How I Trained My Human to Come When I Ring a Bell by Maria Hansen

I am an apartment dweller without the luxury of a dog door.  My dog Katie has always been pretty good about “asking” to go out, but we’ve had our fair share of accidents.  At first Katie would either whine, or bark, or paw at the door to ask to go out, but since consistency is such a big part of agility, or any dog training for that matter, we wanted to find a better way.  In reading up on potty cues, I found that there are basically two methods out there that will successfully teach your dog to ring a bell to go out.   We started preparing by purchasing a small bell that I could hang from my doorknob, and yummy treats that are kept near the door.

If your dog already paws to go outside you can teach him or her to ring a bell by ringing it yourself every time you open the door.  You can start pointing to the bell when your dog paws, or do this with a treat in order to lure their nose to the bell.  Give lots of praise/ positive markers and allow the dog to go outside.  Soon they will associate the bell with going outside and you will have less scratch marks in your door paint. 

The targeting approach is accomplished by teaching your pup to “touch” something, either with their paw or snout.  Katie learned this by touching my hand with her paw when given the command “touch.”  If she did this, she received a treat and quickly learned what “touch” meant.  Next we learned to “touch” the bell.  First I held the bell in my hand and had her touch it on command, then, we moved it to the doorknob. I began giving her a treat when she touched the bell as well as opening the door and saying “potty.”  From there she then learned that she could touch the bell to go outside, potty, and then get a treat immediately when she came back in.  Letting your dog out is really a life reward, so they won’t need to be treated after they connect ringing the bell to having the door opened.  I have a window by my door so I always keep an eye on her to make sure she does go potty.  No potty, no treat.  Several days of consistent practice later, and my dog has trained me to come to her at the ring of a bell to let her out.  I’m not really sure if this “trick” is actually being performed by the canine or the human, but there are no more accidents in the house.