[OLIVER DOODLE]

Oliver is not much of a barker or noise maker for that matter. He has had a couple of accidents at the back door mat so we decided to get some bells to hang at the back door for him to ring when going outside. We say "Ouside Ring the Bells" to try and train him to ring them when he wants to go out. Welll......it's been too weeks and he still waits on the back mat for someone to see him. Has anyone lese tried bell training? If so how long did it take? (Oliver has been quick to learn most anything else that we have trained). Did you take a different approach? Any ideas would be most helpful.

 

[Lucee&Rusty]

We have sliding glass doors at the back of the house so started using bells for going out. We first trained them just to ring the bell for a treat. They were only puppies so we started out really simple. We started out sitting by the bell with them. We would ring the bell ourselves and say "ring the bell" and give them a treat. It didn't take them long before they were batting at the bell themselves. The next step is adding the door opening. We would say ring the bell and then take them outside (this replaces the treat). We have a bell outside as well so if they were outside sitting by the door wanting to come in we would make them ring the bell before letting them in. Once you are sure he understands the command "ring the bell" you need to wean them off the treat or he will be ringing the bell nonstop just to get a treat. We made the act of going outside the treat (lots of praise etc). The bells work for us as I didn't want them scratching or worse barking to come in and out. I can hear the bells throughout the house and touch wood we haven't had any potty accidents since our doodles were 12wks old. We have a cat who has feline aids who isn't allowed outside, so a doggy door wasn't an option.

 

[annabelles mom]

Good luck with bell training, I've not tried it but have read where it does work - Annabelle has a doggie door so she lets herself in and out

 

[OLIVER DOODLE]

We have sliding glass doors at the back of the house so started using bells for going out. We first trained them just to ring the bell for a treat. They were only puppies so we started out really simple. We started out sitting by the bell with them. We would ring the bell ourselves and say "ring the bell" and give them a treat. It didn't take them long before they were batting at the bell themselves. The next step is adding the door opening. We would say ring the bell and then take them outside (this replaces the treat). We have a bell outside as well so if they were outside sitting by the door wanting to come in we would make them ring the bell before letting them in. Once you are sure he understands the command "ring the bell" you need to wean them off the treat or he will be ringing the bell nonstop just to get a treat. We made the act of going outside the treat (lots of praise etc). The bells work for us as I didn't want them scratching or worse barking to come in and out. I can hear the bells throughout the house and touch wood we haven't had any potty accidents since our doodles were 12wks old. We have a cat who has feline aids who isn't allowed outside, so a doggy door wasn't an option.

Yes, we have a cat too, so a doggy door isn't an option for us either. I was afraid if we started using treats as a reward that it might be difficult to 'wean' him from treats to go out. How hard was it to wean off the treats and just use 'outside and praise' as reward? Thanks for the advice.

 

[OLIVER DOODLE]

Good luck with bell training, I've not tried it but have read where it does work - Annabelle has a doggie door so she lets herself in and out

I wish we could do the doggy door, but we have a 3 year old cat that is an indoor kitty. So the doggy door can't be an option for us. Our cat Bubbles I am sure would love to check out the grat outdoors though. We have too many cayotes around, so I'd be arfraid if the cat got out without us know, for that matter. I also need to know if Ollie is in or out for the same reason.

 

[annabelles mom]

no kitties here so doors not a problem I do block the door late at night so lil Miss AB doesnt go out and bark at critters. Thankfully she has never attempted to jump our 5ft fence, nor have other critters attempted to jump in. Of course we have the bunnies which she runs off all the time and the occassional squirrel

 

[Lucee&Rusty]

We started weaning the treats when Lucee and Rusty started to understand what "ring the bell" meant. Going outside or inside starts being the reward for ringing the bell.

 

[lindamarie]

We started the bell training, but it didn't work for us. We needed to put more effort into it.
It's a GREAT idea and we may still try it!

 

[Dales1stWife]

We did what it sounds like you are doing. Everytime we let him out we would say, "Outside, Ring the Bells" and then ring them and praise him as he went out. For the first several days we just did it for him. Then we started pausing after saying, "Ring the Bells," to give him a chance to do it himself. If he didn't respond, we would ring them for him and praise him as he went out. After a bit, he would nudge the bells with his nose when we would say, "Ring the Bells," and not long after he started ringing them on his own. The kicker is that he only nudges them gently so it was easy to miss at first.

We have 6 people to the one dog living here so we just had to sit everyone down and tell them what to do. Even the 4 yr old got in on the action.

Now we have the problem that he wants to go out every 10 min sometimes!! We have gotten to the point where we will ignore him if he just came in a few minutes ago and hasn't eaten or taken a drink since coming in.

Good luck and keep with it. Oh - we didn't use treats because we were warned that it might teach them to ring it all the time to get a treat. I guess it works for some though! I know that some people out a little bit of peanut butter on the bells to encourage touching with the nose.

 

[OLIVER DOODLE]

Good luck and keep with it. Oh - we didn't use treats because we were warned that it might teach them to ring it all the time to get a treat. I guess it works for some though! I know that some people out a little bit of peanut butter on the bells to encourage touching with the nose.

Yes I was also told that about the treats. The peanut butter idea might work though. Thanks for the tip.

 

[L's Mom]

We taught the bells to Lucas. Sounds like we did a similar thing...

Everytime we went to the back door to let Lucas out to potty... we asked "You want to go Outside?" and showed him as we shook the bells, and then open the door...

He caught on pretty quickly, but the first time he rang the bell on his own was very faint jingle, like he wasn't quite sure, so we PRAISED HIM, and then open the door... after that, he had it...

 

[Digger 3]

We bell trained our lab everytime we took him out we would touch the bell with his noise and say go potty and out we would go. He picked it up in about a week and then realized he would be attention everytime he rang the bell. So it turned into I'm hungry ring the bell, I want to play ring the bell, I'm bored ring the bell, mommy and daddy you look bored ring the bell. So no more bell for a while.

 

[Guest]

Digger3 I love your quote at the bottom.

Maya wasn't bell trained. Seh would just sit by the back door. Eventually she started pacing back and forth to get my attention. At night she whines until I get up

 

[Calimom]

We use bells here too. Cali is such a quiet dog and we trained her that she would only be let out of her crate when she was quiet. This led to the same thing at the back door. Since the rest of the family doesn't have mommy radar to keep an eye out to see if she needs to go out I wanted to try the bells. I had a Christmas decoration bell strip that hangs from the door knob. She figured it out really quickly and now anyone can hear it from anywhere in the house. However, she won't ring the bells if she's stalking a squirrel out back while looking through the back door because she doesn't want to alert it that she's about to chase it. So if we happen to see her staring one down, we let her out to give chase. We can't open the door fast enough - she bashes her head on the door and the door frame as she charges out the door! :shock: It's gotten to where she only rings it for potty breaks now. It helps with the weather being so dang hot, she doesn't want to be outside unless she has to. Good luck! I hope it works as well for you.

 

[L's Mom]

then realized he would be attention everytime he rang the bell. So it turned into I'm hungry ring the bell, I want to play ring the bell, I'm bored ring the bell, mommy and daddy you look bored ring the bell. So no more bell for a while.

BUAHAHAHAHAH!!! SAME THING AT OUR HOUSE!!!

 

[OLIVER DOODLE]

We bell trained our lab everytime we took him out we would touch the bell with his noise and say go potty and out we would go. He picked it up in about a week and then realized he would be attention everytime he rang the bell. So it turned into I'm hungry ring the bell, I want to play ring the bell, I'm bored ring the bell, mommy and daddy you look bored ring the bell. So no more bell for a while.

:lol: That's hilarious. Doodles are just way too smart Hahaha

 

[MaxandMe]

i stopped using the bell here too hahahaaaaaaaaaaa NO TY!

i did old fashioned way, walk every 30min then up to 45min etc
walk right after sleep, hard play, eating, drinking etc

lastly, my doodles will do several things

1. as puppy sat and gave us "the stare" ...meant gottta go mom
2. the jump on my lap and nudge me w/nose....gotta go mom
3. Heavy panting regardless of temp and how much h20 intake...gotta go mom
4. Max now gives the one shrill bark with whine and possible PAW
GOTTA GO RIGHT THIS SECOND MOM

5. they HAVE ME TRAINED VERY WELL NOW 8) :lol:

 

[Sammy-Doo's Fam]

Sampson still doesn't let us know.
But he doesn't have accidents either...
He holds it a ridiculously long time until we ask him if he needs to go and he starts dancing in circles.

He won't go in the morning with anyone but me so he will sleep on my bed with me (a lazy teen) until 12 pm without going sometimes!!!

 

[Taryn L]

We trained Jaxy with a bell on our sliding glass door. It took about a week to train him and it works great. He will use it to get attention sometimes when we are preoccupied, but it hasnt been a problem.

The only problem that I have found is that when we take Jax to my parent's house he doens't have a bell so ends up peeing on the floor if no one notices him standing at the door.

I'm trying to teach to "speak" (bark) before he goes outside...that way people will definitely hear him. He is 11 mos old now, so I really want him to get this otherwize we have a potential problem on our hands.

 

[OLIVER DOODLE]

We trained Jaxy with a bell on our sliding glass door. It took about a week to train him and it works great. He will use it to get attention sometimes when we are preoccupied, but it hasnt been a problem.

The only problem that I have found is that when we take Jax to my parent's house he doens't have a bell so ends up peeing on the floor if no one notices him standing at the door.

I'm trying to teach to "speak" (bark) before he goes outside...that way people will definitely hear him. He is 11 mos old now, so I really want him to get this otherwize we have a potential problem on our hands.

Hmmmm, good to lnow I never thought of that. Thanks.