Potty Training with a Bell on the Door??

jeffogden62 · New member Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 9

I have been able to potty train my older dog and he picked up on ringing the bell that I have hung from the door to let him out. We started teach him this trick at around 6-7 months of age.

We have a new puppy now and she is 4 months old. She is not catching on to the "Potty alert" bell that we have on the door. I have tried ringing the bell as I tell her "Outside, Outside,". I know she knows what "outside" means becasue she goes right to the door when I say the word. However, I cannot get her to ring the bell to let me know that she would like to go outside. Needless to say, I have cleaned several accidents in front of the and around the door. I'm just having trouble teaching her that she needs to tell me that she needs to go out instead of just going when she feels like it.

I have also tried crate training her and she can hold it in the crate for several hours. She just will not hold it when she is walking around the house. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get her to alert me when she has to go to the bathroom. I know that it probably has to do with associating the house with her den so she won't soil her den. It doesn't matter how many times that I catch her having and accident and then hustling her outside and letting her finish there, she will still go if I loose sight of her for 5 minutes it seems.

HELP!!

Jeff

hermann muenster · Member Joined: 19 Jan 2006 Posts: 304

Sorry Jeff, but I don't think you can let your little one out of your sight for more than 4 minutes.
I had a stubborn one and he spent a lot of time in the crate. I spent a lot of time letting him outside too!

I would start the morning with a trip outside. Let him hand out and eat for about 15 minutes. Hold or play with him for another 10 or 15 minutes and the another trip outside. Hang out for 10 or 15 minutes and then in the crate for an hour or two. After that, I would start the whole routine again (except not feeding until the afternoon and evening) It took a couple of weeks doing this but then he caught on and I never - ever had another problem!
I'm fortunate that I'm a stay-at-home mom and I could handle the grueling schedule.

Good luck

lil96 · Super Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2004 Posts: 1260

How do you teach them to ring the bell? Do you just do it when you take her on walks? I think everytime anyone is allowed to leave or enter the house (friends with fur or not!) they must ring the bell. But I don't know I haven't ever trained my dog to do that.

Jamiya · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 5593

Here's one method for teaching a dog to ring a bell to go outside: http://www.thedogdaily.com/animalforum/you_dog/trythis/archive/ring_bell/

There is the problem of the dog ringing the bell if he wants to go out to play rather than just for going potty, but if you have a house with a fenced yard I don't really see this as a problem. My dogs stand at the door and I just let them out whenever they want to, whether they have to potty or not.

Jeff, your new baby is only 4 months old. You should either have her with you (tethered to you by a leash or gated into the room with you), or she should be in her crate or outside if you can't watch her. Make sure she gets to go out frequently. You can't leave her alone for even 5 minutes until she gets this down and stops having accidents. The more she goes in the wrong place, the more she will prefer that spot to outside.

If she has had several accidents near the door, that means she is trying to do what you want. You should be watching her so you KNOW when she goes to the door! Just like with a small child, you should always know where she is and what she is doing. And until this problem is fixed, you need to actually WATCH her all the time. Learn her clues - sniffing, circling, times of day, after eating drinking playing sleeping - and take her out before she can have an accident. Anticipate! Take her out at least once an hour for now and then start spreading it out as she does better.

I have two seven-week-old foster puppies at home and they have had only two accidents (same puppy, LOL) in the three days I have had them. I watch them. If they start sniffing and circling, they are looking for a place to go, so they get taken outside. If they are playing and then lay down, I take them outside. If they are laying down and then stand up - outside! You get the picture.

jeffogden62 · New member Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 9

Thank you for you comments. I wanted to make sure that I was doing what I was supposed to do. The funny thing is that she does really well when I am in my office with the door shut. However, if she is in the living room, she will have an accident. I am finding that she will go to the door but she isn't there very long before she will go at the door. She will sniff a little at the door and then just go. I know that she can hold it better then that since she can hold it for at least two hours in her crate. Anyway, I just know that I have to watch her more when she has access to the house. Thank you for your comments once again.

Jeff