I can't get her to hit the bell

[Cattrah]

So Lowla is good about going outside to do her business but now that we're in a house and we spend the majority of our time upstairs we can't see her go sit by the back door so we went out and bought a call bell as per someone's suggestion here that I thought was brilliant instead of hanging some bells on the door knob. I can't get her to figure out how to tap the bell. When I go to the door she's staring at the knob and I try to distract her attention to the bell and get her to tap it but she just doesn't get it. So I've been taking her paw and tapping the bell with her paw but she's still staring at the door knob or the door in general, it's like she has no idea that HER paw rang the bell, but she definately understands the bell means the door is about to open. So how can I help her be more interested in the bell and figure out that she can hit it and it will call us to open the door? Or should I just put a different bell on the door knob (I really wanted to avoid this because we're house sitting and I didn't want something hanging there that might rub or scratch the paint on the door)?

 

[Charliesmommy]

Try getting her to ring the bell with her nose, rather than a paw. You can lure her nose to the bell with a treat, then as soon as her nose touches it, give the treat and open the door.

 

[malmo]

In my experience, it takes time and consistency. The first time Milo hit the bell by himself, I went crazy with joy and treats and dancing and whatnot. Until then, just keep helping her hit the bell with some part of her body -- paw or nose -- before you take her out. She'll get it, it just takes time. Let us know when she does it on her own!

 

[milos_mommy]

Does she know the "touch" command? like targeting?

 

[Cattrah]

She doesn't know "touch," it would probably be way easier if she did! hmm, I'll have to try treats then. Do you think if I balance it on the button she'll figure it out when she licks it off and it rings the bell? I'm just afraid she'll snatch it out of my hand before it even gets to the bell. Should I have her stay and then release her to the treat, she taps the bell and then goes out? But will she be inclined to ring the bell if there's no treat on it?

A few times I tried to force her to tap it with her nose but I felt like I was punishing her, so I stopped that and went back to tapping it with her paw.

How do I teach "touch"?

 

[AgilityPup]

When I tought touch for agility I think we started with out hands, we held them by thier nose and said "Touch!" and if they touched they got a treat, or, we put the treat on a touch pad... But by me teaching that, Zoey wont touch unless I say "Touch!" So, sorry, I really don't know.

 

[milos_mommy]

i'd put the bell on the floor, if it isn't. She'll probably sniff it out of curiosity. Tell her "good" and encourage her to explore it by nosing and pawing. Tap it lightly with your finger, so that it doesn't ring. When she paws it and it rings, open the door. Then start moving the bell up on the door or whatever.

I don't know if it will help, Milo didn't have any problems with touch. I put the target down, said "hey Milo, what's that?" *touch* *click* treat. It took him literally two or three minutes before he knew exactly what i wanted. (too bad nothing else was that easy)

 

[malmo]

I would really work to associate the feeling of needing potty with touching the bell. It's not just a random bell-touch that you are going for. Do you crate Lowla? If so, then you sort of know when she will have the urge to potty. When you wake up in the morning, she'll have the urge. You definitely want to help her touch the bell then. Also, if you catch her sitting at the door, and that is generally her signal for needing to go out, you want her to touch the bell then.

I could be wrong about this. But I think just training her how to touch the bell is not what you want. You want her to touch the bell when she needs to go potty.

Also, I'll add that Milo was terrified by the bell at first. Ultimately, he got over it. At potty time, I touched his paw to the bell, gave him a treat, and then we went out. It may be that Lowla just needs time to get used to it. Milo was scared but only for a couple of weeks.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

Cider knew a standard touch command.. But I'd help her nose or paw the bell as I took her from the crate outside to pee. She quickly understood, ring bell, we go outside.. so I took her out on leash.. so she could only pee.. not play.
She got over ringing the bell for the fun of it fairly quickly, and just hit the bell when she had to go.

 

[Cattrah]

Thanks for the suggestions this is quite helpful. I don't care if she rings the bell just to go out and play. I just want her to know if she rings the bell we'll come and the door opens. That way if she wants to go out to play or go out to potty, she has to ring the bell to go out.

The bell is on the floor but she shows no interest it at all. We've tried the super excited "look Lowla! What's that!? Get it!" or whatever while tapping the ground next to the bell or on the bell itself but not the ringer and nope, she just looks at me like I'm stupid for not opening the door already!

Strangely enough she'll whine and scratch and bark at the front door to go out in front yard, but she won't do that for the back door. I mean most of the time we go out in the back yard with her and after she potties we play some fetch or something, so it's not like the back yard is THAT boring. I dunno, strange dog.

I'll try to work the treats into it somehow

 

[malmo]

So, you're using a "call bell" like the ones at a hotel desk? I don't know... I think for Milo that might be too much coordination. He just had a string of jingle bells that he only had to nudge. They hung on the wall next to the door. After we took the bell away, he would stretch up against the wall where they used to be to let us know he had to go out. Pretty great. If you're worried about the doors and walls, you could hang a strip of felt underneath the bells and they would still make noise.

I just don't know if the puppy can coordinate her little paw to hit that little tiny button. Maybe so, though! Also, the sound might get dulled if her paw was touching the bell itself. They make more of a "thunk" that might not be heard throughout the house.

I dunno. Just some thoughts. Let us know how it goes. These things just take time and repetition.

 

[TopShelfPets]

Try starting by just ringing the bell yourself, getting excited and taking her outside. For about 3 seconds. Then bring her back in, close the door, ring the bell, and take her outside for 3 seconds. then lure her nose or paw to the bell with a treat and when it gets close, give her the treat and ring the bell and take her outside. move up to only giving the treat and taking her out when she rings the bell.

IMO, it works best with a bell hanging from/next to the door. A hotel-style call bell will be hard to target with a paw, and muffled. It takes a lot of dexterity for a dog to deal with something like that. And an electronic doorbell wouldn't work as well, because the dog might not corrolate the action of pressing the button with the sound that happens in another room.