Things You'll Need:
- Dog Doorbell (See my article "How to Make a Dog Doorbell")
- Dog
- You
- Treats and/or Praise
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Step 1
Make a Dog Doorbell- See my article "How to Make a Dog Doorbell" (on eHow), for cheap and easy steps.
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Step 2
Hang the dog doorbell from whichever door(s) you want your dog to use.
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Step 3
Take your dog over to the door with the doorbell and (gently) put his or her face into the doorbell until the bells ring and say "Ring the Bell."
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Step 4
Immediately afterwards open the door and let the dog out (or take the dog out on a leash), whatever you will normally do with the dog.
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Step 5
Praise the dog and talk about "ringing the bell." Giving a few treats helped my dog as well :)
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Step 6
Take the dog back inside and repeat ringing the bell with the dogs head and then let/take the dog outside and give lots of praise. Repeat this step a few times each time you take the dog out until he/she seems to be catching on.
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Step 7
Make sure you take the dog out that door (with the doorbell) each time you take it out of the house and make the dog ring the bell before you open the door (with your assistance, until they start doing it on their own). They need to see that the action (ringing the doorbell) = positive consequence (going outside, praise, treats).
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Step 8
Once the dog gets used to ringing the bell before going outside, they will start to associate "ring the bell" with being able to go outside.
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Step 9
When your dog independently rings the bell, especially at the begining make SURE you let him/her out EVERY time. Even if the dog has JUST been out, you need to reinforce that what they are learning: "ring the bell" means going outside.
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Step 10
Praise the dog for "ringing the bell" and don't get discouraged. The first time my dog rang his bell I thought for sure I was hearing things, but he is very well doorbell trained now.
