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Ring the bell - housebreaking tool?

BeBe

Well-known member
Has anyone had luck with hanging bells on the door knob and getting puppy to "ring" the bell to go outside? I am thinking about trying it since our couch hides a little one sitting by the door.

Noelle
 
My dog Lucky will ring the bell. Sparky never picked up on out despite consistent training for over a year. Or maybe Lucky rings for him :)

Definitely worth a try
 
Any tricks for getting them use to the bell? Or was it really as easy as I read on the internet - ring the bell when you take them outside and eventually they will do it to go outside?

Noelle
 
I put a piece of kibble behind the bells to get them to ring the bell with their nose. When they rang the bell, then they got the piece of kibble. We did this before every walk.

Lucky picked on up this pretty quickly. He was trained on it already when I got Sparky. I did this for probably over a year once I got Sparky. Lucky still remembered, Sparky would only ring if I asked him to with a treat. But come to think of it, that pretty much is Sparky ... he won't do anything without a guaranteed treat!!

Only thing you need to be careful of is they will also ring if they just want to go out to sniff or chase bunnies, squirrels, butterflies!!! And you probably really need to let them out when they ring (at least at first) so that you reinforce the connection of the ringing to getting let outside for a walk. That said, after a while of doing this, once I knew Lucky firmly got the connection, I stopped doing a second walk if Lucky range the bell and had just gone out 10 minutes ago!).

Good luck. :)
 
Both of mine picked up on ringing the bell really easily. I got it when Rylie was a puppy but Max was nearly a year. Both of mine will also ring it when they want me to stop what I'm doing. They hope if they get me to the door they can distract me into playing with them. Sadly, I think they are better people trainers than I am a dog trainer.:)
 
Mika learned it in a day. I just took her paw and hit the bells every time we went out. She went a little crazy at first, but now only really does it when she has to go out or if she thinks I've been ignoring her too long. Sometimes if she wants a treat too. It's kind of amazing how she knows that ringing the bell can get her what she needs.
 
Thanks for all the great suggestions, I have ordered some bells from poochiebells and will begin training soon! I will let you all know how it goes but I have high hopes!

Noelle & B.B.
 
I was just going to say.. get some Poochiebells! They are cute and functional! Both of my girls are trained on the bells. I taught them my touching. Right after a meal, or when they first wake up in the morning. I would lead them to the door where the bells were hanging, and touch their nose, then touch the bells, as I was saying "touch" and "outside" then touch their nose again. No treats involved... I knew with my girls if I started with treats they would ALWAYS expect a treat! They learned really quickly. I would coax them to the bells by snapping my fingers softly and say " come, lets go outside" in a happy voice! They have used them faithfully since the first few days. I love it! Especially since you can hear them from other rooms of the house, and it saves them from scratching up the door! Good luck and have fun! :)
 
What great information! I had never heard of it. I am going to ebay some poochie bells right now!

Oh one more question...do you need to wait until they are potty trained? Bella is on and off with it. I am just concerned it will add something else to learn and confuse the issue...on the other hand will it make it better and less confusing?
 
I am in the process of potty training so plan to use this during the process, from everything I read the best time to train on the bells is during the potty training process!
 
We started the poochiebells during potty training, but they worked so well, she didn't have an accident since the day we got them.
 
We got our poochiebells this week and they are very nice looking, she is doing well with it but seems a little scared to give them a good ring! She is getting use to everything and seems to go and give them a nose (light ring) - the good news is she gives it a ring!
 
When she rings it, take her out so that she will figure out that ringing the bell means outside. Sounds like she is interested, which is great! Good luck! Keep us posted!
 
We have a strap of old sleigh bells hanging off of one of our doorknobs, and past generations of our cavaliers have used them to let us know they want to go out, but when a paw hits the bells, it sometimes also scratches the door.

So, we've trained our cavaliers to bark at the door if they need to go.
 
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