As I’ve said before, we were fortunate that the older dogs taught the younger ones about the ‘go out’ bells.  I’ve only truly taught one dog how to use the bells.

     Malcolm was ten months old when he entered our lives.  He was also almost housebroken.  In other words, he didn’t want to go in the house, but if you didn’t catch the signs that he needed to go out, he’d have accidents.  We quickly became aware of his ‘need to go’ signs, and would walk him to the door.  We’d say, “Want to go out?” ring the bells, and open the door.  We did this EVERY time we took him out.

     Within a few weeks, I heard the bells ring, ran to the kitchen to find him standing in front of the door.  I praised the heck out of him as I took him out.  Several more times that day, we’d hear a tentative jingle of the bells.  With each ring, he got praise and an immediate trip outside.  He never again had an accident and his bell ringing became more confident.

     When Sadie arrived in household as a rescue, Malcolm taught her the secret of the bells.  Each dog has taught the next since then.  Gavin is the most accomplished of the bell ringers.  He rings them loud, often, and long.  There I times that I wish he hadn’t learned that trick.

     As for Linda over at Crone and Bear it teaching her Devoted Spouse the trick…well, um…gee, do you think he might get the idea?