Bell Training

[Nancy]

Has anyone tried to bell train their doxies?

Molly does not give me ANY indication that she need to pee or poop. I've gotten into a routine where I let her out 20 minutes after she's eatten dinner and depending on what she does, I let her out two more times before we go to bed.

I heard it was not hard to do, just need patients.

[JanUet]

Oh Yeah! I've tried it! And........................

FAILED Bell Training 101!:pout:
If anyone had any luck...would you mind sharing?

[Patt]

I'm glad you brought that up b/c I'm thinking of trying it. I did find some interesting links and I will bell shop tomorrow. :rotfl:

Best article on Bell ringing
http://www.thedogdaily.com/animalforum/you_dog/trythis/archive/ring_bell/

Check paras on* bells* towards the end of the article.
http://www.westieclubamerica.com/behavior/housetraining.html

House Training – Ring my bell
http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001b/bell.htm

Bells – see #10
http://www.ehow.com/tips_32.html

[squirrel818]

Cricket rings the bell! I actually trained her on accident. During christmas time I had a snowman with jingle bells hanging on the doorknob. She usually scratches at the door when she wants to go out but instead she started batting at the snowman. I praised her every time and after christmas I packed away the snowman and put a regular bell up. It's great because now I can hear her if I'm in another room.
If cricket dosen't go out as soon as she needs to she will have an accident. I used to miss her cues alot just because I wasn't hearing her scratch the door. Since I hung the bell accident occurances have gone down about 50%.
Anyone want to guess whos responsile for the other 50?

[Pokeys Mom]

Our old neighbors did it, and it worked! Here are some good luck :rayz: :rayz: :rayz: !!

Pokey is a dear, and swipes his paw on the door. Part of the adoption package!

[Nancy]

I'm glad you brought that up b/c I'm thinking of trying it. I did find some interesting links and I will bell shop tomorrow. :rotfl:

Thanks so much for the links! I'll try to give them a read while my boss is in meetings today! :rotfl:

[Lisa]

I have a very "vocal" dog that I am willing to loan out (so I can have a moment of quiet), and he lets you know when he has to pee / poop, if there is a squirrel/bird/insect, or a dog 3 blocks down has barked, or a car is on the road etc. etc.

Good luck with the bell training. I think it is a very cool idea.

[Jill]

We tried it. We still have the bells on doors actually. Every once in a while they will get rung, but I am pretty sure it's by accident. Just have to be consistent. If you hear the bells ring, then you gotta take them out so they associate it. I bet if we practiced more with it, along with treats we could get it. Both boys are very good about going to the door if they want to go out. If we are downstairs then they just go and sit in front of the door. You say, wanna go outside? and they come running from the door, over to you, back to the door, like to tell you, LET'S GO ALREADY. If we are upstairs and we have the gate up, then they sit in front of the gate. You say, wanna go outside and they book it down the steps and sit in front of the door.

[bumpergirl]

Bailey and Peanut are bell trained. Bailey more so than Peanut, which is why I still leave a piddle pad down.

I bought a 99 cent plastic cat ball with a bell inside and tied it low on my front door from the knob with some string. When they have to go, they go over and give it a jangle and I jump up and take them out.

That's the most important thing...HONOR THE BELL! They have to know that you will take them right out when that bell rings. And yes, they will sometimes ring it just because they want to go for a walk. That happened a lot early on, but now it's pretty much just a "I gotta go...NOW" kind of thing.

Try it. It works!

[Nancy]

PLASTIC KITTY BELL! PERFECT! I was a little worried about a metal bell smashing around hitting the wall marking it up.

I'll get her started next week when I get back from my trip to Florida.

Patty recommended some good website that I read up on as well.

[Frzframe]

to do this. I started with Mitzi when she was tiny. When I would take her outside I'd touch her noes to the bell and say "outside." It worked so well that she was ringing it every 10 mins or so making us all insane so I took it down for a while. When I put it back up she wasn't so bad and only rang it when she had to do her business. Then came along Dudley and I did the same thing with him. It worked great but they both will still ring the bell and I know they just want to go outside to bark at things or to get my attention because they (okay Mitzi) thinks she needs to eat or have a treat.