# Potty training: problem with the bells



## HallesParents (Jun 9, 2013)

Well Halle finally figured out the bells today. However she thinks it means go outside. Instead of go outside to potty. 

She rings it every 5 minutes literally. So we honored the ringing an took her out every time however out of those times she only potties 3 times. The other times she just laid in the grass!

The times she did potty we made a great big deal about it with praise and treats once back inside. When no potty after 10 minutes we would come back inside and not treat.

Now we have put her back in her crate if she doesn't potty after ringing for 20 min! 

Need suggestions please!

We live in a condo and can't just let her out on her own, we have to take her out and stay with her on a leash.


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## Reeka The Vizsla (Jul 10, 2013)

Hey Halles,

Do you play with her more outside or inside? I'm guessing inside since you're in a condo..


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## lonestar (Jun 2, 2013)

Let me see if I understand this: You actually expect a puppy (even a Vizsla puppy) to ring the bell to alert you to her excretory needs? Hun, let's talk about those expectations of yours... 

Figure out how often she needs to go out and then a few minutes before, take her out. Yes, you're doing the work here not her, but that's the way this works best. Take 5 minutes off each interval so you get her before she has to go urgently, yet are pretty confident she will go in short order. Let her know she's going out to potty, "Halle, let's go OUT!". When you get her out, tell her, "Halle, potty." repeat until she performs, and at the moment of discharge, say, "Good potty, good girl". Praise effusively, shoot off a bottle rocket if you have a spare one...

Pretty soon, she'll figure out the connection btwn "Out" and "Potty" and "Good!"...which is what you want. And pretty soon, she'll tell you she needs to go out by standing by the door. But before all that happens, forget the bells and clickers and all the other gimmicks that are more novel but dont work as well.


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## Jlaha (Jul 12, 2013)

Not to contradict Lonestar, but we started the bells when they arrived in the mail on Friday. Two days later, Kimber is doing good with them. He sometimes doesn't ring them very loudly (and has an accident right in front of the door), but he gets the connection. Of course, he will ring them to go outside (he loves it out there), but I don't give him very long out there. After giving the command to go potty and he starts trying to chew grass or play with sticks on the ground, I take him inside. Yesterday morning when he was doing this, I spent about 20 min making him ring the bells and then saying, "Ok! Outside? You need to go potty? Lets go potty!" I take him to the grass and give the potty command. If he started playing, we went back in and did this over and over. It didn't take long for him to pee and there was praise galore with a treat immediately and playtime inside. It is a little easier for us bc we haven't let him go in the hall where the bedrooms are and we have doors to section off our kitchen to keep him in the living room with us. I know it's gotta be hard to live in a Condo and do that, but keep with it and she'll get it. Good luck! 😊


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## lonestar (Jun 2, 2013)

Jlaha said:


> I spent about 20 min making him ring the bells


There are many ways to train, and everyone has to choose based on what works best for them and their dog. To me, the shortest distance btwn 2 points is a straight line. Rather than teaching the dog the bell command, which is an intermediate step, you could be doing something else with her...and still get her to learn what out and potty mean.


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## Jlaha (Jul 12, 2013)

I definitely agree, Lonestar, there are many different ways. I chose the bells so if Kimber needs to go out and I am cooking in the kitchen or my husband has to work in his office, we don't have to try to interpret his whines or barks as he doesn't always stay in the same room that we have to be in. Also, after the breeder recommended the bells, I spoke with my Vet who said they were ok to try, so I feel comfortable using them as a housebreaking tool.


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## HallesParents (Jun 9, 2013)

Thanks jlaha! We, are limiting her time outside and if she doesn't immediately eliminate like she normally does when we say go potty, or go poop (which works really well actually) if she doesn't immediately do one or the other we take her back inside until she rings again! Will report back in a few days. Really happy with all of her progress with this and everything else so far. Really helps that my wife is out of school for the summer!


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Just to relate my experience... I have not formally taught the boy, but we always went outside together when he was small... The boy somehow learned he has to come up to me and guide me to the patio door, where he might as well ring a bell because he hoofs at the sliding door. 

Congrats and good luck with the bells.


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## redrover (Mar 17, 2011)

I haven't trained Jasper on bells, but I know my breeder once talked about how she trained some of her dogs with them. They all did the same thing--whenever they wanted to go outside, they'd ring the bell, even if they don't have to potty. See a squirrel? Bell! Want to sunbathe? Bell!

She ended up taking the bells away. In my experience, no matter how you train a dog to signal it needs to go outside, it will end up using that for mischief. Jasper just goes and sits by the door. But he doesn't always have to potty. He just wants outside. Not having bells does make it less irritating, but he still cheats the system!

My brother's dog is a prime example of a dog that needs bells. He'll go sit by the door for a hot second, but if you don't immediately notice him, he'll wander off to another room and just go. And to be totally honest, I don't think they pay very much attention to him, because he has a lot of house accidents. But it's a big house and they frequently aren't in the same room as the front door. If he barked or whined or used bells, they might notice him before an accident happens (or, IMO, if they stopped letting him have free reign of the whole house when he's clearly not 100% housetrained, even though they say he is...argh).


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I would rather take a puppy out and it not need to potty, than miss a sign that it needed to. Your pup has got the message that the bell means go outside. I don't think you can train them to only ring the bell if they really need to potty. To many cool things to explore outside, and they are just a bell ring away.


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

If the bell becomes a problem, move the bell further away... dogs are smart.


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