Bell training your New Puppy or Dog

Bell Training Your New Dog

If you’ve recently gotten a dog, be it a puppy or an adult, one of the biggest challenges you will face with you new family member is housebreaking. In combination with house training a key factor is knowing your dog’s cues that they need to go. These can be hard to miss sometimes unless you’re lucky enough to have the dog the automatically sits by the door and Paws and/or barks. An easy solution for this is Potty Bells. There are many different variations of bells available nowadays. My very first experience with them started completely by accident. It happened to be Christmas time and I had one of the cute Santa bell decorations hanging on my door. I had a young female Tibetan Mastiff at the time named Mya. She was already housebroken at the time when Christmas rolled around. But from the bells ringing the entire Christmas season when I’d open the door to let her out, she made the association and one night my family and I were watching TV and Mya walked out of the room. Next thing I heard was the bells ringing. I was shocked, I wasn’t even into my training career at this point yet. So, I located a bell to hang on the door and have used one since.
Now teaching this with a housebreaking puppy is equally as easy BUT can harbor some challenges as well. Fast forward to my current dog, Linc. He is a fiesty Goldendoodle and a major change from the 15+ years I’ve spent with Mastiffs. One big change is his willingness to work and ability to learn. The Mastiffs were smart no doubt, but they were so low key that they were virtually perfect from day 1. Whereas Lincoln, he needed that mental stimulation to satisfy him. So, we do A LOT of training.
When I brought him home, I knew I wanted the fancy doorbell he had to ring himself, not the hanging bells. Either set the training process is about the same. But the hanging bells leave room for error because they ring automatically if hung on the doorknob. So base that decision on your own commitment and mentality. I started him off with a simple touch command. Easy to teach and I’ll attach videos to this article for you to reference. I then transferred touch from my hand to the bell. This is where the difference in the bells come in. The electric ones I use, I have to shape the behavior and reward progress as he gets better with it. Whereas the hanging bells are less targeted. Meaning it take a less specific contact to make them ring. I like the electric ones because I don’t have great hearing than that of the regular bells, so the sound is louder and most of them have cheesy ringtones including holiday songs to amuse me.
So, with the touch, at first, I would reward as soon as he touched in the vicinity of the bell. Regardless of whether or not it made the bells go off. Some dogs will use their paws, some will use their nose. Additionally, sometimes they may change this up based on their mood at the time. Linc personally varies but generally does the nose touch now unless he really has to go. But you will notice which they prefer over time.
Now a big flaw in Bell training, is distinguishing when they need to go versus when they just want to go goof off in the yard. Initially during potty training, you really have to respond every time in case they need to go.

Side Note Rant:
Do yourself a favor and don’t take the lazy approach and open the door and let your pup out on their own. If you read my potty-training blog*Potty Training 101 – Dog Training – Smarty Paws K9 University, you will see I recommend leashing them up and taking them out. I need you to think potty training a toddler because that’s what this really is. Kids get years to learn to do this and we expect puppies to have it down pat in weeks. Thats unrealistic and impossible, especially if you release a curious puppy into a yard and expect them to know what to do once that pesky squirrel runs across the fence. Give them 10-15 minutes, outside on a leash EVEN if you bring home a puppy in the middle of a cold Pennsylvania winter. Keep them on task and reward them when they go to the bathroom. A nice positive good pup, some pats and if you have a fence let them play off leash if you want.
End Rant
Now once you have a reliably housebroken puppy, which won’t be until likely 4 months or older (1hr maybe 2 hr. if you’re lucky bladder control, per month old your pup is…. EVEN if they sleep through the night without waking you to potty, it’s not the same). It’s now time to learn to distinguish and train your pups and his bladder. If you just had your older (6-7 months old at the youngest to try this honestly) housebroken pup out and he pottied while you were out there with him and you come back inside and ten minutes later, he’s ringing again, you know the chances of him needing to go again are slim. Don’t be afraid to wait it out for a bit, most the time it’s them saying hey I want to go out. The bell has become a trigger to go outside, now we have to get then to understand it’s for potty trips and not playtime. I did this at about 8 months old with Linc, if I recall correctly. His button was his “Mommy summoning button”. If I was in another room, on a zoom lesson, or left the house (even with others there) he would ring that bell looking for me. So, I made a rule at about 8 months old, if I hadn’t been at least 4 hours (barring there was no crazy play sessions, excitement, etc.) I would make him wait. I may have started with two, just because I’m strict on strong potty skills to be honest. Either way we built up from there to phase out the demanding want to be outside ringing. If you’re consistent and don’t give up on it, it’s a wonderful way for your dog to communicate the potty cue that we humans so often miss.

In Conclusion

Please remember when potty training your pup, don’t scold. If they go in the house, clean it up and ask yourself what you were doing when it happened. They have no way of knowing automatically that they aren’t supposed to go in the house and that they are to potty outside, they can only learn what we teach them. If you scold them or worse smack them for having an accident, they just learn to not let you see them go and they go hide to potty. That is a whole issue in itself.

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