As any owner knows, sometimes there are communication problems when it comes to knowing when your dog needs to go outside for potty reasons. Even with older dogs your dog may not always give you a signal that you recognize. Sometimes it takes a definite “nudge” or a paw slapping to get your attention. There’s a very good way to teach your dog to let you know when he needs to go out and the message will be clear as a bell.
When you’re housebreaking your dog it can be very easy to teach him to ring a small bell next to your door to let you know that he needs to go outside. All you have to do is follow the same procedure for regular housebreaking — watch your puppy closely for signs that he needs to go outside. Signs may vary slightly from puppy to puppy (or dog to dog) but they usually include sniffing the floor and looking for a private spot. When you see your puppy looking like he needs to go out you should quickly, but calmly, stop him and lead him outside. Don’t descend on him like a screaming banshee! If you frighten him you will probably literally scare the poop out of him. Plus, you don’t want to make bathroom duties something traumatic for your puppy. That will simply set your housetraining back.
Once you are leading or carrying your puppy outside you should stop for a second by the door and touch your puppy’s paw to the small bell that you have installed next to the door. This bell can be some chimes, a bell from a hardware store or a thrift shop, a cowbell. It doesn’t matter as long as it’s something that makes a bell sound that you can live with. It should be loud enough for you to hear it in another room. The bell should be hanging at a height that will be easy for your puppy/dog to reach with his nose or paw when you aren’t with him. Let your puppy touch the bell and then go on outside with him so he can take care of his potty needs.
Continue this routine each time you take your puppy outside, making sure that you praise your puppy and reward him for using the bathroom when you take him out. Your puppy will associate touching the bell with going out to potty. In fact, your puppy may be very smart and begin to associate touching the bell with simply going outside. He may start ringing the bell whenever he wants to go outside and get a treat. You will have to take him outside every time he rings the bell but you should only reward him when he goes to the bathroom. Your puppy will eventually figure out that he’s not going to get treats and rewards for ringing the bell unless he actually has a potty situation.
Of course, you can teach a dog who is already housebroken to ring the bell, too. You simply incorporate ringing the bell into letting your dog go outside. When your dog indicates that he needs to go outside take his paw and touch the bell then reward him when he completes his pottying. Do this each time and your dog will soon learn that ringing the bell is part of letting you know that he needs to go out and that he will get a treat when he follows the routine.
It’s very helpful to have a dog ring the bell to let you know he needs to go out. It saves you running around watching your dog to see if he needs to go out or wondering if he does. Your dog can communicate with you directly, telling you that he needs to go outside. And, it’s a fun little trick to teach your dog.
Until next time…….
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This is was highly successful with a dog we had years ago, for him to teach the boys to pay attention when he needed to go. He could be in the room with the boys while they played video games and they would not notice he needed to go out. I hung a wind chime on the door handle so my husband would know it was ready to hang and when the dog leaned against the door the boys would hear it and look. We then decided we were teaching the boys more than the dog but the dog actually learned that the boys would not respond unless he rang the bell.
this would be so cool to have him do
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