Me again...

Just wondering how you trained your dogs to signal that they have to go outside? Or how long it took for them to signal?

Our trainer said to have a bell hanging on the door knob and ring it when you go outside while saying 'go outside'.

So, here I am ringing the bell like a fool and Auggie is staring at my like I'm mad. Will he catch on? He's 11 weeks today -- too early for him to figure it out?

HELP!
L

Lora, IMHO, 11 weeks is somewhat early for Auggie to be signaling when he has to go out. I think the bell on the door is a great associative link. i would ring the bell each time you take him out for potty breaks, but not for playtime outside. You want him to learn to associate the bell with bathroom breaks, not with playtime. But, at his age i would keep him on a "potty" schedule; out when he wakes up, out after meals, and out after lots of playtime... whatever schedule you're using.

I also think at 11 weeks he's a little young to be signaling when he needs to go outside for a potty break. Sandy didn't start signaling to me that she needed to go out until she was a year or so old. Maybe that was because up until she was housebroke, I made sure to get her outside *very* frequently to prevent accidents so she never really learned to have to signal me until later. She'll sit by the back door if she needs to go outside. I never taught her to do this, she just started doing it.

My black mutt I had rescued has been with us a year and she's about 2, maybe 3 years old now. I don't know if she'll ever figure out to signal us when she needs to go out. As I do let the dogs out at about the same times each day for potty breaks so I feel Blaze is just set in the potty shedule and doesn't really have to signal me.

Hi. I'll have to agree with the "potty schedule". At that age, if it goes in, it will come out pretty regularly. And as organs grow, it will get easier. Don't you just love those looks that they can give us dump humans!!:rolleyes:

i love the bell idea.instead i would suggest teaching the puppy to ring the bell when he needs to go out .sounds crazy?it's actually easy to teach.put the bell next to the door at shoulder level to the pup or where you can determine would be easy for your dog to touch with his nose.have a food treat in our hand and place your hand next to the bell or above bell.say to your dog "touch" and lure his head right up to bell.when he touches his nose to the bell and makes it sound let him out to go potty.then bring him inside and repeat.strike while the iron is hot so he associates the behaviour with going outside.also i would only let him outside to go to the bathroom while he is on the leash and you are with him that way he is associating ringing the bell with potty time and not playtime.did i mention food rewards everytime he goes to the bathroom outside.turkey,cheese,liverwurst will seal the deal.praise i've found is minimum wage to a dog. best of luck.

My friends just bought these devices you can place on the floor or attach to a door or wall. It works the same way as the buzzer from the board game taboo does, only the push buttton is in the shape of a paw print. When the dog steps on or presses the button it sounds like a door bell letting you know that the pup needs to go outside. It also came in a 2 pack so one can be placed on the outside so the dog can be trained to ring the bell when it wants to come inside. It's the same principle as the bell but I thought it was a little neater. Just thought you would like to know.

And by the way Auggie is still probrobly to young to let you know, but hey labs are very smart. He may take to it quick. Good luck and keep us posted.

Calvin

I figured it was too early for Auggie to signal now -- he's just a baby! But I wanted to know if the bell ringing was worth it -- or if he would figure it out on his own.

It looks like it could take up to a year for him to let us know! Wow. That's a lot of bell ringing!

Thanks.
L

We tried the bell with our Shepherd when she was little -- she soon figured out that we'd let her out when she'd ring it. Unfortunately, she'd do it every time she'd come back in -- she wanted to out again, LOL! Bell never stopped, so we took it down. Our dogs now sit by the door when they need to go out. Sometimes we don't see them right away and they turn and give us a desperate look, LOL! :eek:

Well, we've been very intentional about only ringing it to go out to potty. Never ringing when we're going out to play or walk.

I'll let you know if it works!

Well this is neat... I started off with a bell on the door knob at 7 weeks when I took Sunny out to go, she heard that bell. Only when it was potty time, as suggested above... and she caught on rather quickly. As soon as she figured how to reach it with her paw and then it was her nose, she started to ring that bell! lol. Occasionally she'll see a sqirrel or bird in the yard and ring it then too, but usually its when she needs to go. Now I'm not saying its fail proof! she has had accidents since then, but they were usually my fault... not paying attention :rolleyes: for only a few minutes and thats all it takes. Good luck !!!

Well, Auggie rang the bell last night! I could tell that he was SO proud of himself. He's catching on! :)

He hasn't gone inside since the first week we had him (stupid parents couldn't read his signals!). EVERYONE is being trained at our house - parents AND puppy!

Lora

Bell ringing was/is a treasure for potty notification, however, I am having the same problem with the bell being rung everytime George wants to go out. The bell is on the front door and only take her out the front door first thing in the morning and before bed. (she is in an outdoor kennel while I work) However, on weekends, she has been ringing the bell to go out every 2 minutes. While the weather is nice, it is not an issue, I just go outside with her. But, it has been raining nearly everyday here. So she gets me up off the sofa with that blasted bell, then she sticks her head out the door and comes back in...:mad:

Should I take the bell down? She did ring it in the middle of the night when she had diarriah the other night, and I was grateful to hear it...

Well, we don't have that problem yet. But, I'd like to see some responses to see what others have done.

Any comments?

We hung Teddy's leash on the coat rack next to the door. When he has to go.. he tugs on the leash. Sometimes he can get it down and brings it to us!

I'm in agreement with everyone else about 11 wks being a little early. We got Jack when he was ten wks and it took about another month before we figured out how to teach him to signal it was time to go out. My boyfriend decided that barking would get our attention so everytime we went to the door to take Jack out to "go" we would say speak and ofcourse he would look at us funny but then we would bark at him and keep at it until he barked back. He slowly caught on that when it was time for him to go out he should bark at the door and we would let him out.

I have heard of the bell on the door knob and how effective it was but after we taught Jack. Good luck.

Amy

George's leash is on the closet doorknob directly opposite the front door... how did you get Teddy to grab the leash? Maybe I can incorporate that with the bell? She has learned so quickly, that it just might work.... Great Idea!!:D

the rack where we have the leash is right next to the door. we first noticed him jumping at it (he knows no outside unless he has leash on) so my husband lowered the rack a little closer to the floor. When he told why he was doing this, I thought he was nuts.. untill Teddy put his paws on the wall tugged at the handle of his leash.. it fell to the floor and he took it straight to my husband then ran over to the door. I guess my husband deserves the credit for that one... I know next time I will have more faith in his techniqes!

We actually keep the leash on the door knob (right by the bell) -- Auggie will look at us and walk to the door when he needs to go outside - he rings the bell when we're not paying attention. Cracks me up! We've been hoping that he'll bring the leash to us - not yet.

He's 12 weeks now - and we're really doing well - I'm so pleased.

What a smart boy! He already knows so much - sit, stand, down, stay, shake paw, come, outside, kennel, go get it and bring it back...and most importantly 'no'. (!)

Lora

I was tempted to become a dogless person last night! That animal of mine, as beautiful as she is, and as smart and good as she NORMALLY is, was up EVERY 2 HOURS ringing that dad burned bell last night!!! I swear, and experts will say I am insane, but she was paying me back for not taking her a walk in the cold rain last night!! I played fetch with her for a while in the back yard before the next round of rain started, but apparently that wasn't enough?!:doghouse:

Hmmm - don't have that problem. AUggie is in his kennel at night. Although other things that he does have tempted me to become dogless! Just kidding - he's so sweet and cute!

My dog only wants to play with the bell and take it off the knob. Didn't your labs do the same. My Steve goes to the back door when he has to go out and sometimes he will bark.

Originally posted by Calvin
My friends just bought these devices you can place on the floor or attach to a door or wall. It works the same way as the buzzer from the board game taboo does, only the push buttton is in the shape of a paw print.

Calvin

Does anyone know where you can purchase these buzzers? My lab sleeps in our finished garage which is on the other end of the house than the bedroom and we cannot hear the jingle bells. Thanks

Joelle and Gracie

Originally posted by Lora
Well, Auggie rang the bell last night! I could tell that he was SO proud of himself. He's catching on! :)

He hasn't gone inside since the first week we had him (stupid parents couldn't read his signals!). EVERYONE is being trained at our house - parents AND puppy!

Lora

:D Lora, I am so jealous! ;)
It took Greyla forever to learn. Well, maybe NOT forever, but at least 8 months! Of course we always joke about her short attention span--she's like a little ADD dog.

Ha ha ha! We say that we have a 'little ADD dog' all the time! He starts playing with one toy, gets distracted and starts chewing on his tail, back to a toy, then to another toy...so FUNNY!

Ha ha! :)

I have friends who have a dalmation who is either ADD or Autistic, I swear! He often has the look of someone who wants to bang their head against the wall because there is too much input for his poor brain to process. If you throw him a ball, and a butterfly or bird flits into his feild of vision, he completely forgets about the ball & sort of wonders off...

Our puppies just turned 11 1/2 weeks old (we got two sisters at the same time) and they woof and scratch the back door when they want to go out. My husband and I were SO EXCITED when they did this the first time. I'm not sure if one of them figured it our first and taught the other one. Either way they always tell us. Such good puppies! We thought about the bell but didn't want to deal with running to the door every time the bell rang in case they decided to play with it--you know, false signals-heehee We would rather have them tell us themselves-that we know for sure.