Signal to go outside

[Pipersmom]

I would love to try the bells now that I have 2. Piper will tap my leg to let me know she needs to go but Riley is a mystery. My problem is that the door to the backyard is in the basement and I would not hear the bells upstairs. Would it be effective to put them at the side door which is at the top of the stairs to the basement?

[Bidik]

Glad to hear some of you had success with the bells. We got poochie bells when Cora was 10 weeks old and still waiting for him to ring them. He is 6.5 months old now :-/ every time before potty we ring the bells for him and sing our go potty song. From that respect, I guess it is working. He knows bells have to be followed by potty.

[spiffylike]

Originally Posted by Pipersmom

I would love to try the bells now that I have 2. Piper will tap my leg to let me know she needs to go but Riley is a mystery. My problem is that the door to the backyard is in the basement and I would not hear the bells upstairs. Would it be effective to put them at the side door which is at the top of the stairs to the basement?

Do they always have access to the basement? You could definitely put the bells on the door to the basement if going down to the basement always means going outside...tricky situation. Not the best workaround, but what about hooking up a monitor close to the bells and having the other end somewhere you would be able to hear?

[spiffylike]

Originally Posted by Bidik

Glad to hear some of you had success with the bells. We got poochie bells when Cora was 10 weeks old and still waiting for him to ring them. He is 6.5 months old now :-/ every time before potty we ring the bells for him and sing our go potty song. From that respect, I guess it is working. He knows bells have to be followed by potty.

Have you trained him to ring the bells himself? I make him touch them himself before he goes outside and so far that's worked perfectly.

Love that you have a potty song!!!

[Pipersmom]

Originally Posted by spiffylike

Do they always have access to the basement? You could definitely put the bells on the door to the basement if going down to the basement always means going outside...tricky situation. Not the best workaround, but what about hooking up a monitor close to the bells and having the other end somewhere you would be able to hear?

Hmm, I'm attaching some pictures to give you a better idea of what the setup is. The stairs are off the kitchen with no door. The first pic is the side door which unfortunately does not lead to the fenced back yard. Directly across from that door are the stairs to the basement. The final picture is from the bottom of the stairs to the back door leading to the yard. I have pee pads lined up in the basement on the other side of the pole which he will use if we are down there but will not go down there by himself (it's too dark?).
I was considering putting bells on that side door across from the basement stairs but don't know if that's workable. Thoughts anyone?
I woud love to make this work if possible.

[TilliesMom]

wow! you live in a mansion!!! ha ha

[spiffylike]

I think it would work, Julie. As long as you always take him outside when those bells are rung, my guess is it probably doesn't matter where they are hung. Although I would assume you'd want to go directly downstairs and outside so that the association becomes clear. You could have another set by the basement door for when you are hanging out down there. Maybe have him ring those ones as well before he goes outside. That way there's always a bell before outside.

[Pipersmom]

Originally Posted by spiffylike

I think it would work, Julie. As long as you always take him outside when those bells are rung, my guess is it probably doesn't matter where they are hung. Although I would assume you'd want to go directly downstairs and outside so that the association becomes clear. You could have another set by the basement door for when you are hanging out down there. Maybe have him ring those ones as well before he goes outside. That way there's always a bell before outside.

Thank you! I didn't even think about putting bells on both doors. I think you are right, as long as we always go out when he rings he will get it (I hope!)

[wynne]

Maya rings a bell. She picked up on it very quickly

[HavaneseSoon]

My story on the bells....since the boys are older. When Dexter rings the bells, he means business. When Jack rings the bells.....hmmmmmmmm......he just wants to either go outside, get a cat, bark at something, pee, poo, smell something dead and roll in it.

I have been making him "Wait" then I see how persistent he is.....If I can tell him "Down" and he goes down, lots of times he forgets he wanted to go outside. If he rings the bells within 5 - 10 seconds of the first ring, he usually means business....but, when outside, he has to smell everything first, then at the last minute he will do his business. If I had a doggy door, I think Jack would want to stay outside all the time.

In the very beginning of training your dog with the bells, you are getting up to go outside a lot!

Another thing that Jack does, he paces quickly, means take me outside now or it goes down in the kitchen.

The look in their eyes can tell you they need to potty. This one takes lots of practice to learn.