't want to NOT let her out when she was ringing it. The whole point was for her to learn that ringing it meant I would let her out. If I didn't let her out, how would she learn to connect the two?

Now, two years later, with the idea firmly in place, there are times I will ignore her if I think she is just being a pain. If she seriously has to go out, she will start ringing it frantically and then I know we need to go.

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This is exactly how I did it too. Initially I took them out every time, but then I would say now. Sometimes I would even block access to the bells for a period after they just came inside since I knew they did not really need to go out but just want to go to bark at squirrels.

She tried to get us to be her butler for eating, drinking etc.

So what is wrong with that.....she is a Cavalier :jmp2: