sonomagirl
Boxer Booster
The bell has been hung for 3 days and I have to almost force her to ring the bell before she goes out. I don't know if I'm expecting too much too soon. Any suggestions?
Bell training-3 days and not showing any interest in the bell-is this going to work?
- Thread starter sonomagirl
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Hvnsentme3
Banned
I've heard the bell def. works
Hi. I have a friend that has 3 Boxers and one Boston terrier. She has her hands full :D I haven't tried it yet but she told me that she hung a bell on the door and she would ring it everytime as she would take them out to potty. Eventually they just started doing it themselves. I can't wait to find a bell and start trying that. I guess it's all about patience. Have no fear... they are paying more attention than we think sometimessonomagirl said:
Melgoglia
Super Boxer
When Brandy was with us she would always go to the back door and bark to be let out which was great. But.. this was not the case with Abigail she would go sit at the back door and if you were in another room you may not see her once or twice she had an accident right in front of the door. It wasn't her fault she didn't understand how to tell us.
So we tried the bells .. I took a long piece of yarn the thick kind hung several bells on it, small ones. Everytime I ask Abigail if she needed to go out we would ring the bells and let her out.. everytime you have to ring the bells! Within a few days she begin to understand bell rings ..door opens ..I get to go out..
Now she will walk to the door hit the bells with her nose and look at us waiting for the door to be opened. Keep in mind that once they learn this they will ring them to go out to potty, play, lay in the sun whatever.. It took maybe a good week for her to really get the hang of it. Once they learn this you can't take the bells down..
Sometimes the bells will ring ring ring.. she will want to go out.. then sit at the door to come in... then ring ring ring... out again and so on. I have had to take the bells off the knob and told her enough is enough.
She didn't understand but she got the hint.. you knew she didn't have to potty just wanted to go in and out just like a skin kid would. They are so smart..
Good luck on your training.. hopefully your baby will catch on real fast too.
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So we tried the bells .. I took a long piece of yarn the thick kind hung several bells on it, small ones. Everytime I ask Abigail if she needed to go out we would ring the bells and let her out.. everytime you have to ring the bells! Within a few days she begin to understand bell rings ..door opens ..I get to go out..
Now she will walk to the door hit the bells with her nose and look at us waiting for the door to be opened. Keep in mind that once they learn this they will ring them to go out to potty, play, lay in the sun whatever.. It took maybe a good week for her to really get the hang of it. Once they learn this you can't take the bells down..
Sometimes the bells will ring ring ring.. she will want to go out.. then sit at the door to come in... then ring ring ring... out again and so on. I have had to take the bells off the knob and told her enough is enough.
She didn't understand but she got the hint.. you knew she didn't have to potty just wanted to go in and out just like a skin kid would. They are so smart.. Good luck on your training.. hopefully your baby will catch on real fast too.
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a1r1ka
Boxer Booster
oh gosh yes, you are expecting a miracle.
give it time, and be upbeat when you're hitting the bell and taking the dog out, like it's a good thing. maybe ring it and say "let's go potty". definitely use "go potty" or some other term while you are out there, too. . .eventually it will learn what those phrases mean and do it on command.
so ring the bell, walk your dog out there, tell it to go, let it do its thing, and praise it.
it took weeks for my pup to get this, then one day, while my boyfriend and i were in another room, we hear this ringing. . .no way, couldn't be, why would he get it today when he seem to not get it before? sure enough, he understood.
i will also say that there's a likely period of bell abuse coming your way, meaning that your dog might begin to ring it to go outside to play. but every darn time your dog does it, be very appreciative and congratulatory, take it out with potty in mind, no playing at all, and if he doesn't go, take him back inside. repeat repeat repeat, eventually your dog will only ring the bell when it's potty time.
it could take weeks, and you may have accidents in between, due to confusion or rebeliousness/resistence, but that's ok, you will get there!!
give it time, and be upbeat when you're hitting the bell and taking the dog out, like it's a good thing. maybe ring it and say "let's go potty". definitely use "go potty" or some other term while you are out there, too. . .eventually it will learn what those phrases mean and do it on command.
so ring the bell, walk your dog out there, tell it to go, let it do its thing, and praise it.
it took weeks for my pup to get this, then one day, while my boyfriend and i were in another room, we hear this ringing. . .no way, couldn't be, why would he get it today when he seem to not get it before? sure enough, he understood.
i will also say that there's a likely period of bell abuse coming your way, meaning that your dog might begin to ring it to go outside to play. but every darn time your dog does it, be very appreciative and congratulatory, take it out with potty in mind, no playing at all, and if he doesn't go, take him back inside. repeat repeat repeat, eventually your dog will only ring the bell when it's potty time.
it could take weeks, and you may have accidents in between, due to confusion or rebeliousness/resistence, but that's ok, you will get there!!
Jiffer
Boxer Booster
It took longer than I though it would for Kronk to get the bell thing down. You said you "almost" have to force him to ring the bell every time. Well, that's kind of how it is supposed to work, per my experience anyways. Your dog doesn't know what the bell is there for. You have to teach her. Whenever we took Kronk out, for any reason, we'd say, "Ring the bell!", and we'd pick up his paw and make him ring it. Eventually, we'd try to wait for him to ring the bell without us helping him. We'd say, "Ring the bell" several times and maybe ring it ourselves and wait to see if he'd do it. If he didn't, we pick up his paw and help him again.
It was a glorious day the first time I heard a faint bell sound. He "barely" rang the bell, but I jumped up and praised him and let him out. After that it wasn't too long before he was doing it every time and much louder, but it still wasn't over night.
Even after he learned that ringing the bell gets the door opened for him, he still had accidents in the house. This frustrated me to no end. He should have known by then that going potty in the house was unacceptable, and now he had a way to tell us he had to go out, but it still wasn't connecting. So when he went potty in the house, I'd grab him and take him to the door and make sure he rang the bell, and then take him to his potty spot outside.
Eventually he connected "going potty" with "going outside", which meant "ring the bell".
Give it time and be consistent. She'll get it! My husband thought it was silly when I bought our bell and didn't think it would work. Ha! He was wrong!
It was a glorious day the first time I heard a faint bell sound. He "barely" rang the bell, but I jumped up and praised him and let him out. After that it wasn't too long before he was doing it every time and much louder, but it still wasn't over night.
Even after he learned that ringing the bell gets the door opened for him, he still had accidents in the house. This frustrated me to no end. He should have known by then that going potty in the house was unacceptable, and now he had a way to tell us he had to go out, but it still wasn't connecting. So when he went potty in the house, I'd grab him and take him to the door and make sure he rang the bell, and then take him to his potty spot outside.
Eventually he connected "going potty" with "going outside", which meant "ring the bell".
Give it time and be consistent. She'll get it! My husband thought it was silly when I bought our bell and didn't think it would work. Ha! He was wrong!
tnscott
Boxer Booster
No need to worry. If I remember correctly it took Gretchen a week or longer before she started going to the door and hitting the bells with her nose. Like others, we hung several bells on yarn off of the door knob hanging down about 18 inches off the ground. Every time we took her out we would take her paw and hit the bells before opening the door. It seemed like she didn't have a clue of what we were doing, but then one day she went over and nudged them. Now she goes and hits the bells pretty consistently. Be patient and consistent.
jennw
Boxer Booster
Disclaimer: this may just be a fluke, but...
we hung bells on the door last wed. because jake doesn't make a sound when he has to go. the NEXT DAY- i'm not even kidding- he was using them. the breeder never used them so i have no idea how he got it so fast. everytime we go out the back door we yell "outside" like it's the greatest thing ever while ringing the bells. we run out the door and into the back yard. if he doesn't go immediately we go back inside. when he does need to go he rings the bells and does his thing almost right away - no more "come on...go poop...please!"
granted, he tricks us sometimes and is guilty of "bell abuse." but that's better than finding pee under the coffee table any day.
now that i've written this it'll probably turn out to be a fluke.
we hung bells on the door last wed. because jake doesn't make a sound when he has to go. the NEXT DAY- i'm not even kidding- he was using them. the breeder never used them so i have no idea how he got it so fast. everytime we go out the back door we yell "outside" like it's the greatest thing ever while ringing the bells. we run out the door and into the back yard. if he doesn't go immediately we go back inside. when he does need to go he rings the bells and does his thing almost right away - no more "come on...go poop...please!"
granted, he tricks us sometimes and is guilty of "bell abuse." but that's better than finding pee under the coffee table any day.
now that i've written this it'll probably turn out to be a fluke.
Daisy&Dixie
Boxer Pal
When we got our 2 boxers I had no idea how to potty train a dog. The vet suggested bells. We hung bells on the back door and literally took their paws and rang the bells everytime we opened the back door. Daisy picked up on it right away, but Dixie didn't. It took her about a month before she figured it out. But today it has made such a difference. No matter where we are in the house. We know when they need out! It may just take your dog a while to catch on, but it will be worth the extra effort.
apollosdad
Boxer Insane
-sonomagirl
it will take time and patience, just as any other form of training, in order to achieve the goal you have set for your dog. i'm not sure if you have tried various forms of training with her in regards to the bell. you cannot expect her to just "learn" it all at once. try breaking it down into small steps and gradually progress your way towards the goal.
- try luring your dog's paw into touching the bell with a treat.
- keep the training sessions short, only 3-5 minutes each. you don't want to burn her out.
- try training her each and every time you let her out.
- stay consistent with the training and have 5-6 sessions a day, but make sure to keep them short as recommended above.
it will take time and patience, just as any other form of training, in order to achieve the goal you have set for your dog. i'm not sure if you have tried various forms of training with her in regards to the bell. you cannot expect her to just "learn" it all at once. try breaking it down into small steps and gradually progress your way towards the goal.
- try luring your dog's paw into touching the bell with a treat.
- keep the training sessions short, only 3-5 minutes each. you don't want to burn her out.
- try training her each and every time you let her out.
- stay consistent with the training and have 5-6 sessions a day, but make sure to keep them short as recommended above.
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