Ringing bell to go outside?

[pitbullmamaliz]

Has anybody trained their dog to ring a bell to go outside? When Inara needs to go out, she sits and stares at me, unblinking. That's awesome - when I notice it. If I'm engrossed in a book or movie I may not notice. She hasn't gone in the house but I can sense her relief when I do notice the stare.

I'm contemplating teaching her to ring a bell when she needs to go out, but I'm afraid that she may take advantage of it. Anybody have experience with this?

[BullyLady]

My in-laws do that with their JRT. All they did was hang a bell by the door that she goes out of, and they rang it every time they took her outside. And then if she was sniffing it or something and made it ring, they would leap up and rush her outside. She picked it up pretty easily!

[jnreem]

We used to have a bell on our door to potty train buddy when he was a puppy but then it got annoying because he always wants to go out so we took it off

[madremissy]

Has anybody trained their dog to ring a bell to go outside? When Inara needs to go out, she sits and stares at me, unblinking. That's awesome - when I notice it. If I'm engrossed in a book or movie I may not notice. She hasn't gone in the house but I can sense her relief when I do notice the stare.

I'm contemplating teaching her to ring a bell when she needs to go out, but I'm afraid that she may take advantage of it. Anybody have experience with this?

Kinzyl was going to the door and sitting but now if I am busy she makes sure I see her stare at me. If I am on my laptop or doing homework she will put her nose on the computer or in the book. Then back up and sit and stare. I didn't want to do the bell because I thought she would take advantage of it also.

[katiek0417]

Has anybody trained their dog to ring a bell to go outside? When Inara needs to go out, she sits and stares at me, unblinking. That's awesome - when I notice it. If I'm engrossed in a book or movie I may not notice. She hasn't gone in the house but I can sense her relief when I do notice the stare.

I'm contemplating teaching her to ring a bell when she needs to go out, but I'm afraid that she may take advantage of it. Anybody have experience with this?

Yep, I did it with Nisha...she rings them now...and only when she's gotta go out...

I love it...b/c I can be in the other room...

Ironically, I have christmas bells on the front door...and she had to go out and she rang those the other day

[TheRedQueen]

I have too many dogs, it'd be ringing constantly...right now, they just have to wait... It's a revolving door at my house anyway...they don't wait long. I find ringing bells annoying anyway.

I've heard good and bad with it... Jenn(Fenella) told me a while back that Murphy was using the bells to get Nittany (her other dog) off of the couch. Nittany was up on the couch with Jenn, with no room left...so Murph jumped up, ran and rang the bells, Nittany jumped out to go out, and Murphy grabbed teh sofa spot.

[LMM]

My mom's Molly rings the bell whenever she has to go out. It works well for her!

[Marinepits]

I've heard good and bad with it... Jenn(Fenella) told me a while back that Murphy was using the bells to get Nittany (her other dog) off of the couch. Nittany was up on the couch with Jenn, with no room left...so Murph jumped up, ran and rang the bells, Nittany jumped out to go out, and Murphy grabbed teh sofa spot.

Now, THAT is hilarious!!!

[Hoyden]

I trained Birdie to ring the bells when we first got her. I used jingle bells on a strip of leather that I made.

It annoyed the every loving crap out of me once she realized people would jump to let her out if she rang the bells. We felt like Doggie Doormen.

[hugapitbull]

I think it depends on the dog whether or not it would drive you . In Trouble's younger days, she would have taken full advantage of having someone jump each time she rang the bell. She always stared at us or if she got desperate, shed spin in front of the door, any door, the door in the room we happened to be in. After her surgery she became very vocal. She will woof when she wants out now and get louder and more frequent until you get your butt up.

Duke would probably do well ringing the bells. He's very low keyed about going out and you have to watch for the subtlest of hints he needs out, kind of a quiet restless pace.

[pitbullmamaliz]

Thanks for all the feedback! I may give it a try. Worse case scenario, I take them down and she goes back to staring holes into my head.

[TheRedQueen]

I think it depends on the dog...I have some that would be VERY annoying with bells, I'm sure...and some that would be fine.

[katiek0417]

I think it depends on the dog...I have some that would be VERY annoying with bells, I'm sure...and some that would be fine.

I agree...but one thing I found is you also need to use training to your advantage.

Obviously, you want to train your dog to ring the bells to go out. With Nisha, I used the same word that she already knows for eliminating (go empty), whenever we rang the bells to go out...As I let her out, I reiterated that's what she was going out for...if she went out and pottied, she was allowed to stay out. If she didn't potty (and just tried to run/play) I brought her back in. All you're really doing is using second-order conditioning to associate the bells with pottying...but you're using the word that is already associated with pottying to condition the bells.

Then, once she started to ring the bells on her own...well, I just know my dog...if she had just been out, and wasn't sick, but rang the bells, she didn't get to go out. I would call her over and give her something else to do...but if I knew it had been a while, she had eaten, and so on, then I'd let her out...if, once your dog knows how to ring the bells on its own, you let it out every single time it rings them, even if it's been 5 minutes, then you're just constantly rewarding the dog for ringing the bells...

Just like with other training, you can go to an intermittent schedule of reinforcement with this...

[PoodleMaMaKat]

My mini poodle is trained to ring bells to go out. He was IMPOSSIBLE to house break! He would look at me and if I didn't notice him right away he'd squat right in front of me.

It only took him about 3 days to figure out the bells meant he went out. He knew how to nose touch so I just pointed to the bells, and he touched them with his nose every time I took him out. Eventually he went to the bells by himself and he got LOTS of praise and then to go outside. At first he went out every time he rang the bells to establish the connection. But after awhile he did realize if he rang them constantly (when I wasn't paying attention to him) he got to go out again. If I knew he didn't have to go, aka he just went out, I'd pull the bells up for an hour. The habit of ringing constantly has subsided and the bells are a permanent attachment next to the front door. I love it because I can be in the other room, upstairs, or asleep and he can still indicate that he needs to go outside.

This was a wonderful solution for me!! I still use it even though Kodi is 2 now. He hasn't had to ring them often now as he's outside a lot with a new puppy in the house. I believe the puppy will be learning it soon!

[amazincc]

Be careful what you're wishing for...

I taught Sepp to ring the bell at about 4-5 months old, and the damned thing hasn't stopped ringing yet.
He rings it when he has to go outside to potty. He rings it when he thinks Faust & Daisy have to go out to potty. He rings it when he wants to go outside and say "hi" to the mail man. He rings it when he wants to go out and play. He rings it when he thinks Faust & Daisy want to go out and play.
In short... he rings it anytime the front door is shut, but should - in his opinion - be open. Which is a LOT during the course of a day.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

[pitbullmamaliz]

[HappyChick]

Yep, I've been using a bell on the door for the dogs for about 30 years. It works very well here most of the time. However, Leni has decided she just likes to play with it sometimes, but she is still learning. She's not as bad with the bell as Sepp. Yet.

Reno uses a combination of ringing the bell and whining at me from a very close proximity.

[airwalk]

Be careful what you're wishing for...

I taught Sepp to ring the bell at about 4-5 months old, and the damned thing hasn't stopped ringing yet.
He rings it when he has to go outside to potty. He rings it when he thinks Faust & Daisy have to go out to potty. He rings it when he wants to go outside and say "hi" to the mail man. He rings it when he wants to go out and play. He rings it when he thinks Faust & Daisy want to go out and play.
In short... he rings it anytime the front door is shut, but should - in his opinion - be open. Which is a LOT during the course of a day.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Sepp is so generous taking such good care of Daisy and Faust.

[Brownies Mom]

We used to have a bell on our door to potty train buddy when he was a puppy but then it got annoying because he always wants to go out so we took it off

That would so be Remy.

[Brownies Mom]

I have too many dogs, it'd be ringing constantly...right now, they just have to wait... It's a revolving door at my house anyway...they don't wait long. I find ringing bells annoying anyway.

I've heard good and bad with it... Jenn(Fenella) told me a while back that Murphy was using the bells to get Nittany (her other dog) off of the couch. Nittany was up on the couch with Jenn, with no room left...so Murph jumped up, ran and rang the bells, Nittany jumped out to go out, and Murphy grabbed teh sofa spot.

Too funny! Remy does that, too. He sits up and begs - with his front paws crossed in front of his body, waving them up and down to get your attention. If A-Jay has the toy or bone Remy wants, Remy "begs" to go outside and when we say "outside?" of course A-Jay gives up the bone and comes to the door for his turn. Remy runs back and swipes the loot.