Training a dog to ring bell to use the washroom?
 

Hey again,

So after going through the very exciting process of adopting a rescue dog we are happy to announce that Lilo will be coming to live with us tomorrow! :cloud9:

That being said since she's 10 years old I was wondering if it's possible to still train her? I know it sounds like a silly question to ask but I'm wondering if there's anything to the saying "can't train an old dog new tricks." I'd love to hear from people who have older dogs and their experience with training them or anyone else who has some advice to share :thumbs up

I'm looking to train her to ring a bell by the door every time she needs to use the washroom. I've read about it online and it seems like it's a long process but I think it will benefit both Lilo and myself (as well as our nice floors :laughing:)

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Ps. I've attached a photo of our adorable Lilo incase you'd like to see what she looks like. She was with an owner that didn't provide her with much grooming so unfortunately her foster mom needed to give her a shave since she was all matted but we still think she looks just as cute as before!

I trained my pup to ring the bell to go out and it ws super easy. I placed them on the door handle and everytime we went outside to do her business I would ring the bell and say "pee pee". I would say that you should revert back to the basics with your new pupper. Take her out every 2 hours to start and ring the bell each time and she will pick it I am sure. Mine picked it up in one day!

The funny thing is that animals are pretty smart and she figured out real fast that if she rang the bell mommy would take her outside but all she wanted was to play. :laughing::laughing:

Mine were given as a gift but I have seen them at the Global Pet Foods store here in Ontario.

Good Luck!! :thumbs up

Oh and I almost forgot!! Thank you so much for rescuing a senior!!!!

[QUOTE=Winston;1058199]I trained my pup to ring the bell to go out and it ws super easy. I placed them on the door handle and everytime we went outside to do her business I would ring the bell and say "pee pee". I would say that you should revert back to the basics with your new pupper. Take her out every 2 hours to start and ring the bell each time and she will pick it I am sure. Mine picked it up in one day!

The funny thing is that animals are pretty smart and she figured out real fast that if she rang the bell mommy would take her outside but all she wanted was to play. :laughing::laughing:

Mine were given as a gift but I have seen them at the Global Pet Foods store here in Ontario.

Good Luck!! :thumbs up

Oh and I almost forgot!! Thank you so much for rescuing a senior!!!![/QUOTE]

Thanks so much for your help it's awesome to hear from another dog owner the tips and tricks you've used.

And no need to thank me, it was her that ended up rescuing us (since you never realize what you're missing until you have a dog).

Well I am glad she had that impact on you, unfortuneatley it doesnt always happen that way and may of the older pups get overlooked due to age and fear of health issues.

Would love to see some more pics once you have Lilo home with you!! :D

I'd love to see more pics of the lovely Lilo once she's home, too! :D And good luck with the training! :goodvibes:

what a cutie!! It's very easy to teach them to do that. You can start by teaching her 'touch' with her nose. Basically anytime she touches your hand with her nose, reward and once she starts doing it more consistently you can add the word touch or whatever you want. then you can start getting her to touch the bells so they ring when she's getting that, start opening the door everytime she rings them. Once you start doing this with them, they start to get things really fast and they start trying different things to see what they need to do to get a reward. I've done this with my dog, she's 7 and has no problem learning new stuff this way. Once she puts everything together you won't need the treats anymore. Going out will be the reward.

I agree with the others who said training to ring the bell is quite easy. Jessie Joy learned very fast at a very young age. We have a jingle bell on a long cord and hung it from the door knob. We rang it at first, everytime we took her out, and before long she was "slapping" it with her paw.

She still rings to go out now, and Simon comes running in the room to see if we are going to let her go or not LOL. He doesn't want to ring it - no need, she rings it for both of them.

Good luck.
Diane

[QUOTE=it'spuppylove;1058198]Hey again,

So after going through the very exciting process of adopting a rescue dog we are happy to announce that Lilo will be coming to live with us tomorrow! :cloud9:

That being said since she's 10 years old I was wondering if it's possible to still train her? I know it sounds like a silly question to ask but I'm wondering if there's anything to the saying "can't train an old dog new tricks." I'd love to hear from people who have older dogs and their experience with training them or anyone else who has some advice to share :thumbs up

I'm looking to train her to ring a bell by the door every time she needs to use the washroom. I've read about it online and it seems like it's a long process but I think it will benefit both Lilo and myself (as well as our nice floors :laughing:)

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Ps. I've attached a photo of our adorable Lilo incase you'd like to see what she looks like. She was with an owner that didn't provide her with much grooming so unfortunately her foster mom needed to give her a shave since she was all matted but we still think she looks just as cute as before![/QUOTE]

She is very cute and a very lucky dog to be adopted at her age. That is so wonderful of you . Is she part poodle?

[QUOTE=Barkingdog;1058217]She is very cute and a very lucky dog to be adopted at her age. That is so wonderful of you . Is she part poodle?[/QUOTE]

Thank you so much everyone for your kind words about her. We are the lucky ones to be having her become a part of our family!

Yes she is part poodle. She's a LhasaPoo but more of a couch potato than anything :laughing:

[QUOTE=it'spuppylove;1058221]Thank you so much everyone for your kind words about her. We are the lucky ones to be having her become a part of our family!

Yes she is part poodle. She's a LhasaPoo but more of a couch potato than anything :laughing:[/QUOTE]

I think she earn the rights to be a couch potato at her age. Poodles are very smart dogs so it should be easy to teach her to ring a bell to go out. My dog is a Westiepoo and I trained to go into crate by giving him a cookie each I put in the crate when I had to go out . Marty will go into his crate on his own now , I just put a cookie in the crate and he goes right in. Marty sure would like a date with your dog, he is a real ladies dog