How to Bell Train Your Dog to Go Outside

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I’ve talked about our dog Fletcher before {like here and here}, so you probably already know a little bit about him. In case you don’t, he’s a 7-month-old chocolate lab, and he’s a keeper. 

I mean, seriously. Look at that face.

As sweet and loving as he is, training a puppy is no joke. Everyone says that it’s like having a newborn in the house, but it is WAY harder than that. It’s like having a super-destructive toddler who wants to eat everything in sight, doesn’t listen at all, sprints away from you at the most dangerous possible moment, gets into the knife drawer as soon as you turn your back, and has learned to take his diaper off and will only pee and poop on the floor.

Now, I am certainly no expert on dog behavior or raising a puppy, but I will gladly talk about what worked for us during the puppy stages. And one of the best decisions we ever made was to teach Fletcher to ring a bell when he has to go outside. Even better, it was probably the easiest thing we’ve taught him, too!

The way our house is laid out, we can’t see our front door from most of the areas on the first floor, including from the family room, which is where we spend most of our time. This wasn’t an issue when we first started housebreaking Fletcher, because we kept him gated in the kitchen and living room with us. But once he was completely housebroken and we started letting him go anywhere on the first floor, we started noticing that he would sometimes have accidents right at the front door, because the poor little guy would be patiently sitting by the front door waiting for us to take him out, but we didn’t know because we couldn’t see him. 

So when he was about 4 months old, I decided to bell train him. All you need to bell train your dog is a bell, some dog treats, and quite a bit of patience. 

I got a large jingle bell around Christmas at Joann Fabrics; but if itsyou should be able to find a similar one at a craft store or online. I just hung it from the doorknob on the front door, the door where we take him in and out. 

For the dog treats, I use Nudges Grillers and Sizzlers, which I found at Walmart. We’re trying to eat healthier in our house, and it’s important to me that Fletcher eats well too, especially during any kind of training. Training involves pretty much a constant stream of treats, so you want to use ones that are easy on the dog’s tummy, but that they will do anything to get.I’m pretty sure Fletcher would sell our entire family in order to get his Nudges. 

I got the Chicken and Steak Grillers, as well as the Beef & Cheese Sizzlers. I love them because they’re relatively big, so they’re great for random treats, but they’re also soft, so they’re easy to break into smaller pieces for training.

Plus, they’re made with real meat, they have no artificial flavors or fillers and they’re made in the USA with only USA-sourced protein. {Also, unlike most dog treats, these actually smell amazing. David and I have actually been tempted to taste them, they look and smell so good, but we haven’t been able to bring ourselves to do it.}

When you start the bell training, you need to keep a few things in mind. To begin with, as soon as you hang that bell, you need to take the dog out whenever he rings it. Even if you know he’s just playing with it or just went out 30 seconds ago, he needs to learn that the bell means it’s time to go outside and go potty. That’s it. {This would be where the patience part kicks in.} Fletcher caught onto that pretty quickly, although he still occasionally uses it for attention or when I go upstairs or {heaven forbid} into the bathroom and leave him alone. So it’s probably a good idea to wait for a nice day, and not a frigid week in the dead of winter, like we did. 

Second, he needs to ring the bell every single time he goes outside. For the first few times, you’ll need to help him ring it, either with his nose or with his paw. We taught Fletcher to hit it with his nose by gently moving his head to the bell. The second the bell makes a sound, praise him like crazy, and out he goes. If he pees or poops within 2 or 3 minutes, then again praise him like he just cured polio and give him a couple small pieces of Nudges. If he doesn’t go, bring him back inside and wait to repeat the whole process the next time he rings the bell.

It’s important to remember to only give him the treat when he goes potty, not when he rings the bell, because otherwise, you’ll be listening to a constant stream of jingle bells, and it will likely drive you insane.

I could not believe how quickly Fletcher caught onto the bell. Within about 8-12 hours of introducing it for the first time, he walked up to the front door, rang the bell and sat down. When I took him out, he immediately peed, and I just about threw him a ticker-tape parade. Even now, a few months later, I still get so proud when he rings the bell to go out.  

Check out all the flavors of Nudges dog treats and let me know which one you think your dog would love the most! For more about Nudges, check out their website and visit them on Facebook!

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