Training Your Dog to Ring a Bell to Go Out

Some people do not want to use a doggy door for their dog's house training. For Fido, this represents an issue- even if Fido is very well housebroken and really knows he should only potty outside, he can only get there if his person opens the door for him. This will work fine as long as the person sticks to a predictable schedule, but what happens when Fido gets sick? Or when he waits by the door for hours but no one notices him? Some dogs that we call "housebroken" still have accidents because they do not have a way to tell their owner they need to go outside. These dogs need a clear signal that they can send to their owner saying, "Open this door. I've got to go!"

Before You Start

This training is for you if you have already started a housetraining program with your dog and are ready to take it to the next level. Make sure that your dog is already doing well with his housebreaking before starting this training. If your dog isn't sure yet where he is supposed to be going potty, you'll have poor results with this training exercise.

Before starting this training, make sure you really want to have a dog that demands what he wants. If you have a dog that is already demanding, beware, as this training can encourage that tendancy. If your dog just generally enjoys spending time outside, he may ring the bell when he just wants out, not because he needs to potty. He may also ring the bell hoping for a walk. As you might imagine, this can be rather irritating, so if you start this training, you will want to be consisent about the "bell rules".

But if you find that you forget to let your dog out, or that you don't notice his subtle signals saying he has to go out, or if you sleep through them sometimes, this training may be just the solution you are looking for. Your dog will learn how to communicate his potty needs with you, taking some of the responsibility off your shoulders and really reducing the chance for future accidents.

Getting Started

There are two basic methods for teaching this exercise. Read the brief descriptions below and pick the method that you think will suit you and your dog.