BELL RINGING
Teaching your dog to ask to go for a walk
While adult dogs generally go out a few times a day – and on your schedule – young dogs and new dogs often times aren’t quite so flexible. The ideal thing would be to teach these dogs a signal to indicate to you that they need to go outside.
Ringing the bell
Some dogs bark or scratch at the door to tell you they’d like to go out, but there is a more polite way of asking. You can teach little Buster to ring a bell that hangs next to the door he typically exits (and if you have two exits, hang a bell at each door).
Many pet stores sell mini cow bells, which are great for this trick because the sound carries. If you don’t have access to one of these, you can always use a bell from a cat toy or from a Christmas ornament – it just won’t be quite as loud.
We’re going to start by teaching Buster to touch his nose to the bell – at this point we aren’t taking him outside.
Place the bell on a string, put it in front of your pooch’s nose and say your command (I use “touch” or “bell” or “outside”). He’s more than likely going to touch his nose to the bell simply to investigate what this thing is you’re putting in front of him. When he does, praise and treat. Repeat several times until it’s clear that he has connected the word to the action.
Once he’s happily touching the bell, start to reward only the strong touches. A half-hearted touch simply gets a “good boy” but a big ring earns Buster a treat. When he’s ringing that bell as hard as he can, now you’re ready to connect it to the action of going out.
The next time you’re ready to go out (dog is leashed up, coat is on, door is unlocked), hold the bell out and ask him to touch. When he does, the reward now is not a treat, but the door opening and you and Buster exiting the house. After about six or eight trips outside, he’ll associate his ringing of the bell with going out. You’ll know that he gets it when you see him ring and look at the door all in one motion. When he gets to this stage, you’re ready to hang that bell next to the door!
But…won’t he ring it every single time he gets bored?
Yup, he sure will! What you’ll do to insure that this doesn’t happen is take Buster out when he rings the bell and keep it boring and simple. Go out for two minutes at the most, walk back and forth the distance of one car length, don’t engage in any way (except to repeat your elimination command), and if he DOES go, you can go for a walk if you have time. If he doesn’t go, he comes right back in.
If he rings the bell and you KNOW that he just went out and doesn’t need to go again (especially with adult dogs), feel free to teach him a phrase like, “No, you already went out.” If he really needs to go, he’ll persist.
Once your dog is fully housetrained and you feel he’s reliable, it is not necessary that you keep the bell out. This is merely a training tool.
Copyright 1999-present, Walk This Way Canine Behavior Therapy
Teaching your dog to ask to go for a walk
While adult dogs generally go out a few times a day – and on your schedule – young dogs and new dogs often times aren’t quite so flexible. The ideal thing would be to teach these dogs a signal to indicate to you that they need to go outside.
Ringing the bell
Some dogs bark or scratch at the door to tell you they’d like to go out, but there is a more polite way of asking. You can teach little Buster to ring a bell that hangs next to the door he typically exits (and if you have two exits, hang a bell at each door).
Many pet stores sell mini cow bells, which are great for this trick because the sound carries. If you don’t have access to one of these, you can always use a bell from a cat toy or from a Christmas ornament – it just won’t be quite as loud.
We’re going to start by teaching Buster to touch his nose to the bell – at this point we aren’t taking him outside.
Place the bell on a string, put it in front of your pooch’s nose and say your command (I use “touch” or “bell” or “outside”). He’s more than likely going to touch his nose to the bell simply to investigate what this thing is you’re putting in front of him. When he does, praise and treat. Repeat several times until it’s clear that he has connected the word to the action.
Once he’s happily touching the bell, start to reward only the strong touches. A half-hearted touch simply gets a “good boy” but a big ring earns Buster a treat. When he’s ringing that bell as hard as he can, now you’re ready to connect it to the action of going out.
The next time you’re ready to go out (dog is leashed up, coat is on, door is unlocked), hold the bell out and ask him to touch. When he does, the reward now is not a treat, but the door opening and you and Buster exiting the house. After about six or eight trips outside, he’ll associate his ringing of the bell with going out. You’ll know that he gets it when you see him ring and look at the door all in one motion. When he gets to this stage, you’re ready to hang that bell next to the door!
But…won’t he ring it every single time he gets bored?
Yup, he sure will! What you’ll do to insure that this doesn’t happen is take Buster out when he rings the bell and keep it boring and simple. Go out for two minutes at the most, walk back and forth the distance of one car length, don’t engage in any way (except to repeat your elimination command), and if he DOES go, you can go for a walk if you have time. If he doesn’t go, he comes right back in.
If he rings the bell and you KNOW that he just went out and doesn’t need to go again (especially with adult dogs), feel free to teach him a phrase like, “No, you already went out.” If he really needs to go, he’ll persist.
Once your dog is fully housetrained and you feel he’s reliable, it is not necessary that you keep the bell out. This is merely a training tool.
Copyright 1999-present, Walk This Way Canine Behavior Therapy