Tuesday, April 12, 2011

POOCHIE BELLS

Quite a while ago I received a set of bells from a friend of mine.  They’re called Poochie Bells and you put them at your front door and train your dog to ring them to ask to go outside.   I finally hung them on the door knob last week and every time I took Whitespot out I moved his face right up to the bells and had him move them.  Lots of praise and then out the door we went.   A few days later, on Saturday, I was on the phone and knew that he wanted to go outside but I ignored him until low and behold he rang those bells on his own.  I got off the phone fast and praised him and took him outside.  I was so excited that he got it that quickly!

Since then he has rung them a couple of other times on his own.   It’s so exciting when a dog starts to show you he’s catching on to what you’re trying to teach.   I tried to catch him doing it on video but you know how it goes when you bring that camera out….all normal activity stops. 

I realized a couple of nights ago that I was making a mistake.   When Whitespot rang those bells on his own I was taking him out and going for a walk too. I don’t want to train him to ring the bells to ask for a walk or he’ll be ringing them every hour.  I only want him to ring the bells for a quick trip outside so I will now just take him out for a quick trip to do his business. 

POOCHIE BELLS LINK

1 comment:

Jean said...

I have poochie bells, too, and was delighted with how quickly my newest foster learned to ring them.
The only problem I've experienced with them is with the cat - she thinks they are a great play toy and rings them for the heck of it - often in the middle of the night!