Tell Bell

lucygoose

My husbands sister sent us the Tell Bell to teach Willie how to ring the bell to go outside to use the bathroom....Does anyone have one? I was so surprised to receive it....she lives like 4 hours away in Ohio and she trains her Bernese Mountain Dogs....What a nice surprise.....So I do understand that you have to be consistent....Anyone have anything to add to what the CD tells? Has anyone used one? I can't wait to try it!

Thanks!!

JustaDog

I taught my old dog to ring a bell when she had to go out when she was a puppy. She caught on to the concept quickly. Every time I took her out, I'd take her little puppy nose and have her push the bell (it was just a Christmas jingle bell...nothing fancy). With in a couple of weeks, she would go to the door and jingle her bell. She got the concept so well, that she would jiggle door knobs with her nose if she wanted in or out of a room or house....granted, she was a very smart dog, but it seemed like an easy concept. I think I got the idea from some old dog training book that I had.

I've never done it with Stella, my dog now, but she spends 95% of her time outdoors with me anyway...no real reason to.

RonE

I had two dogs - my first two - that rang a little bell when they wanted to go out. They also rang it whenever anyone was eating, showering, talking on the phone, sitting on the toilet . . .

I would poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick before I'd bell-train another dog.

Some people love bells, though, and the training isn't hard. One of our dogs that used it was a beagle. He was not an Albert Einstein among dogs.

lucygoose

Thanks you guys!

You made me laugh Ron.....*would stick yourself in the eye?* LOL Too funny! I will just see how it goes, I guess...On my gardening forum, one person posted saying their dog was trained when she got him....seems like you have to really make the connection to just ring the bell to potty and nothing else.....I will let you know how Willie does....

Thanks for replying!!

RonE

Therein lies the problem.

The dog learns that, when he rings the bell, you drop whatever you're doing and give him your attention. It's instant gratification and they learn VERY quickly.

I'm also not crazy about dogs barking, scratching at the door or dancing around the room with their legs crossed. I don't think they should have to perform to be let out. We're the "higher intelligence" and should have enough sense to let them out at regular, reasonable intervals so they get accustomed to a schedule.

I bought a doggy door and never installed it for the same reason.

I'm not an anti-bell evangelist. It's just not something I personally like or see the need for. As I said, some people love them.

It IS very cute for the first few hours.

My brother-in-law took it one step further. He trained his lab mix to ring the doorbell when she was ready to come back in. The dog would go out the back door and immediately run around to the front and ring the doorbell to come back in. She could do that maybe eight times in five minutes and it's hilarious.

Unless you live there.

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JustaDog

They do definitely associate it with more than potty time. Monty (the old dog that was bell trained), while not quite as annoying as RonE's dogs, did really put two and two together about the whole thing...if she rang the bell (or jiggled the door knob) the door would be opened and she could go out/in (which ever the case may be). Thankfully, it was not a excruciatingly annoying habit. The door knob jiggling was usually just her reminding me that she was NOT in the room with me.

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