Never miss your dogs' subtle cues that it needs to go outside again! Dog bell potty training is really quite easy and once your puppy learns you will always know when it needs to go.
Many puppies and dogs will go to the door and scratch or whine to let you know that they need to go outside. Then there are dogs "like mine," that are very subtle and quiet about needing to go out.
When Daisy was a puppy she would come and sit in front of me, staring intently. Or, I would luckily happen to see her sitting quietly at the door. She never whined or scratched to let me know she needed to go out. The result was, if I was distracted and didn't notice she wouldn't be able to wait any longer and have an accident on the floor.
It was my fault, not hers. I had heard about dog bell potty training and found a great guide at Petsium.com and decided to try it so I would always know when she had to go.
The first thing I did was purchase a safe bell. This is very important. The round bells with the slit are not safe. Your dog can accidentally get a claw caught in this type of bell. A small square cow bell about two inches in diameter is safest for your dog to use. There are no small areas on this type of bell for your dog to get hurt on.
Next, I tied a short piece of twine to the bell and attached it to the door frame using an eye hook that suspended the bell out a bit so it could hang freely.
To train Daisy I started by tapping the bell myself to draw her attention to the bell every time she needed to go out to pee. As soon as she sniffed at or touched the bell I would give her lots of praise and a treat. I would have her do this a few times, rewarding her each time, before I took or let her outside.
I took her to the door to go outside more often than she needed to go for the first week to build her association with ringing the bell to go outside. By the end of the week she started to go ring the bell by herself! She didn't ring it every time at this point but she was learning, I was so excited! She got lots of praise for ringing the bell on her own.
I continued tapping the bell myself and getting her to touch the bell for another week, giving her lots of praise
In two weeks she was consistently ringing the bell when she needed to go out. "By using dog bell potty training I have never missed her cues to go outside again."
