A month ago I mentioned about our first success with teaching Riley to ring a bell when he needs to go outside. Then we turned his (and our) world upside down in the move to Seattle.
This weekend, Riley started consistently ringing the bell every time he needs to go outside. He usually starts by whining at the door needing to go out at which point we watch him but don’t jump to the door. Then he looks at the bell, looks at us, looks at the bell, and then walks over and tries to hit it. I’d say 90% of the time he’s successful and is able to hit the bell right away. The other 10% he paws at it and misses the ringer. Either way it’s obvious what he’s trying to achieve. We reward him hitting the ringer by immediately dropping what we’re doing and taking him outside. If he doesn’t hit the ringer (or resorts to whining at the door) we usually take our time on letting him outside.
Thankfully, he’s used the bathroom every time he’s rang the bell and we’ve taken him outside. I’m a little worried that he’ll figure out that just ringing the bell will get him outside, bathroom break or not. I’m hoping that our bright puppy isn’t quite that bright!
Digital Ramblings 