Doggy Doorbells

[Christine3837]

I think I am going to look into this "doggy doorbell" training. For those of you who never heard of it, it is when you train your pup to ring a bell whenever he needs to go out. Does anybody have any experience with this? I'm afraid he's just going to play with it like a toy

[teddybear]

NO experience whatsoever. But good luck with the doggy doorbell training, Christine!

[flally]

Harley is trained to ring "poochie bells" when he has to go outside. It does take some work at first b/c they have to learn that they only go outside to potty not play when they ring the bell. But it is absolutely wonderful once they get the hang of it. Harley doesn't bark or make many noises so it was a good solution for us to know he needs to go outside.

[Bailey]

I've heard of this my sister in law did it with her 2 goldens....my house isn't that big and even though bailey does not bark she cries when she's at the door and no one notices her

[Mai Tai]

Mai Tai just looks longingly in the direction of the door (very subtle) when he has to go, so of course we often miss it.  I should teach him to ring a bell.  How do you do it, and how do you keep them from ringing it all the time whether they have to go or not?

[flally]

The poochie bells come with instructions, but it goes something like this. Everytime you go outside you take the puppy's paw or nose and ring the bell and say "go outside" or "ring the bell", whichever works for you. Then you take them outside to the "spot" they normally go to. If they dilly dally or try to play you bring them right back inside. For a week or so you just do it over and over and over again. Of course you will know they don't really have to go if you just took them out and they ring it again, so in that instance you ignore them. Once they find out they don't play when they ring the bell, they will get the hang of it. Go to poochie bells website, I think they give better directions then I can. I'm not saying that Harley never rings the bell to just go outside and play, but the majority of the time (9 times out of 10), he really has to go.

[Christine3837]

Aw what a good dog! how long did it take for him to learn?

[flally]

Less than a week.

[Cash]

My neighbor did this with much success with her Cavachon.  Cash goes to her house for play dates sometimes and she wanted to teach Cash how to do it while there too, though that didn't go over as well.  He's not there nearly enough though either.    good luck!

[teddybear]

I have no experience with this so don't refer to me!

[angiemcclain]

Instead of the Doggie Bells, I bought smallwind chimes on clearance for 3.00, hung them low on the back door and it works like a charm. But, now that i said that, she'll take some back steps, you know how that goes! I also tied a christmas bell to it to make it a little louder. Good luck!

[Christine3837]

For the ones that hang on the door, won't they ring everytime you want to open the door? Does that confuse them?

[Bailey]

my sister in law used the bells with her goldens....she gave them to me to use with bailey but i honestly haven't used them...

[Gypsy]

I have trained all of my dogs to ring the bell to go outside. it is so easy for them to learn, but be carefull with what kind of bell you use, I have always used the large round bells,Shadow can get overly excited jumping up,and banging them around with her paws,which was fine until she caught the tip of her nail in the hole on the bell,I am so glad I was there when it happen to get her nail un-hung, she could have injured herself really bad,so I put scotch tape over the holes ,but will be using a different type of bell for now on, the cow bells would work well,and I like the ideal of the wind chime.

[max]

We also trained Max to ring a bell my wife bought it at Walmart for $.29 it is actually a Christmas bell we just hang it around the door knob with some string about 6" off the ground it is only about 1" round and it works great, I do not think you need to buy an expensive bell, now whenever Max has to go out he rings the bell we started it when we got Max @ 8 weeks old he is now 6 months and it works great.  It probably took Max about a month to catch on.