# Over ringing the "potty bells"



## LilBitBit (Jan 15, 2012)

Hmmmmm that's an interesting one! It sounds like you have the inverse problem that most people have - instead of your dog not knowing how to go out, your dog knows to go out too much!

Are you giving her treats when she does go still? Maybe that will make the difference - right now, I think she's seeing the bells as "ring bell = go outside", and going outside as being the behavior you want.

So I guess maybe continue letting her out, but she gets a treat when she goes potty and no treat otherwise?

If I may, I notice that in your sig Libby is a little over a month old, so I'm guessing you don't take her out a lot yet since she doesn't have all her puppy shots. Maybe she's trying to tell you she wants more outside time, and a small playtime outside would help as well.


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## sdhgolden (Aug 13, 2012)

Pay attention to how often she really needs to go and when. Then when she rings the bells only take her out then and not every time she rings them.(if you think she's fully potty trained) My dog abused the bells. He thought they were the "go out and find another stick" bells. It was ridiculous! Haha so I just started doing that. He got a lot better but eventually I just took the bells away completely(when he was about 6 months) and he will now whine or bark to go outside, only when he needs to go. 

I've read and heard dogs tend to overuse the bells. Good for potty training, but once they're trained it might be ringing every 2 minutes! Hope that helps!


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

Our MacKenzie was the same way. After two weeks, we took the bells down, and put them in the corner. MacKenzie is the type of dog that will use other means to tell us when she has to go outside, the bells just got to be too annoying. 

Now that she is three, we put them back up a few weeks ago, and she is using them less frequently. She is the type of dog that is in and out of the house constantly, most of the time it is to chase a leaf she saw blow by or to chase a bird, so at her age, I can tell her not now a lot of the time when she wants to go out.


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## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

That's very impressive that she is doing it already at such a young age. And it's very common that bell trained dogs go through a phase where they ring the bells all the time. You have to put up with it for a while (a few weeks) until you are pretty sure that she understands that she is only to potty outside and you can be reasonably sure she can hold it. Plus by that time you will know how often she *really* needs to go potty. Once those criteria are met, then you can start ignoring the "I just want to go outside" ringings. But for the meantime, you need to let her out EVERY time she rings the bells! If there are times when you can't take her out, she needs to be confined so that she doesn't ring the bells and then you don't take out, causing her to have an accident.

One thing about your post-it sounds like you aren't going outside with her (you say that she scratches at the door to come in). At her very young age, you really need to be going out with her every time so that you know when she is really going potty and to keep her mind on that business rather than just going out and sniffing/playing around.


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## bljohnson4 (Jul 7, 2012)

I agree with IowaGold...Cooper went through a phase where he rung his bells all the time, but this stops eventually and, over time, you learn your dogs signals. When Cooper actually needs to go outside, he rings the bells and then sits....if he just wants attention or to go outside for fun, he rings and walks away....if he wants water, he rings and then walks over to his dish and stares at you .


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## VickiR (Jun 16, 2011)

Olivia does this too and she's 18 months old.
She even gets fancy and uses her butt to ring the bells.

This reminds me of her


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

When Molly did this I just ignored her bell ringing all together for a few weeks. We were at the point where I knew her potty schedule so I would just take her out accordingly. When I started to ignore her she stopped ringing, then when she finally started ringing again, she meant business (pun intended). 


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

When I took the bells down, MacKenzie started to knock on the door with her tail, and when that did not work, she took her butt to the grandfather clock, and then would hit that with her tale so the chimes would ring.


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

Gabby, four and one half months old, has figured out that when she scratches at the door and whines, we take her out, 1 in3 times, it seems she is crying wolf. So,mostly, Imjust use praise. First thing in the AM, she gets treats because I let her loose. At work, she is in a run with relatives and goes for four or five hours...


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## tania (Dec 22, 2011)

cubbysan said:


> she took her butt to the grandfather clock, and then would hit that with her tale so the chimes would ring.


HAHHAHA! :bowl: That's just too funny! I'm always amazed at how smart they are.


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

cubbysan said:


> When I took the bells down, MacKenzie started to knock on the door with her tail, and when that did not work, she took her butt to the grandfather clock, and then would hit that with her tale so the chimes would ring.


Hilarious! 

Is your baby really only 6 weeks old? If so, than you should be completely in control of when he goes outside and you should be with him.

Our Duffy goes through these stages, mainly when he can see bunnies outside. Duffy is older and we know when he NEEDS to go out, so my boyfriend just takes the bells down for awhile.


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## Castaway (Dec 19, 2011)

Puppies are sometimes clever lil things. Although Cassie never liked the bells, she did over-signal some times.

When Cassie was a puppy, she would get a treat when she went potty outside.

After a week of this, she would signal me that she needed to go out. So, I'd take her out. She would walk 5 feet out into the grass, sit for 5 seconds (as if she was pretending to go potty), and then trot back to me, demanding a treat.

Nowadays, her over signaling is usually because she wants to go out and play.


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## Libby Louise (Nov 8, 2012)

*Sorry for confusion*

SO SORRY for the confusion. Libby (the 6.5 week pup) is not home yet. I can get her this weekend or next.

For this post, I was referring to my other 9 month old pup. Haha I can only hope Libby catches on to the bells at only 7/8 weeks!!! 

Thanks all for the suggestions!!!!!


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## Libby Louise (Nov 8, 2012)

VickiR said:


> Olivia does this too and she's 18 months old.
> She even gets fancy and uses her butt to ring the bells.
> 
> This reminds me of her
> ...


OMG this is absolutely her. TOO funny


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## Donnalsoule (Jul 10, 2011)

The same thing happened with my Yuki, who is 10 months old. He learned to use the bells quickly as a young pup, never had an accident in the house, and only rang them when he really needed to go outside to go potty. That all changed when he was about 7 months old. He started ringing the bells constantly, just because he wanted to go out to play, check out the yard, chew on a stick, etc. After a few weeks of this, I took the bells down and put them away. They had served their purpose when he was younger and really did need to potty frequently, but now that Yuki is older he only needs to go about 4 times a day, and he manages to communicate those times to me with a grunt or a whine. I don't think we need them anymore.


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## Nairb (Feb 25, 2012)

Bella did that at first too. I bought the bells at about 3 months. She probably thought it was funny that she could make the human jump up so quickly when she rang them. 

After a a day or two of that, I would just say "wait Bella." If it had been more than a couple hours, I would take her out. She eventually stopped doing that, and the bells work great now.


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## kdunklin (Jan 16, 2021)

Castaway said:


> Puppies are sometimes clever lil things. Although Cassie never liked the bells, she did over-signal some times.
> 
> When Cassie was a puppy, she would get a treat when she went potty outside.
> 
> ...


I know this post is old , but its funny cause my toy poddle does this. its funny cas dogs are very intelligent. he squats like he is peeing and does not but looks for a treat. Im amazed at how smart animals are


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