Can I really teach my dog to ring a bell for the toilet?

[cheeseisthebest]

We have no clue when our puppy needs the toilet so I've got a bell to tap with his paw or nose. Will it really work? He's 9 months and poos in the house far too often!

We had one for our puppy as soon as he came home. He reliably still rings it to get out, and he's nearly two. It's very handy!

How did you actually train him Appin? We have one. Our puppy is pretty good and doesn't poo or wee in the house but it's guess work when he actually wants to go outside. We've just been ringing it every time we take him out to create association. But he's uninterested and has never once rung it himself.

I teach all my foster puppies to ring a bell to go out. Its not that they ring to toilet - thats a separate thing but you are chaining together then knowing to toilet outside, and the thing that results in you letting them out.
I ring the bell every time the door opens and they soon get the idea to ring to go out, though some will do it every 5 minutes to go and play

My boy kinda trained himself. We used to leave keys in the back door lock, and when he jumped at the door to ask to go out, they would jangle. We then hooked the bell off the keys, so he was hitting the bell, we would hear it and let him out. Then we moved house we just hung the bell by the new back door and he transferred the skill.

Dog2 has grown up with watching this - is a year old now - and not picked it up however! She is not quick on the uptake with anything, bless her.

Watching your dog will teach you when it needs to go out. If the dog doesn’t ask to go out then it’s not toilet trained yet. You need to make sure it’s outside when it needs to go. Watch it closely. Also take out after play or sleep or food or drink. Praise when it goes outside. If the dog doesn’t know to ask then it won’t know to ring a bell

some will do it every 5 minutes to go and play
Yeah. We also reward our dogs for coming in from the garden with a little treat. This lead to a phase where doggo would ring bell, get door opened for him, jump out of door, jump straight back in again, and then look expectantly at the treat jar. Crafty little bugger.

We did this with our dog too. We hung it on the door handle and he just rang it when he wanted to go outside. However, our dog can be fairly annoying and so ended up ringing it literally just to go outside and bark at nothing 😂. If you have a normal, non annoying dog I think it would work well!

My 10 month old pup rings a bell to go outside. We have a few bells on a length of fabric hung on the back door. We started just jostling the bell when we took her out/ let her in the garden, and she quickly started doing it herself. I think she nudges it with her nose 😂

Our dog will bark once to be let out to poo and then bark to come back in, unless he catches your eye, then he just waits to be let in.He will tap the glass to tell us the cat wants to come in and will bark when the cat needs to go out without going out himself. I'm always surprised when people are shocked when they see him tap the glass or bark. We didn't train him to do this, more like he trained us! He is very clever though.

I feel really stupid now I've read this thread, but when I heard that dogs were trained to ring a bell on a door to go outside, I thought people actually installed doorbells at the right height for their dogs and they would press it with their paws! I always said there's no way we could teach our dog to do that!! 🤦‍♀️😂

I trained my border terrier to do this when she was a puppy. Only took a couple of hours.

@Wolfiefan

Watching your dog will teach you when it needs to go out. If the dog doesn’t ask to go out then it’s not toilet trained yet. You need to make sure it’s outside when it needs to go. Watch it closely. Also take out after play or sleep or food or drink. Praise when it goes outside. If the dog doesn’t know to ask then it won’t know to ring a bell

So what should I do now that I'm not doing?

@Jagley

My 10 month old pup rings a bell to go outside. We have a few bells on a length of fabric hung on the back door. We started just jostling the bell when we took her out/ let her in the garden, and she quickly started doing it herself. I think she nudges it with her nose 😂

This! Although my lab is now 10 yrs old and she rings the bell when she wants a treat too. 😁

He can go ages without having a wee, never has wee accidents in the house, he can go for over 12 hours at night and I know his poo signs (running around manically!) But he's never gone and waited by the door or barked to go out. I was hoping that if I can get him to associate the bell with going out for the toilet he might get it????

Ours almost taught himself, once he sussed the going out thing and where the door is, the bell just came naturally to him. He's now 9 months old and 38kg and still rattles the life out of the bells when he wants out 😂

Our daschund rings her bell to go out the back it didn't take any time to teach her. I still say awwwh when she does it find it so cute 😍

I made a few macrame door hanging bells at Christmas this past year. I have one on our door. Our dog is 11 and he finally used them yesterday as he had a stomach upset and had to go out multiple times. I don't think he is fully trained though. He was just desperate yesterday poor thing.

My nine month old pup rings the bells on the back door every time he wants out. He will jangle the keys on the front door as well. We just hung the bells up and he picked it up naturally. There are some days where he rings them constantly, it does get annoying. The older dog is fly, she rings them and then looks at the dog biscuit tin wanting a biscuit.

@Newuser82

We did this with our dog too. We hung it on the door handle and he just rang it when he wanted to go outside. However, our dog can be fairly annoying and so ended up ringing it literally just to go outside and bark at nothing 😂. If you have a normal, non annoying dog I think it would work well!

Haha I recognise that! Sometimes the bell rings:

Me: “do you really need a poo, or do you just want to go out and shout at birds?”
Dog: innocent wide eyes and need-a-poo-face
Me: opens door
Dog: goes out and shouts at birds

It’s totally him training me

I've had a bell by the door for 2 weeks. I touch is every time I open the door and praise is she hits it. I think the only times the dog has used it, is when she has accidentally bumped it though! She seems to pick things up quickly, so I'm surprised she isn't associating the bell with the door by now. Is there something else I should be doing? 5mth old pup.

@Hairyfriend Keep persevering and be consistent. We thought our puppy was never going to pick it up, and then one day she just did, and has been doing it since. (Although, like others, she also rings it when she just wants to go play in the garden!)

Your dog is already giving you a sign he needs to go out. Running around manically. If you keep a note for about a week of what times he goes for a poo, then you'll get to realise that at 9am, 1pm and 7pm for example you need to take him outside. My dog will pretty much go on command now because when she's in the act of toileting, I've given her a cue word. When i say the cue, if she needs to go she will immediately start sniffing around for a place to go. So then i need to make sure she's outside at the time she needs to go, i give her the cue word and she does it.

The bell is fine, until such time he rings the bell and you don't hear him. What does he do then?

My girl jangles the back door keys when she needs to go out, she’s a big dog so they are in line with her nose. She taught herself to do this so it’s not a far stretch to a bell. Other dogs I know scratch it bark at the door when they need to go.

Our girl use a toy that is fixed to the wall that has a bell in it. Supposed to be used with treats and throwing them around by bouncing on it. Because it's next to the door, she's naturally starte to use this to let us know she needs to wee without teaching her. It hasn't been used as a toy for over a year!

Mine just barks at the door