I need some training help here. A little background first. We have two 8 month old littermates. We got Aimee when she was 8 weeks old. We didn't get her sister, Ayla, until she was 7 months old. We potty trained Aimee very young and taught her to push a doorbell when she needed out. Ayla lived outside in a kennel before so she was still not housebroken when we got her. We've only had her 3 weeks and she seems to be getting the potty training part ... going on command outside, no accidents in the house recently ... but we can't get her to ring the bell or otherwise "tell" or communicate to us that she needs out. Aimee learned to ring the bell within just a couple days of telling her "Push It" and giving her treats. Shortly thereafter she learned to associate pushing it with going outside. But after nearly 3 weeks of working with Ayla we still have not been able to get her to push the doorbell. Even if we forget about trying to associate it with going out and work only on "Push it" she just doesn't seem to be getting it. I'd call her a slow learner except she seems to be learning other things like Sit, Down, Wait (which she was never taught before) as quickly as the average dog. So I have no clue why can't she's not getting the doorbell thing. I'm thinking we just need to take a different approach with her, that she learns a different way. With Aimee we held a treat near the bell to lure her close to it, then we'd push it for her at first. Next we'd push her nose against it, celebrate, and treat her. Then she got the idea. We're doing the same with Ayla but she doesn't even seem to even realize the bell exists, before or after ringing and treating. Is there another approach we can try? I just don't know what we're missing here.
I would shape pushing a button with a clicker. So you basically click and treat every tiny behaviour that gets her closer to touching the button (moving toward it, sniffing etc.). It takes time, depending on the difficulty of what you are shaping. An easy place to start is having an object on the floor (like a book or something that doesn't move easily) and shaping either a paw or nose to it. If you are looking for a paw touch, any small movement of the paw, click and treat, every time they move closer, click and treat. The dog starts to understand that you are asking for something to do with the paw and the object. Once you get to the point where the dog is consistently giving you the behaviour you are looking for, you can introduce a verbal cue. Shaping can take awhile when a dog is new to it, but it gets them to think for themselves essentially. Once they start to understand shaping, it gets easier to train new things. Not sure how good of an explanation that was! There are lots of youtube videos on shaping.
My question would be, why do you need her to tell you when she needs to go out? My dogs get taken out for regular walks and that's when they can go. With a puppy they need to go all the time, obviously, but as an adult they can hold it unless they're unwell - and then, they'll let you know with pointed stares. Once she's fully trained to not go in the house, there should be no necessity for her to request to go out.
Ayla hasn't had the best start in life so maybe adding this pressure so soon is a little too much for her as she is still getting used to her new home and enjoying her life at last. I would just take her outside regularly as if she were a tiny puppy and start from scratch. You can always teach her to ring a bell later on if you wish, I did this with my rescue dog Charlie x
If my dog learned that he’d be sitting there ringing it all day long till it got ripped out of the wall. Lol with a bit of time you can tell when they want to go out and why.
My puppy is 16 months and I still take her out into the garden regularly but the time has got more and more spaced out as she’s got older. So I am giving her regular opportunities and it seems to work well. When she has been unwell, she has let me know.
I'm always pretty amazed when people say they have trained a dog to ring a bell to go out to wee and poo - and don't have a dog that is ringing the bell constantly because that is behaviour that has been rewarded, or just because the dog fancies a mooch round the garden. I have never really understood how ringing a bell can be put properly under stimulus control of the dog needing the toilet - well, in theory I can see it, not in a practical way though. Still, people say they do it...maybe with a puppy that ALWAYS need a wee and a poo! If you want to train a dog to ring the bell, train a moveable nose/paw target - a post-it note would do - and then put the target on the bell. How you get that to happen ONLY when the dog needs the toilet....well, beats me.
Tilly barks when she wants ANYTHING. She will stand at the back door of our upper deck (no stairs to the yard) and bark to be let out on the deck. Then she lets Cooper go out and we shove her out even if she really just wanted Cooper to go out. If she could ring a bell she would drive us nuts, though it would probably be quieter than her bark. When we are home, our dogs can go out any time they want, because we have a dog door going to the fenced back yard. At our cabin we don't have one because we don't have a fence. (Fences aren't much use when there is 8' of snow on the ground) The dogs will lie by the door if they want out, and Tilly may also bark, to make sure we know.
Stanley can open doors so Just lets himself out Wish he would learn to close the door behind him though..
When we taught Aimee to ring the bell as a little puppy, ringing it for fun was a challenge. But we really needed something because our back door is not visible from anywhere in the house, except when standing by the back door! (It's got a little alcove) So there were times during Aimee's potty training where she got the idea to go to the back door when she needed out, but no one noticed, so she figured that was close enough! The bell helped helped stop the accidents at the back door. She did learn that she could also ring it just to go outside and sniff things, or pick up rocks (her favorite thing to do outside at 10 weeks old!) so we did have to curb that behavior. We did it by taking her out on a leash. When she rang the bell, the leash went on, we took her straight to her potty spot, did not let her sniff or pick up rocks. If she did not potty we went straight back in. She eventually caught on that the bell is only for pottying and she's great about it now. Ayla, on the other hand, is still not getting the whole bell ringing concept. I can't get her to ring it at all, for any reason, even just for a treat. I'm baffled.
Because knowing she can communicate will avoid accidents without having to watch her like a hawk. When Aimee was being potty trained there were times she would go to the back door and no one saw her sitting there, so she would potty right at the door. Once she reliably rang the bell I did not need to watch her constantly to see if she was by the door. I do not want to have to watch Ayla forever, checking to see if she's sitting at the back door. We do take Ayla out a lot and there have been no accidents recently. So goes on command when we take her out. But I don't know if she understands yet that she is NOT supposed to go in the house. So I don't know if she quite understands that she needs to hold it until she's outside. I don't want to spend the rest of my life following her around to make sure she isn't waiting by the back door or, worse, pooping in the living room. I can trust Aimee out of my sight because I know she'll ring the bell. I'd just like that same trust with Ayla so I don't have to constantly worry about where she is and what she's doing in the other room.
Once they know not to wee or poo indoors they all find their own way of asking. Keir walks back and forwards between me and the door. Mollie used to go to the door and whine. Tatze just woofs at the door and, princess that she is, expects it to open.
I have never trained a signal for when my pup needs to toilet, but as @Boogie says they have all let me know their needs. Jen walks out of the room, turns around and stands in the door way and does 'the stare' until we move. While toilet training I never allow pup out of sight. Yes it's a pain but it's only for a few short weeks and the older the pup when arriving in the home often reduces that training period as the bladder is more mature so it's more 'appropriate place' than bladder/bowel control.
Ours have all come toilet trained & they have all had their own way of letting us know they need to go out. It doesn't happen often - they are adult dogs and can hold it until we go out anyway, but maybe on a lazy Sunday, Coco will sit near the kitchen door, staring in our direction. If he's still ignored and the kitchen door is open, he'll sit by the back door. If that doesn't work he will eventually let out a small "yip" - it's the only time he uses this yip.
Yes, Cassie has a special noise too, for when she needs to go out. It's a sort of little growly yelp which she doesn't use at any other time.
Ha! I thought my pup was so smart learning to ring the bell in a day and a half until I realized I was being played! It worked for my little dog because she doesn’t actually want to BE outside. No more bell. I am learning to read Ashima’s signs that she really needs to go out based on water consumption and timing. She still tries to play me! I’ve reverted back to the lead when it’s not a garden party.
