Bell training

[Meggriffinshatsmells]

18 week old golden retriever, we have had her since 12 weeks on the dot.

Shes been excellent at going to the toilet outside but only if we know she needs to go and let her out (in the morning as she’s crated at night, half way through a meal, after playing etc), or occasionally if the back door is open she will just take herself out. Sometimes if she hasn’t been in a while, I will open the door and say, “go wee wee” and she will. I always use the command when she goes out to toilet.

Unless she’s in her crate sleeping, she’s always with us in the living area. She will head towards the back door when she needs to go (back door is two rooms away), and we follow and open it.

But if we miss that, and she somehow gets to the back door when we are distracted and it’s closed, she doesn’t let us know and will pee in front of the back door.

We have had one of the bell things on the door handle since the day we brought her home and have used it every single time along with the “go wee wee” command. Even when the door is open and we follow her, I make her sit by it, ring the bell before she goes out.

She just looks at me like I’m nuts. I’ve picked up her paw and got her to knock it.

I’ve watched ALL the training videos. I’ve done everything they said.

My other dogs used to bark at the door, right from puppy hood so I’ve not had this before!

Any tips of getting a dog to signal when they need to go out?

It’s not often she pees in front of the door, we know when she usually needs to go as I said above and we follow her when she heads to the door, or just let her out and give her the command if it’s been a few hours.

Just press the bell just as you're taking her out . Providing its in easy reach of her she'll start doing it herself .

Been doing it for 6 weeks, every time she goes!

Its not a button, it’s the bells that hang off the door handle.

The internet is full of people saying their puppies picked it up fast, and there mine is, looking at me like I’ve cracked!

Keep going - the penny will eventually drop, especially with a clever dog like a GR. It took my big hound about a month to get it, and now she will jangle the bells to be let out for a wee, but also for attention, if we're not focusing on her sufficiently.

You need to break up the two commands.

Can you make her touch the bells before you open the door?
So, bell sound open door, when she's outside say go wee (or temporarily when she's squatting just give a good girl wee command)

Still use go wee when you take outside for a walk!
With consistency she should be using the bells within a week! ... probably less... if she's a brainy dog.

Yes, that’s exactly what I do.

it wasn’t clear in the post.

Oh. She will NOT go to the toilet at all when out for a walk! Or anywhere else. She held it for 8/10 hours when I was house sitting for a friend for two days, wouldn’t go there at all, waited until we got home. That’s a whole other thing, I had a thread about it last week as I am worried about when we take her on holiday sooo! She did a poo on a walk once, when we walked with my friends older dog. It was a fluke though, nothing since. She darts to the back door to go as soon as we are home.

Yeah, everyone else seems to say a week or two. Six weeks in so far! Honestly, she looks at me like I’ve got two heads.

I've taught my dog to do it:

• first I taught him to touch the bell.
• then, each time I was taking him out, I was first asking him to touch the bell.

He quickly understood.
But it's also a bit annoying. He was touching the bell all the time, I think just because he was super excited to get my attention.

Now I just have it in my bedroom in case he needs to go out at night.
The rest of the time, I don't wait for him to signal that he needs to go, I take him out every 4 hours. Technically he could touch the bell in the bedroom during the day but he never does.

I’ve never done bell training, but, IME it’s pretty normal for a puppy that age to have grasped that they should be going outside to toilet but not yet linked that they could do something to get you to let them out there.

Are you wanting her to paw at the bell?

It is usually easier for the dogs to just nudge the bells with their nose.

She is still very little. The issue can be that she is not quite getting the timing right (just like a toddler) eg needs a wee now and does not have time to ring bells but just to get to the door.

Just increase the times you take her out.

I’ve never done bell training because surely once they realise that ringing the bell means the door gets opened they will be ringing it all the time just to go out and wander about . My dog has always just waited by the door or barked if he’s absolutely desperate .

Stick with the bells, it will click eventually.
Re: toileting on walks, my boy wouldn't do it for AGES, and we were bit worried about it and then again, one day it just clicked. X

At 18 weeks she is still a bit young to be understanding things like this, I think. i.e. the concept that they can 'control' the world through their own actions.

Mine didn't start asking to go out until he was well over 6 months old - not reliably until about a year. And the ask was him just looking at me for a few seconds - over time that has exaggerated so that now he sits and STARES at me and, if I ignore him, he gets closer and closer to me and then lifts himself up into my eye direction - e.g. when watching telly he may put his front paws on the foot stool, and raise his front half up so his head's in the way But you need to be aware to spot the the tiniest start of something like that. For the bell it might be as small as her glancing at it. That can then be slowly worked on so that she starts to nudge it etc. But it starts with the glance. That's what you need to ;reward' and then work on. If you want to read up on it, then it's called 'shaping'.

Also, peeing on a walk - again, totally normal for some puppies not to do this until they are several months old.

In short - keep at it, but temper your expectations, because I honestly think you are expecting a bit more from her than she might be ready for.

Just to say, I hate the bloody bell.

Dog is excellent at ringing the bell. He has instilled a pavlovian response in me which he is very pleased with. I am well trained. He rings the bell, I appear. He's fed up of me working, rings the bell. Thinks it's time for a treat, rings the bell, goes and fake cocks his leg in the garden and comes and looks at me expectantly. Time for me to get up and sort breakfast? Rings the bell.

He is like a bedbound rich lady and I am his maid.

@VerityUnreasonble you’ve just made my point perfectly 😄

Oh I’m not expecting anything really! It’s not even that much of an issue. She’s only ever had a tiny amount of accidents in front of the door (like 4 over 6 weeks), when I’ve been distracted.

I just thought I’d give it a go. When we were planning on getting her, my ten year old came across some training videos of it and I thought that looks quite cool, we might try it. It’s just a bit funny that everyone else’s dog has cracked it in a couple of weeks.

I wish I could share a video of how my dog looks at me, it’s like she’d going, “are you okay? Why are you doing that, you look like a twat.”

Shes the fourth retriever I’ve had, I thought I would give it a go this time. Always had golden retrievers and bar one (who bless her, was bred for beauty, not brains 😂), have always picked things up remarkably fast. Dh jokes our last GR, who probably had a higher IQ than us, would have opened a factory to make the bells after the first week and a side hustle training other dogs 🤣

She’s the first one who hasn’t barked at the door or gone to the toilet on walks from the start, so she’s obviously just different from the other three, she’s still a baby, she’ll get there.

I’m not too worried about the not toileting on walks thing now. She still won’t entertain it, but we’ve booked a dog Friendly holiday cottage with a shingled garden just like ours instead of a caravan with no enclosed out door space like we’re were originally going to stay in. I was dreading walking her round and round while she held it, but I figured an enclosed garden, with the children playing in it, with the same surface as she’s used to might be easier for her, and we can just sit out there’s with her. I mean, she can’t hold it for two weeks!

Jolly good!

In that case, keep at it and my guess would be it'll 'click' at some point for her 😁