I thought I'd share my favorite trick i've ever taught a dog. So far i've done it successfully with 4 puppies. The first took about a week, the most recent took about 2 days to housetrain the puppy.
First - It helps to be prepared to do this BEFORE you bring your new puppy home. It's a lot easier to create a new habit than it is to break an old one, so if you teach your puppy that this is how it works from the beginning, it'll go much more smoothly/quickly.
All you need:
about 3 - 3.5 feet of some sort of string/twine/yarn/ribbon..
1 jingle bell. (i get 6 packs at the dollar store during the holidays, but you could probably use jingly cat toys too.. just make sure you get the loudest thing you can.
1- Tie the jingle bell to one end of the string. Don't let the string stifle the jingly part though.. you need it to make noise!
2- Tie the other end of the string around the doorknob so that the bell falls a few inches above the floor.
3- Bring puppy home! Yaay!
4- when puppy is waking up from a nap, immediately pick him up and carry him to the door.
5- hold him at eye level so he can watch as you grab the bell and ring it.
6- as SOON as you jingle it, with no hesitation, say the word, OUTSIDE and immediately open the door.
7- carry puppy out and set him down to do his business.
8 - here's the hard part: do this EVERY time you go out that door. with my pups, that was about every 2 hours. This teaches the dog that in order to make that door open, you have to ring the bell first.
9 - after a few trips through the door, set them on the floor in front of the bell while you ring it, making sure you have their attention. Proceed with immediately saying "OUTSIDE" and going out.
10- soon you'll be able to point to the bell and they'll jingle it for you, and, as always, immediately say "OUSIDE" and open the door and go outside. Then, he'll quickly learn to do it every time he has to go outside, even if you're not at the door to provide guidance.
Voila! your puppy rings the bell when he wants to go outside.
Enforcement: The trick here is that EVERY time the pup rings that bell on his own, you need to IMMEDIATELY run to the door, say "outside", and go outside. AND every time you go outside, you need to ring the bell and say the word first... I prefer always in the same order also.
As puppy grows, tie the string shorter and shorter so it's always just below eye level.
First - It helps to be prepared to do this BEFORE you bring your new puppy home. It's a lot easier to create a new habit than it is to break an old one, so if you teach your puppy that this is how it works from the beginning, it'll go much more smoothly/quickly.
All you need:
about 3 - 3.5 feet of some sort of string/twine/yarn/ribbon..
1 jingle bell. (i get 6 packs at the dollar store during the holidays, but you could probably use jingly cat toys too.. just make sure you get the loudest thing you can.
1- Tie the jingle bell to one end of the string. Don't let the string stifle the jingly part though.. you need it to make noise!
2- Tie the other end of the string around the doorknob so that the bell falls a few inches above the floor.
3- Bring puppy home! Yaay!
4- when puppy is waking up from a nap, immediately pick him up and carry him to the door.
5- hold him at eye level so he can watch as you grab the bell and ring it.
6- as SOON as you jingle it, with no hesitation, say the word, OUTSIDE and immediately open the door.
7- carry puppy out and set him down to do his business.
8 - here's the hard part: do this EVERY time you go out that door. with my pups, that was about every 2 hours. This teaches the dog that in order to make that door open, you have to ring the bell first.
9 - after a few trips through the door, set them on the floor in front of the bell while you ring it, making sure you have their attention. Proceed with immediately saying "OUTSIDE" and going out.
10- soon you'll be able to point to the bell and they'll jingle it for you, and, as always, immediately say "OUSIDE" and open the door and go outside. Then, he'll quickly learn to do it every time he has to go outside, even if you're not at the door to provide guidance.
Voila! your puppy rings the bell when he wants to go outside.
Enforcement: The trick here is that EVERY time the pup rings that bell on his own, you need to IMMEDIATELY run to the door, say "outside", and go outside. AND every time you go outside, you need to ring the bell and say the word first... I prefer always in the same order also.
As puppy grows, tie the string shorter and shorter so it's always just below eye level.
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