Dog Doorbell for Potty Training
Potty training your pup doesn’t have to be ruff. Try potty training using a doggy doorbell or a bell that you can hang on the door.
We first started with researching the web and Amazon. There were so many options out there. We read many blogs and reviews before deciding to go with the Smart Bell by Mighty Paw. It is a great low price of $34.99 for 1 activator and $44.99 for 2 activators.
The super cool thing about this doorbell is that you never have to charge it or worry about changing batteries. You get 1 push button (doorbell) and 1 activator which you plug into a wall. It comes with 2 adhesive stickers (one is an extra) to stick on the doorbell button. We saw that many people stick the doorbell on the door, a wall, or the floor. We first decided to stick it on the door but then changed our minds and stuck it on the floor. If you have a smaller dog you might want to stick it on the floor because it might be hard for them to push so hard with their nose if its mounted on the door.
The doorbell has 4 different volume settings and 38 different tones to choose from. The activator and receiver can communicate up to 1,000 feet apart from each other. So you could place the doorbell by the door and the receiver in another room.
There is an option for 2 activators for $44.99 and we saw that people put one activator inside and one outside by the door so your pup can communicate with you when they want to go outside and also let you know when they want to come back in. This will help with dogs that scratch on the door to let you know that they want to come inside. You can say goodbye to the barking, scratching, and whining by the door!
After reading the 7,653 positive reviews and the claims of easy quick training we hit the buy now button. The doorbell came in 2 days with our Prime subscription and we quickly went to work. I used flat treats and started training in the living room. I first let my dog get familiarized with the doorbell push button (activator) and let him sniff. I had him stand in front of the doorbell and hid the treat under the doorbell. He would try to use his nose to nudge the button then eventually use his paw to touch the doorbell. As soon as you get a touch reward with a treat and say “push” or whatever word you want to assign to this trick. Keep repeating until you have it mastered on the floor. If you want to mount your doorbell on the door then you can stick it on the door an smear a little peanut butter on the doorbell to get your pup to touch it. I won’t go into detail on how to train mounted on the door but there are many videos out there. We watched this one and it was really helpful!
Once we got some progress we moved by the door and placed the doorbell on the floor without the adhesive sticker in the spot where it would be permanently. We chose not to stick it on because we are training all three of our pups with it and wanted to wait util they all three were competent.
Be sure to take breaks if your dog loses interest or gets tired. It took us 3 days with a few training sessions. Once your dog gets the “touch” or “push” down you can start slowly getting further and further away when giving the command. Each time you go outside to go potty give the command so that your dog will associate pushing the button with going potty. Make sure your family all keeps up with the command when letting the dog out so that there is repetition and consistency.
Lastly, If your pup tries to abuse the button as an excuse to go play outside you can try taking them out on a leash for a few minutes to the potty spot and if they start exploring or playing then take them back inside. You can try rewarding them with a treat when they go potty outside after pushing the button and no treat if they do not. So that they understand the at the doorbell is to go potty and not play.
If you do not want to go the doorbell route then you can try the same training with a doorbell that hangs on the door with bells attached.