# potty training using a bell



## maxtmill (Dec 28, 2010)

Hello! Has anyone trained their dog to ring a bell to go out? I have a new 8 month old pup (not a GSD), and am interested in trying this. How is it done?


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## Spectrum (Jan 14, 2016)

There are plenty of videos on YouTube instructing on the process but it essentially breaks down to 

Teaching your dog the touch command prior is very helpful. 

Have the dog touch the bell to create a ring, reward it immediately with a treat/praise. Continue to do this until the dog has mastered the touch command. 

Hang/place the bell near the exit to the desired potty area and have the dog sit and ring the bell in order to have them go out. It's incredibly important to do this very frequently throughout the day, so that you're not creating situations where the dog is two seconds away from urinating and isn't interested in being trained. 

Create situations where the dog needs to ring the bell to go out. Such as, ringing the bell so that they can get out and eat, be petted by you, play with other animals etc. It's paramount the during the initial stages, every ring leads to them being let out. 

Eventually the dog will link the bell to getting to go out. If you're using the bell to let them out to potty, I would recommend that you don't let the frequency of letting them out fade. The only thing I'd add is that you letting them out has to be as immediate as possible. What I've seen as erroneous in some of the dog training videos is that they reward the dogs after they come back from pottying, when they should be rewarding them immediately after the bell ring. Otherwise, you could be potentially reinforcing the wrong behavior. Such as coming near you after pottying etc rather than the targeted behavior.


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## Romay (Jun 6, 2016)

maxtmill said:


> Hello! Has anyone trained their dog to ring a bell to go out? I have a new 8 month old pup (not a GSD), and am interested in trying this. How is it done?


Oddly I did not train Joey to use the bells and neither did his owner. When he needs to go he either comes up to you and if you ask if he needs to go he will do a full body shake, if he doesn't do the shake, he doesn't have to go. But if you are not awake etc, he will go stand by the door and shove his nose into the bells which were placed and left there for the purpose of knowing when the door was opened haha but he used them to let us know instead.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I taught my youngest golden how to use the bell. When he was by the door I would take his paw and touch the bells, praise and reward. He got it fairly quickly. I left them up(they are still up) and Apollo used them on his own. They are generally now used in case of emergency--ie I gotta go now and you aren't noticing.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

I just took my dog to the chimes, and hit them with his nose. He got the idea very quickly. Now, he rings to go out but also if he's bored, so we are working on that. I would rather have a false run outside than an accident in the house.


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## Steve Strom (Oct 26, 2013)

maxtmill said:


> Hello! Has anyone trained their dog to ring a bell to go out? I have a new 8 month old pup (not a GSD), and am interested in trying this. How is it done?


I've never really understood why? Maybe I'm just a control freak, but isn't more convenient to have them go when you tell them to? After the work of potty training them, teaching them to go out when and where you want them to and you have a dog that can hold it for hours with no problem at 8mos, wouldn't you rather decide "I want you finished by 8" rather then "Let me know, even if its 10" If mine starts ringing a bell at midnight, I don't generally wake up happy.


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## maxtmill (Dec 28, 2010)

Steve Strom said:


> I've never really understood why? Maybe I'm just a control freak, but isn't more convenient to have them go when you tell them to? After the work of potty training them, teaching them to go out when and where you want them to and you have a dog that can hold it for hours with no problem at 8mos, wouldn't you rather decide "I want you finished by 8" rather then "Let me know, even if its 10" If mine starts ringing a bell at midnight, I don't generally wake up happy.


Hmmmm...I never thought of it that way!


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

Steve Strom said:


> I've never really understood why? Maybe I'm just a control freak, but isn't more convenient to have them go when you tell them to? After the work of potty training them, teaching them to go out when and where you want them to and you have a dog that can hold it for hours with no problem at 8mos, wouldn't you rather decide "I want you finished by 8" rather then "Let me know, even if its 10" If mine starts ringing a bell at midnight, I don't generally wake up happy.


Mine aren't near a bell at midnight,


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

We first taught Cassidy to ring bells on the doorknob when she needed to go outside. She was an adult and completely housebroken by then. The problem was that if she had to go she would wait politely at the door until someone noticed her there. 

If i was at work and Tom was working in his home office, or if i was in the kitchen making dinner and he was in the office playing computer games, or we were both in the living room watching TV, we couldn't see that door and had no way of knowing how long she'd been waiting. Sometimes we'd realize she wasn't in the room with us and go looking for her and there she'd be. She wouldn't bark or scratch at the door, she'd just sit and wait. 

If we took too long she'd finally come sit right in front of the TV, lol. HELLO, I've been waiting! I'm good about letting the dogs out, but Tom tends to be pretty oblivious, especially if he's focused on something else *cough* one track mind *cough*.


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## Steve Strom (Oct 26, 2013)

> Tom tends to be pretty oblivious, especially if he's focused on something else *cough* one track mind *cough*.


Maybe its a guy thing? Maybe I'm just clinging to my right to obliviscuity? Obliviousness? Or maybe the Raider game's on. I don't know. Go when I tell you, and we'll get along better. Lol.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

I refuse to be their servant whenever they decide to want to go out.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Steve Strom said:


> I've never really understood why? Maybe I'm just a control freak, but isn't more convenient to have them go when you tell them to? After the work of potty training them, teaching them to go out when and where you want them to and you have a dog that can hold it for hours with no problem at 8mos, wouldn't you rather decide "I want you finished by 8" rather then "Let me know, even if its 10" If mine starts ringing a bell at midnight, I don't generally wake up happy.


So can you control when you have to go to the bathroom? You don't ever need to go in the middle of the night? How would you like it if the bathroom door was locked and let's say maybe your tummy wasn't feeling well and you had to really really go? If its ok for you, why not the dogs? What is the difference? If they gotta go, they gotta go. Sometimes we can't control everything, it's impossible. 

In three years I can count on one hand how many times the bell has been rung after its bedtime and those times were emergencies--icky poop or vomit. It happens and I'm glad they want out to do it.

My dogs generally don't ever have to ask to go out. They go out every 5 hours during the work week. On the weekends they are out more frequently. I have left them on a couple occasions for over 12 hours without an accident. 

When Brennan was pretty small he would ring the bell to go outside to get water if I took the water up. Apollo did the same thing, but they grew out of that. 

Since, my dogs don't need to ask to go out if they do need to go they do the same thing as another person said--they sit there staring at the door. If I'm busy I don't see them. The bells are not necessary and are not used often, but they have been beneficial more then once.


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## Themusicmanswife (Jul 16, 2015)

I tried using a bell for my last pup. It was on the door and we used it as everyone does. When I wasn't able to watch her and she wasn't in her crate, I kept her closed off in part of the kitchen where the door with the bell was. She tortured me with it! If I was in the basement doing laundry or busy doing something, she would attack that bell ferociously. I'd come to let her out, usually right away because she'd wake the whole house up, and she'd not have to go or just barely. She found it was a good way to get her human right away. I took it away. She was not hard to potty train though. It happened with under a handful of accidents in the house. But, I did take her out often and marked her for it. She was also crate trained.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Themusicmanswife said:


> I tried using a bell for my last pup. It was on the door and we used it as everyone does. When I wasn't able to watch her and she wasn't in her crate, I kept her closed off in part of the kitchen where the door with the bell was. She tortured me with it! If I was in the basement doing laundry or busy doing something, she would attack that bell ferociously. I'd come to let her out, usually right away because she'd wake the whole house up, and she'd not have to go or just barely. She found it was a good way to get her human right away. I took it away. She was not hard to potty train though. It happened with under a handful of accidents in the house. But, I did take her out often and marked her for it. She was also crate trained.


You definitely don't want them to figure out the bells mean outside anytime or wake up everyone in the house. 

When I trained mine to hit the bells I also said go potty, which meant bells are for going out to potty only. I did have the two that figured out how to get water outside after it was gone inside, I simply took the water away outside too, now there was no reason to go out there:wink2:


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## vomlittlehaus (Aug 24, 2010)

I used this for my last puppies (now just over two) and it worked well. The back door where the bell hung was away from the rest of the house.This is not something that needs to stay by the door for the rest of the dogs life. It is for potty training a puppy.

Hang bell by the door you take the dog out to potty. Ring the bell every time you go out that door. You can teach the puppy 'touch'.


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## Steve Strom (Oct 26, 2013)

llombardo said:


> So can you control when you have to go to the bathroom? You don't ever need to go in the middle of the night? How would you like it if the bathroom door was locked and let's say maybe your tummy wasn't feeling well and you had to really really go? If its ok for you, why not the dogs? What is the difference? If they gotta go, they gotta go. Sometimes we can't control everything, it's impossible.
> 
> 
> 
> .


If its something you or anyone wants to do, go ahead. I'm not trying to say I'm right or anyone else is wrong. Maybe because we only have 2 dogs its easy to manage and maybe because my prostate's good I don't get up in the middle of the night. Dumb luck probably that any tummy problems have hit me in the AM.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

dawnandjr said:


> I used this for my last puppies (now just over two) and it worked well. The back door where the bell hung was away from the rest of the house.This is not something that needs to stay by the door for the rest of the dogs life. It is for potty training a puppy.
> 
> Hang bell by the door you take the dog out to potty. Ring the bell every time you go out that door.


Yep, that's what we did. Our dogs are crated in our bedroom at night, so they wouldn't be able to ring the bell anyway, but if they do need to go out during the night (Keefer at nearly 11 years old has gone from iron bladder to old man bladder, lol) they will let us know. The bells were on the door to the garage, which is where the dog run is accessed. 

We haven't actually used the bells in a long time now. Halo would ring them if there was a squirrel in the backyard that she wanted to go bark at. As long as I knew they didn't actually need to potty since they'd been out recently, I'd just ignore the bell. But her insistent bashing on the bells got annoying, so we moved them to the other side of the door to shut her up and that's where they remain. >


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

My dog ate the bell....

I took the route of training my dog to go on demand....made more sense for my situation. I somewhat wonder if this breed is smart enough to "abuse" ringing a bell or any other learned action which creates a response by the human? I certainly have seen my dog countless times nose or rattle her food bowl in an attempt to have me feed her....I assume. 

I'm a bit leery of my dog training me to any extent....I don't mind her giving me indications such as....if I sleep in a bit..she'll pop up halfway on the bed...give me that little whine..I'm guessing she wants to eat or go outside and squirt or dump ...but 9 out of ten times I tell her to lay down and wait....she does....I will then get up at my convenience and let her out...it all works out fine. Even in this situation...the dog has trained me but just knows she will have to wait a while before she gets her way.

Training my dog to go on demand has really worked out great when we are on the road in the motor home among other situations.

A bit off topic perhaps....but I have wondered what my dog thinks whenever my old school phone rings and I promptly get up and answer it...dog certainly has seen my conditioning.


SuperG


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## Steve Strom (Oct 26, 2013)

> A bit off topic perhaps....but I have wondered what my dog thinks whenever my old school phone rings and I promptly get up and answer it...dog certainly has seen my conditioning.
> 
> 
> SuperG


Thats why you always re-direct by rotary dialing. It desensitizes them.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

SuperG said:


> I somewhat wonder if this breed is smart enough to "abuse" ringing a bell or any other learned action which creates a response by the human?


Oh, definitely! It's really handy for dogs like Cassidy that won't let you know that they need to go out, especially if you don't take them out on a regular basis. Or you know, your husband doesn't.  That's why we're not using them right now. Both dogs will go whenever I take them out, and if they do _need_ to go out at other times, they will let us know. No polite door sitters here at the moment! :rofl: 

Keef needs to pee frequently, so he always goes whenever I take them out, and Halo has become accustomed to going on cue from flyball. We've gotten into a routine where when the race before hers starts I take her out of the crate and potty her so we're ready for the next race. Fouling in the ring is a forfeit of that heat, so it's important to give the dogs an opportunity prior to each race. I just say "go potty" and she'll obligingly squat and pee, no matter how often I ask or how recently she's gone.


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

I prefer to train "go potty" myself, indoors my guys are usually under observation ... save for Gunther (American Band Dawg) who would go off to the bedroom to "go to bed" at 8:00 pm?? Wow will you look at the time kinda thing, so popped up from his "doggy bed" in the living room and march down the hall to the "real bed!??"  

So I never had a need for the bell thing. A few members on "Boxerforum" have taught that ... eight out of ten, seem to report back that there dogs use it to "train" them! Making Mom or Dad come to the door to see what's up ... is great "Fun." 

Your "results" may vary ... like many things ... it depends on the dog.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

maxtmill said:


> Hello! Has anyone trained their dog to ring a bell to go out? I have a new 8 month old pup (not a GSD), and am interested in trying this. How is it done?


Never gonna happen. I am not the servant, to be summoned by a ringing bell.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

I'm finding some of these responses amusing, and also a bit baffling. Elimination is a basic biological need, and yet it sounds like some people are viewing it as some sort of power struggle. :thinking: If you have an adult, housebroken dog that needs to go on a fairly predictable schedule and you're good about routinely taking it out, great. No need for the dog to alert you it needs to go outside because you've got that covered. 

But if you have a young dog who doesn't have the bladder or bowel control of an adult, or is maybe still in the learning process of figuring out where to go and how to let you know it needs to go, like _NOW_ or there will be an accident in the house, then it's very handy to have trained that. Or an older dog that needs to go more frequently, not always on a schedule anymore, and maybe more urgently (as a postmenopausal woman I can totally relate, lol) - then yeah, I want that dog to tell me he needs to go outside! It's also more convenient _for me_ to have the dogs let me know when they have to go rather than taking them out every few hours when they really don't need to go right now, thank you very much. 

Halo is very predictable. Her bladder control is fine and she consistently poops twice a day, either right before or right after breakfast, and around the same with dinner, although sometimes a bit earlier or later, possibly because mealtimes vary from day to day. Exceptions are with exercise, where there might be a 3rd poop. At flyball tournaments she always poops a third time, usually early afternoon, and like I said earlier, she will pee for me every time I take her out of her crate, even if it's just a few drops. 

Keef needs to pee much more often than he used to. He would voluntarily hold it 12 hours or more, but now it's more like 12 times a day. He poops twice a day too (sometimes more if we go on a hike), but not always at the same time of day. It's not as firm as it used to be and it's clear that he doesn't always know he needs to go very far in advance. In the morning he'll pee, eat breakfast, and then pee some more. I'll wait outside to see if he'll poop too, and sometimes he trots from the far end of the dog run (his favored spot) all the way to the door into the garage before abruptly spinning around and trotting back to the other end to poop. He's like "Nope, don't need to go yet. Oh wait, yes I do!". :rofl: Since both of them will get my attention if they need to go I don't need the bells, but if he was a polite hall sitter like Cassidy I would have put the bells back. Not worth him having diarrhea on my carpet just so I can prove that I'm the one in charge, and it would just be mean to make an old dog with diminishing bladder control wait until it's convenient for me to get around to letting him out. 

Some of the ways I _don't_ cater to my dogs are:

I play with them when it's convenient for me, not because they've pestered me to.
I feed them on my schedule, not when they think they should be fed. 
I take them out for hikes when it's convenient for me, and if I don't have time today, or it's too hot or it's raining, they deal with that. 
I give them bully sticks when I want to, not when they lobby for it.
I don't feed them from the dinner table, so they've learned not to beg. (Not with us at least - hope springs eternal regarding guests) 
I don't give them attention on demand.
I dremel their nails, give them baths, brush them, take them to the vet, even when they'd rather not. 

But if they have to pee or poop, then I don't have a problem accommodating that need. Because it is a NEED, not a "want".


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> I'm finding some of these responses amusing, and also a bit baffling. Elimination is a basic biological need, and yet it sounds like some people are viewing it as some sort of power struggle. :thinking:


The rest of your post all seems commonsensical enough but....my rationale for training the dog as a pup regarding its need to eliminate was based on what the pup would become...not on what the pup was at that phase. I never viewed the training as a "power struggle" but more of a convenience once the dog matured. Since my current dog knows the verbal cues...I can't imagine how it could work out any better. Roll the clock back to my first GSD.....she learned the scratch at the door routine....worked great...she had me trained as I encouraged her indicating her need to go outside and download BUT...here was what it led to : Pawing at the back door allowed her access to the backyard which was much more than just a place to dump and squirt....it was our playing area...and she loved to play....so did I ...but not at 11 PM or when it was pouring rain outside. Over a short period of time....she was scratching the door desiring to go outside and play more often than taking care of her business. I never knew how to train the "play outside" scratch out of her and just rolled with it...no big deal but I reminded myself not to allow the same to happen with her successors. 

SuperG


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## maxtmill (Dec 28, 2010)

SuperG said:


> My dog ate the bell....
> 
> I took the route of training my dog to go on demand....made more sense for my situation. I somewhat wonder if this breed is smart enough to "abuse" ringing a bell or any other learned action which creates a response by the human? I certainly have seen my dog countless times nose or rattle her food bowl in an attempt to have me feed her....I assume.
> 
> ...


Hey Super G, We take the dogs out about every 2 hours. We have a youngster and two very old dogs, so it makes sense. We are retired and live in a tiny cabina here in Costa Rica, so I don't suppose it will be necessary to bell train my future GSD pup. My question for you is how do you teach a dog to go on command? I know that the service dogs in the blind rehab unit in the hospital where I worked are taught to go on command. Whenever I take the dogs out, I use the phrase "hurry up". It usually works, but there have been times that I take them out, one of them doesn't pee, then he will pee in the house 10 minutes after we come in! Is the key in staying outside until they pee, no matter how long it takes?


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

I had to train to a bell. My puppy was jumping on the door and scratching its up, so he needed another way to tell me he has to go out. If I stopped his jumping, he peed on the floor. Now he rings the bell and someone lets him out. I don't see that it's a big deal since it works.


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

maxtmill said:


> My question for you is how do you teach a dog to go on command?


Like everybody else that starts with their pups.....when the pup took a squirt...I gave praise...all the typical positive marker instantly and then rewards.....and started saying..."yes.....gooood squirt" from day one. Same with the pup taking a dump...."yes......gooooood dump"....I associated a few words with two inevitable bodily processes and it isn't difficult knowing when a pup is setting up to take of their business via their body gestures....so I would just use the cues.....I'm guessing my neighbors thought it quite odd hearing me say .." YES! Good dump...good Kaia". The dog also knew something good was coming its way as well above and beyond the praise....this is were I used a fair amount of food rewards in the beginning once she came back into the house after successfully taking care of her biz. Over a period of time...I can just say..." Take a squirt/dump"...and the dog does....unless of course it has been too short a time in between her last one.

One other thing I did....because I will ask the dog at times when inside the house..." Kaia ya wanna take a squirt"....if she does....she will get up and come to me. So as not to create the same problem I had with my first GSD ....there were separate cues for play and train.....in the same training manner....but if she reacted to " wanna take a squirt" and then propositioned me to play once outside....she got nothing and we'd go back inside. I wasn't going to be suckered into the old..." I just want to go outside and play and pretend like I had to pee" routine. When I ask her if she wants to train...she gets jacked....about the same as if I ask her if she wants to play...both much different than her excitement to just go outside and pee. I never let her down...I always follow through.....when it's either "play" or "train".

They learn it...they know it...they hear the cue and they actually do it.....it just took consistent repetition...some positive markers...praise/reward. I guess it's kind of like a dog eating....they come with that behavior out of the box....just like peeing and pooping...so it's just a game of cue association and some positive feedback for following through on the verbal cue.

Might be many ways to teach them I suppose....but it was rather straightforward.


SuperG


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

LuvShepherds said:


> I had to train to a bell. My puppy was jumping on the door and scratching its up, so he needed another way to tell me he has to go out. If I stopped his jumping, he peed on the floor. Now he rings the bell and someone lets him out. I don't see that it's a big deal since it works.


You're right....if it works....it works.


SuperG


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## woofmendez (Jun 7, 2016)

Yes bell is great tool to train a dog. I used bell before when I train my lovable dogs. I was not disappointed because they learn fast.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

We have a separately fenced dog run down the side of the house, so there's nothing particularly fun about it. Just a long narrow strip of concrete. At the far end though, they can see part of the rest of the yard through the chain link gate, including the back fence and trees. Where squirrels love to torment them. Good times! If Halo indicates that she needs to go out, but then runs immediately to the end of the run and stares at the fence, I herd her away from the gate and ask her if she need to go potty. If she is only interested in getting back to watching squirrel TV, I grab her collar and walk her back into the house. It would definitely be more difficult if they pottied and played in the same area.

I trained "outside" to be associated with the door opening and them going out, and then "go potty" for doing their thing once they were out there. Halo's breeder used "hurry up", so I use that along with "go potty". If they clearly seem to need to go but are wandering around sniffing rather than getting down to it I'll say "find a spot", which they somehow seem to understand. Potty is used interchangeably too, if they've already peed, I say "other potty" for pooping, which they also somehow seem to understand.


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## Honeybee1999 (Mar 2, 2006)

I never used a bell, but my older girl figured out in our first home that if she knocked into the vertical blinds at the sliding patio door they would make a noise that got our attention, then we would ask if she needed to go outside. So she trained us to respond to that lol. Years later, and three homes later (we moved a lot) we again had a sliding door with vertical blinds. She remembered what they could be used for, and signaled us to let her out. Smart girl.

Now, in our current home without vertical blinds, she will just sit and stare us down with laser beam eyes if she has to go out. If we fail to notice, she will pace back and forth through the kitchen (where the door to the backyard is) and whine. We almost always notice that because she only does that when she has to potty. Our little guy, at 12 weeks old, has also learned to go to the back door and whine. Going outside to potty gets rewarded. Going outside just to sniff or chase squirrels does not. And we typically only play after potty, not before. 

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## Honeybee1999 (Mar 2, 2006)

Also wanted to add that our girl has successfully woken us up in the night for emergency poop without use of a bell. Thankfully I'm a pretty light sleeper, and I can hear when someone is unsettled and whining. I can understand how a heavy sleeper might need something more apparent than just whining where a bell might come in handy. To each their own.

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