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!

our old dog was a rescue, got him aged 3. He never once in his life asked to go out.
We let him out every few hours, and he went. We did train him that when we wouldn't let him back in (eg I'm standing on the backdoorstep, he wasn't shut out) he had to wee before he came in.

He was regular as clockwork with poos though, went on his walk, if the morning walk was later, he would cross his legs, hated pooing in the garden.

But one evening he wouldn't settle and kep coming up to me and pawing me for attention, which was actually unusual. The penny finally dropped that he wanted something, went to the back door and he was bursting for a wee.

Yes.

Thank you I will persevere and try and be a bit more aware of signs!

Our retired greyhound just goes and stands by the back door in the kitchen when he wants to go out. He's never been trained to do that but has always been clean in the house.

He pood again in the house today, it's always in corners and I obviously clean it thoroughly every time with the cleaner that's meant to stop re-marking. I just don't understand it? He will stand by the back door sometimes when he needs the toilet and I still give him lots of praise when he goes. Maybe I need to give him a really high value treat when he poos outside.
Hopefully it goes without saying that he's never told off for pooing inside.

He does have separation anxiety but I'm starting work with a behaviourist about this next week.

Eric has a particular bark when he wants to be let out. Bella summons me by jumping on my foot and leading me to the back door. She jumps on my foot and leads me to what she wants be that a treat, fresh water, a look out the front door etc.

Our pup got the hang of the bell but constantly tapped it to go outside and play. We removed bell and now if he sits by the door that’s our cue. We’d get him straight back in if it was obvious he didn’t need to go . But when he was really young it was regular toilet trips to garden and constantly watching his body language for sniffing, moving in circles etc.

Is there any pattern that you can make out, time of day/after certain activity? Does your dog have a pretty set routine?

It’s difficult but if you know that they haven’t been yet that day I wouldn’t take my eye off them. Also, as others have said, take them out regularly and always after food, sleep and play. I’m an advocate for crates/penning when a dog is left alone but I understand some don’t like that. Watch for any signs and take them out as soon as you notice something, it can mean a long wait outside but if you’re confident they should need to go it is worth holding on. I think it works best if you ignore the dog as much as possible when outside for that purpose until big praise if they go.

If he’s sitting by the door to alert that he needs a wee you’re halfway there, I’d focus on not giving him any opportunity to poo indoors with a hawk eye approach. Teaching them to use a bell/buzzer takes time but can be done fairly easily with most dogs but he really should associate toilet with outside only first.

He is still a baby you need to offer him more opportunities to go outside. So dont wait for him to be desperate - take him out more frequently. Start to write a poo diary and see the pattern of when he poos and wees. If he eats at the same time a pattern usually appears. (although not 100% obviously!)

Bells will not help if he is still pooing inside as he is not 100% sure where he can toilet. If you ndo want to use bells just hang them on your door and they will ring every time you open the door as he goes outside more often he will associate the ring with going outside. -

Thats a good idea about a hanging one. He doesn't eat at set times, I give him his breakfast at 8 but sometimes he doesn't touch it until the afternoon. He does always eat his tea about 5/6.

We do watch him all the time and know the signs, just the odd time we miss it! I think I need to up the praise for outside poos and give treats, he's fantastic with wees.

You just need not to miss it the odd time.
Treats aren’t the answer.

Our dog picked up ringing the bell very quickly, literally a day or two

We taught ours, it has been brilliant, not so great when he tries to ring the hell out of it in the middle of the night.

@Wolfiefan

You just need not to miss it the odd time. Treats aren’t the answer.

I thought rewarding a dog with treats when they do something you want them to do was literally the answer.

Yes you can teach them.

I can’t! Bought 1 for my big dog to learn and failed, but my little dog (reputedly a not very clever breed) has learnt to ring it, she’s a royal pain and mostly uses it to ask to go out when she thinks it’s time for supper!! Got me well trained that little one!

@cheeseisthebest if you use treats for toilet the brightest dogs will not “empty”. Just keep doing a tiny bit for more treats!!

Haven't read the full thread but can't you put in a doggy door? Then your pet can come and go.

We taught our lurcher to ring a bell to go out but now he also rings it if you're in his spot on the sofa and when you get up he runs back 🤣 he also does it when he thinks our other dog is in his spot!

But it took him a long time to be housetrained and this really helped.

The bell goes on the door and is a way to ask to go out. Some dogs bark at the door, others scratch it. Ours would ring it if he just wanted to go out and play etc. They don't instinctively link it to toilet unless if they are not already house trained. What i mean is it will only help if the problem is that he cannot tell you not if he cannot hold it or doesn't understand what you want him to do. We ditched it as he quickly learnt that you ring the bell someone comes and was using it rather than seek attention in other ways.

Our 1 yo dog does, it's a little bell on the floor that he presses with his paw. We just pressed it when we went outside and he copied. He presses it when he wants the toilet or just when he wants to go outside. It's extremely cute and quite amusing. If we don't get up and let him out immediately then he presses it several times in a row quickly He was about 4.5 months when he learnt it as was really bad at letting us know when he needed to go.