Once we have taught our puppy how to find the potty spot, and when to go to the potty spot we need to prepare our puppy for the day it’s physically mature enough that it doesn’t need frequent potty breaks.
We need to teach our puppy:
How to tell someone they need to potty.
Early on, our puppy does not have enough physical maturity to “ask out” because often, by the time a human notices and takes the puppy out it’s just too late and an accident has occurred.
Most of this we can prevent by taking our puppy on scheduled, frequent, potty breaks.
But as our puppy grows up, and develops solid toileting habits and routines, we can avoid scheduled frequent potty breaks if we teach our puppy how to tell us when it needs to relieve itself.
Our preferred method for this skill is potty bells. Potty bells are bells suspended on a rope or cord from your back door knob.
Potty bells do not house train your puppy, they ONLY give a puppy a way to communicate to us it needs to go outside, or come inside, depending on which side of the door they are hung on.
Before you bring your puppy home, purchase or make a set of potty bells.
Day 1 through Week 2: We Ring Bells
From day one, as you take your puppy to the back door to potty, you will ring these bells, then toss a treat outside (this also helps puppy learn to go quickly to and OUT of the back door) for your puppy to sniff around and find (and as a bonus, sniffing triggers peeing!).
Week 2 through Week 4: Puppy Learn to Ring Bells
Each time you take your puppy to the back door, put a tiny smear of peanut butter on a bell, (Some soft treats will actually stick to the bell and those work too) puppy noses the bell to lick the smear, bell rings, you open the door and toss a treat out onto the grass. Continue having puppy “bump” the bells upon going out until the puppy is ready to “ask” for potty breaks.
ALL Weeks:
If your puppy at ANY point, rings the bells even by accident, praise your puppy RUN to the door, open it, and toss a treat outside.
Use the Potty Break Routine once the puppy is outside.
Note: For dogs ringing the bell can also mean “I want to go outside” even if they don’t need to void. This is understandable, dogs get pretty bored and going outside offers an opportunity for something to do. There is no reason you can’t let your dog ask to go outside, and if your yard is secure why your dog cannot have time to play and amuse themselves in your yard. So, if you find your dog is ringing the bells a lot just to go out try putting the dog out and leaving them out for a while so they can have some fresh air.
