My niece used the bell system for her labradoodle, and it was a huge success, except when she visits my sister on the farm. Then it's jingle, jingle, jingle because its so much fun to run in and out there. Pros or cons? I've never used them before.
A few members have used them. I know some have reported that the dog just starts ringing them to go out to play rather than when they need to toilet. They would drive me batty, so there's no way I would ever train a pup to use them
Agree with Snowbunny. A relative used this method with his Goldie, and had to abandon it when it was just being used to get a "good girl" treat. Mine would have just played with it/chewed it.
I don't really see the point in them. A dog will develop it's own way of letting you know it needs to go out, and before that - it is so young you will be still taking it out regularly just to see if it needs to pee or poo.
True, but I have found these very useful. She rarely uses it as she has her set times that she toilets eg. first and last thing I let her in the garden, then usually afternoons when we are out etc. But sometimes a surprise wee is needed and if I am in a different part of the house and I don't see her sitting by the door or hear her whine, she rings the bell and I can hear that. I was upstairs one day and could hear the bell and wondered what it was, then realised and there was Maisy sitting by the door. What a good girl. When she was a pup I taught her to 'ring the bell', but I then stopped enforcing it as she would ring it when she was hungry as the food is kept in the garage where the door also leads to. After a while though she stopped and now only uses it in emergencies.
I tried it with Twiglet. She got the idea but overused them and kept ringing them to go out and play! I took them down .
yes sometimes they do ring it to just go outside. My Schnauzer does that to, but for the most part she just rings to go potty. Our lab has started ringing it and has gone potty a few times when he does. Other times he just runs around outside to play. Usually when they sit at the door and whine means they need to go out.
I'd like to know when the bell was started. I know that my 15 week old would ring the bell simply to go outside to check things out. But of course, I live in the middle of a forest covered with deer, deer poo, coyotes, squirrels, hares, rodents, etc. The smells that are available here are mind boggling even for me, and I only have 2% of the smell receptors of the puppy. And then there are the sights and sounds of an active forest. And then there is the nearby creek.
When we got Charlie our rescue boy at 9 months old he had no idea how to let me know he wanted to go out for a wee/poo so I made my own bells on ribbons and trained him to use them, yes he did abuse them to get my attention to go out and play but I ignored those times. He is 7 years old and still uses them but he doesn't abuse them any more! I found them invaluable xx
