Bell Training

[miloPJ]

Hello all, I am trying to potty train my pup by ringing a bell. So far it is going awful. He never rings it on his own and I have to physically take his paw and ring it myself every time still. Are there tricks to this bell ringing idea?

[JudyN]

The best bet is to go in very small stages, shaping the behaviour. What sort of bell are you using?

I trained my dog to bark by the back door when he wanted to go out, as it made more sense to me to use a 'natural' behaviour. He was at the stage wherer he'd stand silently by the door, so I held the handle and looked at him, and eventually he whined and I praised him and let him out. He came to realise that he needed to 'vocalise' to be let out and gradually I waited for louder and louder vocalisations till it turned into a bark.

[Nettle]

How old is your pup? Ringing the bell is PhD stuff and you may have a kindergarten puppy.

I'd focus on getting a sound go-out-to-potty, and introduce the bell at a later date.

[Shalista]

id be careful too, i was able to train my dog to ring the bell but was never able to attach the bell ringing to the concept of going outside so he just rang the bell all day hoping for a treat. eventually i had to discontinue the bell because he was driving me crazy