Wouldn’t it be convenient if your dog would clearly let you know when he needed to go out to potty? Some dogs easily figure out ways to let you know–they bark or paw at the door, pace, nudge, whine, or otherwise communicate their discomfort. But some dogs just suffer quietly. Worse, some dogs relieve themselves on your favorite rug if you don’t notice that they need to go out.

One solution is to teach your dog to ring a bell when they need to go out. You can use a string of bells (like Christmas bells or buy loose bells at a craft store and string them together or for very cute ones try http://www.thebellpeople.com/index.shtml) or you can use a wireless remote doorbell. In my house, the dogs can usually use the dog door. However, in cold, windy weather I have to close the dog door and they ring a remote doorbell on the dog door cover that plays the bugle call to the post (my husband and I are horse racing fans:) ).

Sometimes people do have success teaching their dogs to ring a bell by bumping the dog’s nose or paw into the bell each time they take the dog out. If this works, great! But it can backfire and make the dog afraid of the bells and they may never get it. Below is a slower but very reliable way to teaching your dog to ring a bell.

1. Start with your string of bells in one hand and ten treats in the other hand behind your back. Lower the bells towards your dog’s nose. When he investigates (looks at, sniffs, licks, touches) the bells in any way, Yes! and remove the bells while delivering a treat with your other hand. Repeat 5-10 times.
2. Three times a day, do ten repetitions of the above. Keep the bells put away when not in use.
3. Once your dog is eagerly touching the bells whenever they are offered, switch to only rewarding harder touches. Aim to reward the loudest 50% of the touches in each session. Stay at this step until your dog eagerly and loudly rings the bells whenever they are offered.
4. Find a place to hang the bells near the door that you use for potty breaks. Ideally, this should be a different door than the one you use to leave for walks. As described above, teach your dog how to ring the bells while they are hanging by the door. Put the bells away between training sessions.
5. The above steps should take 3-10 days. Once your dog is eagerly hitting the bells so that they make noise whenever he has the opportunity, you will start to connect ringing the bells with going out to potty. Each time you plan to take your dog out for a potty break, hang the bells in their spot, wait for your dog to ring them, reward with a treat, and take your dog outside. Be sure to do this for every trip out to potty for a week and be sure to put the bells away when not in use.
6. Now we will see if your dog has made the connection. Choose a day when you are hanging out at home with not a lot to do. Hang the bells in their place by the door and see what happens. Any time your dog rings the bells, you will take your dog out on leash to his potty area. However, there will be no treats, walks, or playtime involved. You want your dog to learn that he can always ask if he does need to go, but that asking to go out will not result in any other fun. The first day, you may very well make twenty trips out, but this should die down over the next couple of days. 

If your dog doesn’t ask to go out, crate him for a bit, then let him out of the crate and walk towards the door with the bells. See if he will ask with the help of you standing nearby. If this doesn’t work, you may need to do another week at step 5 and then try again.

Be careful that ringing the bells only every results in a quick potty break. Otherwise, you may end up wearing one of those T-shirts that reads: Agenda For The Day: Let Dog Out, Let Dog In, Let Dog Out, Let Dog In, Let Dog Out… But at least you won’t need to buy Nature’s Miracle by the gallon!